One knock against Indie writers points to the many mistakes found in Indie books. I understand an editor can be expensive and be beyond reach of many writers.  I guess I'm lucky because I married mine. But for those of you who don't have that luxury there are things you can do to ameliorate the situation.

First is the most obvious: use MS Word's grammar and spellcheck. Take the time to do it . I know it's a pain, particularly the grammar check. Find what rules work for you. However, spellcheck is only the very first layer of editing. You need much more.

There are other inexpensive software packages that can help. I picked Autocrit, a manuscript editing software packaging online. It costs $77/yr and allows you to paste 8000 words at a time for analysis. Like most software it's not perfect but I find it helpful in removing extra words and tightening up my writing. Just take the time. As I said, there's other software out there to help. Understand that your book is judged by more than its cover. If you took the time to write it, take the time to edit. Writing is a detailed and sometimes painful craft,

Another thing you can do is read. There are many books out to help writers. Two that I found particularly helpful were "Take Your Characters to Dinner" by Lynn Yorke, and "Stein on Writing" by Sol Stein.

Of course, marrying your editor has other benefits...