Why Hire an Editor?

Money should flow toward the writer.

You might have heard this phrase before. It’s one of those standard bits of advice you hear a lot in the publishing industry. And, it has a lot of merit.

You shouldn’t have to pay someone to represent your book. Reputable literary agents operate like real estate agents, making their money from the deals they secure for you, not from your pocket. Likewise, you shouldn’t have to pay someone to publish your book. A publisher should buy your book. They should pay you, whether in advances, royalties, flat figures, ice cream, or whatever combination you negotiate of the above.

And a publisher will, almost certainly, have an editor on staff. So why should you pay money up front for a service that you’ll be getting for free later? Doesn’t that go against money flowing toward the writer? What makes editors the exception?

The difference is that a good, professional edit is an investment you’re making in your work, and it’s one that will more than pay for itself when that work gets signed. It’s an investment, just like getting yourself business cards, or buying a computer or notepads and good pens. It’s an investment, just like buying advanced outlining and writing software or a set of reference books. Yes, you could write and sell a novel without all of those things, but you’d be putting yourself at a disadvantage if you did.

A beginning writer is looking to cut corners and save money wherever possible. It’s true that a professional edit costs money, and it’s true that there are a lot of other ways to find pairs of eyes to read your story for you.

The difference is that an editor is a professional. Your friends, your family members, even other writers—who may have great perspective on where your story sags and what it needs—are not editors, and there’s a big difference between editors and writers in how they approach a manuscript and what they see in it.

There are different levels of editing. A good copyedit will polish up what you have and make sure it’s technically correct and stylistically consistent. (Don’t underestimate industry-standard style, and don’t underestimate consistency. If you’ve got the same word handled three different ways throughout your manuscript, it’s exactly the sort of amateur mark that’s distracting enough to be noticed.)

A good substantive edit—and this is where there’s an added benefit to having an editor with experience in your genre—will identify the weaknesses in your plot, characters, pacing and/or style, and help to make your overall manuscript stronger.

As an editor who works for publishers as well as working independently for writers, I have the copyediting skills and the substantive editing skills, and I also have the exposure to manuscripts that have already been signed and accepted for publication. That exposure is invaluable, because when it comes to being able to tell someone else if I think their manuscript is up to publishing standards—or advise them regarding what it needs to get it there—I have the perspective to be able to give an informed answer. The facilitators of a major writing workshop probably have that perspective, but a local writing group (depending on its members) may or may not.

A manuscript doesn’t “need” to go to an editor in order to be good enough to get published, but I do think that when you’re sending your work out to publishers and agents, it’s in your best interest to send out the best product you possibly can.

The larger the publisher, the more they’re going to hesitate over a manuscript that has a good core but needs a lot of work, and the less likely they are to take a risk. They get enough submissions that they can easily have their pick of manuscripts that are already clean, and polished, and strong, and they want to churn them out as efficiently as possible. They may assign you an editor, yes, but probably only for a quick round of copyediting. If you need something more in-depth, chances are they’ll keep going until they find a manuscript that doesn’t.

With smaller presses it’s a little different. They’re more willing to take chances, and they might be more willing to work with a book and pull it into shape. But the quality of editing you might find at a small press may vary widely, and keep in mind that smaller presses are flooded with submissions, too. Quality and polish still matter a great deal.

A good editor will be able to give you an honest assessment of your manuscript and its readiness, and help you with whatever it might need. It’s not a requirement to getting published, but it’s a worthwhile investment that will more than pay for itself in the end.

Tagged as: editing, getting published, publishing, writing