Support for Indie Authors discussion

I was doing a final check of my recent manuscript and I thought I'd try something I'd read about: getting the computer to read the text aloud.
I tried in Adobe Acrobat, but found that it paused at the end of each line. In Microsoft Word, though, it worked well. Obviously it's no substitute for an external proofreader, but the better the product the easier a proofreader's task. It was possible to concentrate on the text for longer while listening to it being read, and errors were more obvious than when reading.
Has anyone else used this?
Peter

Using text to speech for revising is something I've seen mentioned here on Goodreads but I am not sure at this point if it was in this group (and I am too tired to look it up, sorry). If it works for you, it can be a nice way to get it ready before beta or editor (the more things you fix, the less time they will need - and possibly less money in case of professional editor).

I use the 'Read Out Loud' feature quite extensively. It's a handy tool to spot mistakes that would otherwise completely escape your attention.

When I first used it, I thought it was too slow. So I tried increasing the words read per minute; the pauses weren't much of a problem afterwards.

The text to speech is something I mention on here over a year ago. It's something you proof reader uses. If you take and read it aloud, you will catch even more mistakes and lousy working. I like the one in word so I don't have to play with Natural Soft any more.

An other trick is to read from the back to the front. When you aren't expecting what comes next, you see more mistakes. Also, if you have Grammerly or ProWritingAid or a similar program, they help a lot.

I've been TTS (text-to-speech) for years to input the text through another channel. :)

Lately, I've been toying with Google's TTS solution that is one of the best sounding TTSes around, and they also have a free tier. Using it with a whole book is not straightforward, but nothing some scripting would not solve.

There's another trick that helps: Print the work out with the margins changed from what you see on screen. That forces you to read what's there, not anticipate it and skim. And for reasons I'm not certain of, we seem to view the reading differently on the printed page

I find that 10 point type, line spacing at 1.5 saves paper, while leaving room for editing and proofreader's marks—something well worth learning.

Thanks, all, for the helpful comments. I agree that it's a useful alternative way of reviewing the text that helps to pick up errors you wouldn't otherwise notice.
Peter

Jay wrote: "There's another trick that helps: Print the work out with the margins changed from what you see on screen. That forces you to read what's there, not anticipate it and skim. And for reasons I'm not ..."

I can't remember a whole book, but I do write using a larger page size, and then reduce it to actual print size once I start proofreading. It also helps doing better paragraph breaks.

Jay wrote: "There's another trick that helps: Print the work out with the margins changed from what you see on screen. That forces you to read what's there, not anticipate it and skim. And for reasons I'm not ..."

Yes, this. Make it look different, different font, margins, etc so you can spot difference you might have glossed over before.

Another thing I've done is use MS Word's search and replace feature to apply colored text to names. I have a real problem with mixing up names of my characters occasionally, but if I proofread with colored names it's easier to see where I've gone awry, especially in areas with two-way dialog, where it's imperative that I have the correct character making the statement.

The way you do this is as follows:

Search: Tom (Match Case)
Replace: Tom (Color: Red)

Search: Dick (Match Case)
Replace: Dick (Color: Blue)

Search: Harry (Match Case)
Replace: Harry (Color: Green)

etc...

If you use the "Match Case" option, it will be much less likely to color words that aren't name, for example. only "Tom" would be colored red, but the "tom" in "bottom" would not.

Once you're done, simply select the entire document (CTRL+A) and choose black as the font color (assuming you aren't already using color in your book.)

Michael wrote: "Another thing I've done is use MS Word's search and replace feature to apply colored text to names. I have a real problem with mixing up names of my characters occasionally, but if I proofread with..."

Truly awesome idea! Hugs

Another useful trick is to do a search for what are often called crutch, or filter words during the final edit. They're the words that distance the reader from the action because they can only come from the writer, explaining instead of placing the reader into the protagonist''s persona. Things like "he heard," "he thought," etc. You can see one such list of words if you search "filter words"

I have a list of personal words I overuse, which can often be removed or restated more actively, like "that, had, some, around," and even "it""

Hope this helps.

Good point, Jay, that one size doesn't fit all. We all have our own overused words and phrases, and to have a list of them to check for is a masterful idea.

I have not but I wish I did. I use WordPerfect(yes I'm still back in 2002) so I had to use an external site for grammarly to be used. I wish I had a better way as I went over my book and I always finished each chapter with 5-7 words that it said needed to be corrected but Grammarly just didn't understand that nothing was wrong with the word. So yeah I haven't used it but wish I had something like this.

I like ProWritingAid as I can add or subtract words I want it to find. If it is only one word, then yes, I'll use the MS word search and find. Justin, they find the words, it's up to you if you change them. I don't ever change them all as I do have my own writing style. As to dialogue, I change very little as we don't speak in correct English most of the time....well maybe a few people do..lol