before you hire an editor

Trusting a stranger with your manuscript is a daunting process. It’s quite normal to be apprehensive when you’re searching for your first professional editor. But a little knowledge and preparation can make the process much less intimidating. There are a number of questions you should ask yourself before you start your search. Most importantly, are you ready?

Are you ready?

Now, this question is twofold. First off, is your manuscript ready, or does it look like a literary crime scene? Is it correctly formatted? A lot of editors will not take on a client if the manuscript looks like it hasn’t even had a cursory self-edit.

The next part is, are you emotionally ready? Are you prepared to kill your darlings? The fact is, your editor is not going to be as emotionally invested in your book as you are. And that’s a good thing. Part of the benefit of an editor is that they are approaching your manuscript with fresh eyes. They can see the flaws and plot holes that are invisible to someone who has lived and breathed these words for months on end.

 Of course, this isn’t me saying you should blindly accept every change your editor suggests. If you feel a change undermines the point of a scene or runs roughshod over your unique authorial voice, you should absolutely push back on that. But at the same time, you need to trust that your editor knows what they’re doing. You should go into the process ready to have your adverbs assassinated or your pet phrases removed. In other words, you need to swallow your ego and accept that no first draft is perfect. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’ve been a writer myself, I understand. It’s normal to feel embarrassed or chastened after a round of edits. In this situation, my advice would be to sleep on it. Wait for the knee jerk emotional reaction to fade. Let your editor’s words sink in and return with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective.

Do you know what you want?

Many people go into this process not realising that there are multiple types of editing.

A developmental editor looks at your book on a macro level. Are there major plot holes? Are your characters well developed? Are there any issues with pacing?

A line editor gets a little more granular. Their job is to polish your prose. Things like getting rid of any extraneous adverbs, eliminating redundancies or suggesting alternate word choices.

Your copy editor is more focused on technical errors. Spelling, grammar, punctuation and typos.

Many editors will offer more than one of these services, but they don’t all offer all of them. Before hiring an editor, you need to decide what your manuscript needs and, obviously, what your budget will allow.

If you’re going with all of them, I’d recommend seeking out a developmental editor first. Simply because, at that level, editing might lead to large-scale changes to your work that involve entire passages, or even chapters, being eliminated. You don’t want to waste your time or your editor’s time with polishing prose that might not make it to the final draft.

Are You Prepared to Answer Questions?

So, you’re prepared. You know what you’re looking for, and you’ve found a likely looking portfolio. That editor is going to have questions of their own before they agree to take on your project.

So, a few examples of the kinds of things an editor might want to be aware of. Starting simple, what is your book about? It’s always nice to know what you’re getting into. Some editors don’t feel comfortable working on a story that deals with certain subject matters or themes. Sometimes this will be indicated on their website or their socials, so make sure you read those thoroughly.

Secondly, word count. It helps an editor going forward if they know the rough size of your project.

This leads fairly neatly into the next question, which is time. Your editor will want to know your ideal timetable for completion. I would advise doing your research and managing your expectations in that area, just to make sure that what you’re asking is reasonable. The average pace for an intensive line edit is 1000-1500 words per hour. So for a 70,000 word novel, you’re looking at around three weeks. If you need a faster turnaround, you can negotiate with your editor, but they might end up asking for more money.

Final thought. If your chosen editor doesn’t take on your work, bear in mind that this is rarely personal. It could be as simple as their roster being full, or it could mean they honestly don’t feel they’re the right person. It’s about what’s best for your book.