Editing Your First Five Pages
By Katy Kauffman They need the wow factor. Once a potential buyer looks at the title of your book, the cover, the back cover copy, and the Table of Contents, they’re likely to look at your first five pages. If the first paragraph wows them, they’ll keep reading. If the wow factor is missing, you may miss a possible sale. So how can you maintain the wow factor of your first five pages and maximize the appeal of your book? Here are five tips for editing the first five pages to keep the wow factor going. 1. Make sure you have written tight. Cut unnecessary words that distract the reader from the main point of each sentence and paragraph. Quantity of words is not as important as quality. A short sentence can contain more punch than a long one, and usually does. Ask yourself whether each word in a sentence is needed and whether each sentence in a paragraph is playing an important role. 2. See if your paragraphs have a clear flow of thought. I