Lots of authors I know have a hard time finding an editor because they feel that they want to “know” their editor. This is understandable when you’re entering into a developmental relationship, but copyediting and proofreading are much more technical skills. The best copyeditors and proofreaders I know are freelancers who are hard to find because they’re working for publishing houses, and the only people who have access to them are companies and/or individuals with stables of editors they’ve cultivated over years in the industry. If you find a service (or individual) you trust with access to a stable of editors, be open to being assigned to one. Ask about the individual’s qualifications, and what other books they’ve edited, but let the trial edit be the deciding factor rather than any connection you hoped to have between yourself and your editor.
I totally agree that you need an editor. I disagree that it has to be someone else. Editing is an entirely different skill than say writing, but it can be learnt (editing covers more than writing, at least in terms of publishing). Editing your own work is harder than editing someone else’s, but it can be done. Also, learning to edit is hard and takes some time, regardless if you are editing for others or yourself. And it is interesting that this apparent need for an editor happens within writing. Other creative disciplines, music, painting, photography, theater, etc, the idea… Read more »
Karen, when you decide to hire an editor please make sure you’ve done all you could to make your book the best it can be, don’t take shortcuts. Select your editor with care. I suggest you make arrangements to call several editors, interviewing each one carefully. Have your questions written out, don’t wing it or you’ll forget something crucial. After all, you’ll want to click with your future editor, he or she MUST be a good fit. I believe you cannot separate editing from writing. They go hand-in-hand. That means you have to form a writing team (there is no I in team). Frequent communication is a must. Wishing you all the best… Dennis
Reedsy isn’t a company providing book editing services; we are a marketplace of top-notch editors. We’re not going to assign you an editor you don’t know, nor fix a price with you. We give you choice, flexibility, and access to the best editorial talent out there. Every single freelance editor on the Reedsy marketplace has been carefully selected. They all have extensive experience and ample portfolios. When you browse through the professional book editors on Reedsy, you can refine your search by type of editing and genre. You can then approach several editors at the same time with a project brief and sample of your book. There are no set fees and each editor can offer you an individual quote. This means you will receive a range of quotes and responses to your brief, allowing you to choose the best editor for your book.
After researching a lot of different designers, I went with Ebook Launch for my debut novel because there wasn't a single cover in their portfolio I didn't like. I didn't know exactly what I wanted, but I knew what I liked and what I didn't like, and they took my mishmash of half-formed ideas and turned it into a beautiful, eye-catching, genre-appropriate design! Not only that, but they were speedy, responsive, and accessible. A real pleasure to work with. I will definitely be coming back to them for the rest of the covers in the series.
Editors work in a highly collaborative way that brings out the best version of any project, large or small. It is important to note that editors are not only skilled in technical grammar rules but are also often well-versed and experienced with a wide variety of writing styles that can often bring valuable feedback and new perspectives to a written piece, enhancing its structural or creative clarity. Many editors in the modern work environment are also by nature talented communicators and can reshape any message into one that grabs readers’ attention and draws them into the content. Explore the multitude of freelance editors available on Upwork and find one that best fits your next project.
Thank you for this most timely article. I’m a newbie writer that is writing a history book on a small WWII town. It is a little unique in that it will have many newspaper clippings and historic construction photos. The narrative will only be there as a clarification to these items. I want to be sure that this narrative is smooth flowing and comprehensive. I’m not certain to what degree editing will be involved. You article certainly helped bring to light things I should consider.
Some authors budget very unrealistically, perhaps just a couple hundred dollars. (I’m not saying this is necessarily true in your case, but I have encountered it.) In such cases, I find myself wondering whom they are imagining should bridge the gap between what they are comfortable paying and what the editor needs to earn in order to pay expenses and support him- or herself.
After writing some of the book or a first draft of a book, some authors decide that they need more than an editor; they need a writer to take their writing to the next level, in order to get published or reach the level of sales they aim for. I can refer aspiring authors to excellent, experienced co-writers, book doctors and ghostwriters, some of whom have worked on New York Times Bestsellers and other award-winning books. Find out more about ghostwriting services.
If “the greatest benefit of an editor is that he is she is not the author—the editor is someone else,” then an editor is no more than a beta reader, and all authors would need is friends to read their novel and give feedback. I recommend beta reads before a book is sent to me for editing, because casual readers, approaching the story fresh, can indeed find flaws in the book the author is too close to the story to see. But it’s after the beta reads that a professional editor steps in to do her magic. A skilled fiction… Read more »
Look at the front and back of the next page for acknowledgements. If an author worked closely with an editor throughout the writing process, they may choose to include their name in the acknowledgements page. The acknowledgements page is usually a few lines of text centered on a blank page after the copyright information. Read it to see if the editor is mentioned.[4]
In fact, Pressfield writes, “Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.”
