When you hire an editor, you enlist an ally to help you get your book in the best possible shape for pitching or self-publication. Most editors charge an hourly rate, and editing a book can be a lengthy process. The more you can do to finesse your manuscript before you turn it over to an editor, the less you will pay and the more efficient the process will be.
In my experience, however, most writers get stuck at a certain point in their process and need to surrender their manuscript to an outside eye who can take over and clearly see what needs work. I’ve stepped in at this point in the process with many an author, doing my best to save the day when the scribe is sick to death of his own words.
Usually, my edits result in sending a draft back to the writer with more work for him to do. This is because an editor’s magical skills only extend so far. The rest, I’m so sorry to say, you will have to do yourself. After all, this is your book… and it’s going to be great!
With that in mind, here are some things an editor will — and won’t — do for you.
An Editor Will
Read your draft with a critical eye and be honest with you about what’s working, and what’s not. She’ll point out what’s missing, where you need to think things through a little more, and where you’re onto something but haven’t quite finished the thought.
An Editor Won’t
Fill in those blanks for you. Always, there will be rewrites. Go ahead and book that private cabin off the grid now—you’re going to need the headspace.
An Editor Will
Point out where you need to cite your sources for data, facts, figures, and quotes and advise you on how to insert and format those citations.
An Editor Won’t
Do the research for you to figure out where you got all that information in the first place. I can’t emphasize this enough: keep track of your citations from the start. If you’re savvy with Microsoft Word, it’s easiest to insert them as footnotes as you write. You can also simply insert them inline with the text in parenthesis as you go. At the very least, write them down on a piece of paper!
Keeping track of your citations up front will save you a lot of time, grief, and money once you get into the editing process. And if that’s not motivating enough, it will also help protect you from litigation!
An Editor Will
Help you fine-tune the wording of your thoughts so they flow and are grammatically correct and make sense.
An Editor Won’t
Miraculously decipher which of the passages in your book are original writing and which are just cut-and-pasted from your notes on other sources. I’ve edited plenty of books by super smart experts whose manuscripts were chock full of passages from other people’s writing. This is not because my writer clients were devious cheaters; it’s because it’s very easy to paste some information into your manuscript while you are researching your topic, then forget which parts you actually wrote and which you meant to use as inspirational material for your own later thoughts.
If you’re going to cut and paste the writing of others into your own works, you have two choices:
- Flag the content for yourself so that you remember to rewrite it. You could highlight it, color the text, or insert a comment.
- Or, choose to use it verbatim and credit the source. For more information on how to use and credit the writing of others, I recommend this post from Jane Friedman’s blog.
An Editor Will
Help you write book jacket copy and put your manuscript into a logical format that includes headers and other tags from which a proper table of contents can later be drawn.
An Editor Won’t
Help you design a cover and lay out the actual pages of your book. For that, you will need a graphic designer and a desktop publisher.
An Editor Will
Proudly help spread the word about your published book (and her part in it) on social media and her own marketing materials.
An Editor Won’t
Manage your PR campaign. You’ll need a publicist. If your book gets picked up by a formal publisher, they will take care of it for you. If you’re planning to self-publish, I highly recommend hiring a publicist who is well-versed in the specific art of promoting books.
An Editor Will
Be your cheerleader and keep you on track to finish this thing.
An Editor Won’t
Magically provide you with the motivation to do rewrites. You’re going to have to build that into your schedule, I’m afraid, and make it happen.
Entering into a relationship with an editor with appropriate expectations will set you up for a happy editing process. If you’re curious about hiring me to edit your book, email me today and I’ll respond promptly.
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