A listicle, huh? What is this, 2012? You got me: I’m trying to get clicks to my website. But I promise, if you clicked, and if you’re willing to power through my weirdly meta introduction, you’ll feel better about your project and get a little closer to taking the next step.
So you’ve written a book, and it’s been in creative purgatory for weeks, months, or years. I know how difficult it is to let a creative project out of its cage. It’s safe there: no one can tear it apart. But that’s not what boats are for. I’m mixing my metaphors—damn, this blog post needs an editor! Let’s just get on with it, shall we?
1) You’re Frightened of Frank Feedback
When you work on a project for a long time, you pour so much of yourself into it that you and it become indistinguishable. You can’t bear the thought of showing your manuscript to someone you know, since there’s always the risk that they’ll hate it, or worse, say “It’s good” but secretly cultivate disrespect for you as a writer and person.
There are a few things to discuss here. First, to be a published author, you’ll need thicker skin. People will criticize your work and make you feel bad about it: don’t let them get to you. Second, a good editor is not one of those people. Maybe a hotshot editor can get away with making writers feel like garbage, but most of us are fully on our client’s side. Yes, we’ll tell the truth, but we’ll package it in a nice way that will boost your enthusiasm for your project, not leave you wallowing in your sad, wet lack of talent.
Lastly, your editor won’t just point out what’s not working: they’ll also point out what is working so that you might raise the rest of your book to that standard. Odds are you’ll emerge from an edit feeling pretty good about the strong parts and jazzed to get cracking on the parts that aren’t quite up to snuff.
2) Your Manuscript Isn’t Ready for an Editor
“It just needs some finishing touches,” say people who will never publish. Yes, you want to make your work as good as it can be, but if the pursuit of perfection is keeping you from finishing the ding-dang thing, it’s time to shake things up.
I get it: sharing something you’ve worked really hard on is tough. Even if you’re proud of it, you know you can do better, so you might feel inclined to present a list of caveats and self-aware insults as armor against the onslaught of criticism that is sure to come.
We are always our own harshest critics. And in writing, that’s a dangerous, powerful thing: your classic double-edged sword scenario. On the one edge, that inner critic drives us to make something better and better. On the other edge, it sets an impossible standard that prevents us from even trying. “The perfect is the enemy of the good,” you may have heard.
Since you are already your own harshest critic, your editor isn’t going to add to the dogpile. A good editor is not a critic. Sure, an editor will offer constructive criticism, but you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to read. Your editor knows that the current draft isn’t the best you can do. They know you can do better, and they’re going to use their unique skill set to help you do better.
At some point, your manuscript is going to need an outside perspective. If you’re stuck, instead of torturing yourself and wondering why you can’t make your manuscript better on your own, just hand your book off to an editor.
3) You’re Not Completely Sure What an Editor Does
For the sake of simplicity, I’ve fallen into the old familiar trap of simply saying “editor” throughout this post when in fact there are several types of editor and editing. If you Google “types of editing,” you’ll find many blog articles from editors who are also attempting cute little content marketing with their cute little blogs. I even have a brief guide to the different types of editing on my own site.
Here’s a criminally quick rundown: the types of editing go from developmental editing at the most general, which is the big-picture type of editing that deals with structure, plot, character, themes, etc.; all the way to proofreading, which is merely checking that words are spelled correctly, punctuation is in the right place, and that there aren’t any typographic design errors. There are a couple types of editing in between that engage differently with the text.
Of course, as with any service in an industry you’re unfamiliar with, there’s what you think you need and what you actually need. There are plenty of folks who think all they need is a proofread, and maybe only barely, when in fact there’s a plot hole the size of Middle-Earth, they have no idea how to correctly use a semicolon, and they definitely seriously indubitably use way too many adverbs. That’s why I also offer a manuscript evaluation service to help authors derive the greatest value from an edit.
What an editor does depends on which type of service you opt for. A good editor will carefully set expectations for the edit when you start working together. If you ask, they’ll probably offer a short sample edit, just to ensure you’re on the same page. Working with an editor is a customizable collaboration to help you shape your manuscript into the book you intended to write.
4) You’re Not Sure You Could Trust an Editor
The last section touched on what editors do: it’s equally important to explain what editors don’t do. An editor will not rewrite your story. An editor will not make crazy assumptions about your work. A good editor is respectful of your story: perhaps even in awe of it. They will make suggestions throughout your manuscript, most likely using industry-standard Microsoft Word’s Track Changes so that every change can be easily undone.
A good editor isn’t a pedant: they don’t make changes just to make them. Yes, there’s something called The Chicago Manual of Style that sets the standard for grammar and style in American book publishing, but a good editor knows when a story is best served by breaking the rules. A good editor understands that language is always evolving, and they certainly don’t get caught up in “don’t split infinitives” or “never end a sentence with a preposition” hogwash. Can you imagine if an editor said to Cormac McCarthy, “You better put some quotation marks in there”?
Throughout this article, I use the phrase “a good editor,” and that’s because there are some not-so-good editors out there. Maybe this contributes to the lack of trust. But there are several signs to help you determine whether you can trust an editor: a decade or more editing experience, a master’s degree in book publishing, and membership in one or more editing guilds, to name a few. As with any service, you’ll need to do your research to find the right fit. But if reading this blog is about as much research as you’re willing to do, then hey, my name is T. J. Carter. I edit stuff. Even if you’re not sure I’m the right fit for your project, I’m happy to tap into my editing networks (NW Editors Guild, ACES, grad school alumni—the list goes on).
5) You’re Wary of the Cost
Think how long it takes to read a book: now double that and add an hourly rate of at least fifty dollars: that’s the ballpark figure for how much it’ll cost a good editor to edit your book (though it depends on the type of editing you’re looking for, of course). You might have that kind of cash lying around, and that’s great. But a lot of writers, perhaps most, write as a hobby, and they’re not looking to put that kind of money into their hobby.
You should only make financial decisions that make sense to you. But if you’re looking to get serious about your writing, and if you have the means, hiring an editor is worth it. You get a lot of value out of an edit that might not even occur to you. For example, most good editors have a “teach to fish” mentality. In addition to fixing errors, a good editor will explain nearly every change at the first instance to help you understand why something is an error.
The cost is a very real hurdle but not an insurmountable one. If you aren’t able to pay an editor $2,000 all at once, you may be able to find an editor (like me) who offers payment plans of up to six months after the date of delivery.
Every published book you’ve ever read has been edited. If you want folks to read your book, you ought to hire an editor. A good editor will help your book become the best version of itself and something you’re proud of.