HOW TO APPROACH EDITING As you start editing, there are two frames we recommend you keep in mind: 1. The book is for your reader, not for you. 2. Edit for a 12-year-old. They sound weird? Lemme explain. 1. THE BOOK IS FOR YOUR READER, NOT FOR YOU Yes of course the book is yours. Yes, it probably has a lot of your stories in it—in fact it should. Yes, the book is going to create benefits for you. But as we discussed in positioning, if you want the book to help you, then the book has to provide value to the reader. In essence, to get what you want, you must give them what they want. That is much easier said than done. Here are some facts about read- ers. They are: 1. Impatient 2. Selfish 3. Ignorant (about your subject) I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just how all readers are (includ- ing you and me). The reality is that in a book, you are buying the attention of the reader, ONE PARAGRAPH AT A TIME. You can write the book without worrying about fact, but once you start editing, it becomes very important. The point is that, as you write, you can think of yourself, but as you edit, you need to be thinking about your reader. 162 · ThE SCriBE METhOD