I'm an Editor for a small Indie Publisher, so I also do freelance editing.
How many times has she gone over the work herself before handing it to you? (Hint, she needs to have gone over it at LEAST three times to do the work justice).
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It's a learning process for all of us. I've never done editing, I'm just fairly decent with grammar. Honestly, she had only been over it once. I started through ch 1 and found enough issues that I sent it back to her to address some issues. I'll pass along the 3 times minimum. I want to help her, just new to the process.
Do you have any tips for how she should go about getting it published? Is Amazon self-publish worth it, or would it make more sense to find someone to help her (ie. publisher, manager, publicist, etc...)? Like I said, it's her first book.
How long have you been an editor?
I started by self-editing my first novel back in 1999 and taught myself how things should be set out.
My tips for your sister in law would be to lay the book aside for a few weeks (a month if she can) and work on something else.
When she finally gets back to the book, she needs to read it thoroughly with a critical eye - it will be easier after the month because it will then seem fresh.
She needs to read it as though she is critiquing the book and every plot-hole, anomaly, mistake and error has to be addressed.
She is the author, the 'mother' of that book and it is always best if the 'parent' goes over it first because they know the book best, they know the characters, the plots, the storylines and if something isn't right, they are the ones to fix it.
It's worth self-publishing of course - after Amazon's fees, she'll get all the royalties, but if it's good enough, send it to publishers and agents because they can also give their expertise and have access to other aspects of the publishing industry - translation, films etc.
Try to steer her away from the big 'vanity press' because they just take a book and do to it exactly what you can do to it, but for barrow-loads more money.
If you want to check out a company, use Google and type their name and 'scam' after it in the search bar. Also, use Writer Beware to see if they know of the company.
This link may help.
That's great! Thank you for all that. I'll pass it along. I know she's eager to get it published, but what you said about leaving it for a while so she can get fresh eyes makes a lot of sense. I'll encourage her to review the publishers if she changes her mind from doing Amazon publishing.
Thank you for such an extensive and informative response! :)