5 tips for choosing a fiction editor and what to expect
For those new to fiction writing, it’s hard to know what to expect when you decide to look for an editor for the first time. How do you know what type of editing you need? And where do you look to find a good editor?
Editing is so much more in-depth than checking for spelling and grammar, and aside from a cursory proofread, editing is a step that many new, independent authors skip in their haste to get their manuscript out there into the world; however, self-editing and professional editing are vital parts of the book writing process, especially if you want your books to sell and gain long-lasting readership. Even for those seeking traditional publishing, searching for agents, there is so much competition that many authors choose to have their manuscript edited before they go on submission (although it’s not usually recommended unless you’re really uncertain about the quality of your work, since your book will be edited in-house by the publishing company when you sell it). No-one writes perfect prose first time around, and editing can be extremely expensive, so you need to make sure that you not only hire the right editor but that you are hiring them for the right type of editing that your manuscript needs.
Below, I’ve outlined my five top tips on choosing a fiction editor; how to ensure that the editing service is appropriate for your needs, and that the editor you choose is reputable and reliable.
1. What kind of editing do you need?
There are different types of editing which assess different aspects of your manuscript but are all equally as important as the others.
The first thing you need to consider before engaging an editor is the type of edit you need. Before anything else — if your manuscript is a first draft — you need to self-edit. Don’t send a first draft to an editor; you can save yourself a heap of money by self-editing your work beforehand, and good editors won’t take on something that’s still in its ‘raw’ state for this reason.
When your manuscript is ready, when you’ve self-edited, have had feedback from beta readers or a professional assessment of the manuscript, and you’re much more confident about the plot and prose, the developmental edit is usually the most important (and unfortunately, the most expensive) place to start for fiction novels. The developmental edit covers issues such as point of view and tense, the structure and plot of your novel, and characterization.
A line edit comes next — this is where your editor will look at the stylistic elements of your prose, and work with you to improve your sentence structure, verbiage, pacing, and general readability. A copyeditor (more common for non-fiction) is like a line editor, but they usually deal with the more technical elements of writing and the formatting of your document and don’t usually deal with the more stylistic elements. Finally, the last in the process (and usually the cheapest) are the proofreaders, who check things like spelling and punctuation — this should be the last thing that happens to your manuscript; if you’re making changes to the document after a proofread, then it’s a sign it wasn’t quite finished yet.
Some editors will specialize in one or two editing types, but some — such as proofreaders — usually only offer that one service. Check with an editor before you hire them to make sure the person editing your work is the right kind of editor, and offers the right kind of editing service your manuscript needs.
One important aspect of finding a good fiction editor which is rarely mentioned is genre — genres have their own tropes, and finding an editor who understand the genre, who reads in the genre in their own time, is likely to be able to spot where you’ve used obvious tropes which aren’t working, or if you have accidentally written something eerily similar to a famous novel you’ve perhaps never read (it happens!)
2. Where do you find editors listed and how much do they charge?
There are many freelancing sites out there for editors to make use of to find clients (such as Fiverr, Freelancer, Upwork, and Reedsy) and some are more reputable than others. I’ve used them myself —and still do—but you can’t assume that there will be a minimum, quality standard amongst freelance editors hired this way. It is important to read their profiles and feedback, and communicate with them before committing to a contract to make sure you know exactly what you’re getting. Many editors find clients through word of mouth, but you can often find them on Twitter, or on ‘Editors for Hire’ lists by some of the established editing associations such as the EFA, and ACES, for example, who both have lists of available freelance developmental and line editors, copyeditors, and proofreaders.
Regardless of where you discover your editor, many have their own websites dedicated to detailing their services and you can find more about them and their editing background. As your editor will most likely work from home from their computer, on a digital copy of your work, there’s no need to limit yourself to a local search — many freelance editors have clients around the world and work remotely, and many take international payments through PayPal or straight from your credit card from the invoice (I personally use Freshbooks/WePay for taking online payments through invoices from my clients). If your editor doesn’t have a website, and they are charging less than $1000 for a developmental edit of a 150,000-word fantasy manuscript and you found them on a freelancing website—or worse, they have no website and are using paypal—then perhaps be a little careful before you hand over any of your hard-earned cash.
Many editors now offer — in addition to separate services — a kind of ‘double package’ service where they will do the developmental and line editing in one. Although it’s one of the indicators you may want to watch out for, of a less-than-trustworthy editor, more and more independent editors are starting to offer this type of comprehensive service. It doesn’t mean your editor is inexperienced, not a professional, or will rip you off — many independent authors churn out a book a month and have long-standing relationships with their editor and make use of this type of comprehensive service. Their editor will already know their style, quality of writing, and that any developmental editing will be minimal. But a good editor should never offer you a combined editing package without first having you provide a sample edit or seeing the standard of your work. If you’re a new client and you are offered such a package for an alarmingly low price without the editor asking to see your work, then it probably is too good to be true.
Editing associations such as the EFA and other related sites, such as blogs on Reedsy, provide price guides to help both editors and clients work out roughly the range their prices should fall into for the service they offer; most price by the word, rather than per hour, and for a developmental or line edit you may be looking anywhere in the range of 2–8 cents per word (a standard 70,000 word novel could cost anywhere between $1400–5600) depending upon the level of experience of the editor and how quickly they can work. If you do want them to work by the hour, you need to be forewarned that editors generally cost upwards of $40 per hour. Proofreading is often much cheaper, however a professional with decades in the business might easily set you back 2–3 cents per word.
3. Were you offered a free sample edit, or a paid, partial edit of the first X number of pages?
Most good editors won’t even price a project, let alone accept a client, unless they’ve seen a sample of their writing. Although there are price guides out there to help editors price their services accurately and fairly, it will all depend on the type of editing the client needs, the level of work the manuscript needs, and the timescale the editor thinks it will take to complete. To work this out, an editor will usually provide a free sample edit, or request that you pay for a small section of your manuscript to be edited first, in the case of longer novels, and then deduct the cost from your final edit. The sample edit not only gives your editor a chance to assess your work for a more accurate price, but it also gives you the opportunity as the client to check out their editing style and work out exactly what you’re going to get from them.
If you get a sample edit for a line editing service and your editor takes four weeks and doesn’t even mark-up your manuscript using track changes, then this should set off alarm bells. If you want a developmental edit, but the sample edit comes back after a month with a single A4 page of vague notes which parrots back your story like a synopsis, you know you most likely won’t be getting your money’s worth. Any good editor knows that all manuscripts are different, just as all clients are different. And the one-price-fits-all approach doesn’t work in the editing business, for the editor or the client.
4. What to expect from your edit, and what your editor tells you they will provide at the outset
The standard edit these days will get you a marked-up manuscript (usually using tracked changes in a Word document) with specific advice and comments, alongside a separate, multi-page editorial letter which will usually provide an overview of the main issues with your manuscript and some advice and suggestions to more forward (my own editorial letters frequently run over 10,000 words—but then, I do usually provide a chapter by chapter breakdown, which not all editors will do). The exception to this is a manuscript evaluation, or a beta read, where the editor will instead just provide a summary of key points in an editorial letter; you’re not being short changed here—it all depends upon what you and your manuscript need.
Depending upon the service you choose, if you are having a copyedit, for example, which is more common for non-fiction, you may even get a style sheet. For fiction, the style sheet will provide a list of the main character names, places, even the timeline of your story. It tells you how you’ve spelled words, where they appear, and even where there are plot holes and gaps in your story. All editors will work slightly differently, and it’s important to know what’s expected and what you need from the outset. If an editor is vague about what you will receive from them, or doesn’t specify, then perhaps think about looking elsewhere.
Regardless of your editor’s specialty and the service they’re providing, make sure that you understand what is usually provided for that type of editing service, and check with your editor or on their website, that they are going to be providing the output you need.
For most editors, we don’t consider each project finished when we hand over the editorial letter with our feedback. We expect that you may have questions, and for many of us, this also leads to long term working relationships. If we took on your project, it stands to reason we were interested in your work from the outset, we read in your genre, and we’re invested in seeing you do well. Many editors offer a free follow-up call to discuss any questions you may have about their feedback. Some also offer long-term coaching and mentoring services if you need a little more help. Others, like myself, have open conversation via email with clients as they work through the feedback; going through edits can be a long, arduous process, it doesn’t happen overnight, and I know my clients often have questions months after my editing was completed. Make sure that you understand the level of service your editor is happy to provide and that it suits your working style
5. The feedback — constructive criticism should never be vague or rude
This again is something you can judge from the sample edit.
If you receive feedback for a sample edit of 10,000 words of your fantasy novel, but you only get back one A4 page of summary which parrots back at you what happened, or it simply says your work is terrible or you ‘tell’ too much, then that’s a sign to back out and find a new editor.
However, it might be hard to tell from feedback of a sample edit of just 1,000 words (4 industry standard pages). Do they seem enthusiastic to work with you? Do they say they like your story? Do they note any areas for improvement? Even from just 1,000 words, an editor can tell how much work your edit will need and should be able to clearly explain this to you in your feedback and price estimate. Switching of tenses, and head-hopping where you have major point of view issues are not something you can hide in the first 1,000 words, and they’re certainly something an editor should be mentioning in your sample editorial letter. But the same goes for if your sample edit feedback is too nice— this should also raise red flags. After all, if your work was perfect, why would you even need an editor in the first place? And if your work has yet to be professionally edited, it’s highly unlikely your prose and plot are perfect.
Something to be mindful of when hiring a professional editor is what you would ultimately like to achieve. What is your goal? Going into the editing process with an open mind is important if you want to get the most from your experience. Yes, it’s going to be difficult hearing that a plot point isn’t working, or your character doesn’t have any development, or you are telling and showing in the wrong places; but these are all important things you need to hear before you take your novel any further. As editors, we may be blunt in our manuscript mark-up, but we will always try to explain the reasoning behind our advice and suggestions in the editorial letter. If you fight back against your editor for every single comment or suggestion they make and submit your manuscript with minimal changes to agents, publishers, or shoot it straight up online as an ebook, then you need to be realistic about your chances of getting that agent and making those sales. After all, why did you hire an editor in the first place if you weren’t open to feedback and making your manuscript the best it can be? Our job is to help you see the issues you couldn’t see, because you were too close to it. Most good editors will approach an edit with the client in mind; we want to keep your voice, your style, but help you hone the prose and fix the structure to make your work shine.
Originally published at https://alisonjefferson.com.
