Do you need an editor, First name / friend?

 

The short answer is yes. But you knew that already. The question isn’t really if you need an editor but when you might need to hire one yourself.

 

To which, I’d say it depends.

 

This is where the Choose Your Own Adventure comes in. Answer the question below to start your journey and find out if and when you need an editor.

 

START HERE: Are you looking to publish independently or go through a traditional publisher?

 

 

If you’re going to pursue publishing through traditional means, you may hire an editor but you don’t necessarily need to. 

 

You might hire an editor if you’ve been querying, it’s been a while, and…

 

No: It’s important to make sure you’ve done your research so you’re querying agents who work with your genre and are looking to pick up books that are similar to yours! It’s also crucial to submit the best version of your manuscript you can. Make sure you’ve worked through a couple drafts and incorporated some beta reader feedback.

 

If you haven’t done this and have been querying, you might want to take a break and focus on the manuscript before doing any more querying! If you still don’t get any traction, it might be time to try out an editor!

 

Yes: You could use an editor. An editor can help you make the first ten thousand words of your manuscript sing so the agent requests the full submission. An editor can also work through story and character arcs with you to ensure your book’s pacing and themes are landing well, making them appealing to an agent. Consider hiring an editor to help with one or both of these.

 

This is probably the end of your journey with a freelance editor if you’re on the traditional track because your agent and publisher will be walking you through the next steps of the publishing journey. The publisher will have their own language editors and proofreaders, so you shouldn’t have to hire anyone after you’ve been picked up by an agent!

 

You’re going to need editing of some kind! In an ideal world, you’d go through the stages of editing a traditionally published book goes through: developmental edits (story edits), copy edits (language edits), and proofreading. 

 

But let’s be real. That’s not in the budget for most indie authors.

 

So what do you do? Evaluate where you think you need the most help. Answer the next question to see your next steps on your adventure.

 

 

Yes: Great! It sounds like your story is compelling and you’ve gotten some good feedback. If you’re happy with the story, you’ll probably want to get some language edits done to make sure your words are doing the most for you. This means your editor will look not only at grammar but also at the clarity and consistency of the text. Consider hiring an editor to take your prose to the next level. Jump to the next question.

 

No: If you’re worried your story-level aspects—like character arcs, themes, pacing, and setting—are shaky, you’re best off getting developmental (story-level) editing or a manuscript critique. People are more likely to forgive typos and errors if they’re engaging with the story and the characters! Consider hiring an editor to get your story to that stage! Jump to the next question.

 

When is your manuscript ready for editing? It depends on what kind of editing you’re looking for. Answer the next question to find out.

 

 

Story-level edits: You’re ready for editing after you’ve finished a first draft of your book, sent it out to beta readers for feedback, and have implemented that feedback.You want to get the most out of your money and your editor’s time, so it’s best if you’ve caught the obvious problems on your own. Then, your editor can dive deep into the nuance of your story, themes, and characters. Reach out to an editor to start the process (covered in next email). Skip to the next section.

 

Language-level edits: You’re ready for language edits once your story has been finalized. You don’t want to have to delete passages that you and your editor have painstakingly worked on to make them read beautifully! Reach out to an editor to start the process (covered in next email). Skip to the next section.

If you still have questions, feel free to reply to this email with them!

 

Next week, I’ll be talking about how to go about finding an editor, what you should look for in an editor, and how to reach out to them!

 

Knowledge is power, so forward this to anyone in your life who might be wondering about this.