You have to read it to a real person though. It doesn’t really work any other way. If you can’t do this, then there is another solution: use Natu- ral Reader. It translates your text to speech, so it’s like someone else reading your manuscript to you: https://naturalreaders.com/ online/. Then you listen to what your words are saying—you’ll hear the errors. STEP 2: EDIT BY FEEL As you read, you will naturally ask yourself: “Does this sound the same way I’d say it to an actual person? Does it feel right to me?” You (and the other person) will inevitably hear errors, phrasings you want to change, and sentences that sound off that you want corrected. As you read it out loud, correct your mistakes. If you “feel” something is off, and aren’t sure how to change it, that’s fine—just mark it the first time through. The first time reading it, you want to hear the problems, so you can go back and fix them on the page later. “In general, what is written must be easy to read and easy to speak; which is the same.” —ariStotle HOW MANY TIMES SHOULD I EDIT? We recommend that authors do each phase one time. If you do them right, one time each is enough. For some manuscripts, a second line-by-line edit makes sense. hOW TO EDiT yOUr BOOk · 169