Hiring an Editor:
How Important Is It?
April 2022 by Susan Shepard
When I published Warriors of the Wood I knew I'd need an editor. I didn't (and still don't) have enough faith in my own abilities to make sure I catch EVERYTHING.
There are different kinds of edits you can get, and you have to be specific about which kind of edit you're looking for. So let's first define what they are.
DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT
This edit is an overall look at your story. The plot, the character arcs, the worldbuilding, and the structure.
Are there holes in your plot?
Are there weak character arcs that need reworking?
Is your world/setting of your characters believable and are details sufficient enough to make this world seem real?
And are the details true to the time period where your story is set?
Does your story hit all the important beats right where they need to?
Does it have a strong hook in the beginning? An exciting middle point? An even more exciting climax at the end?
If it's a stand-alone book, does it resolve?
This is the big picture edit. Forget about grammar, forget about style and prose. This edit is more concerned about the overall set up of the story.
LINE EDIT
Sometimes the line edit and the copy edit are used interchangeably. In my experience, they are not the same.
A line edit is more subjective than a copy edit. It looks at your prose (the way you write), and strives to make each sentence clearer and smoother in the way they flow.
A good editor will try to help you maintain your own voice, and not incorporate their own.
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A line edit also looks at POV (Point Of View) inconsistencies. Are you bouncing from character viewpoint to character viewpoint when you should be staying in one character's POV?
Is your verb tense the same throughout your manuscript? Do you switch from past, present, to future? Are you maintaining either first, second, or third person?
If a developmental edit is the big picture and the bones and structure of your story, then a line edit is the muscle and movement of your story.
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COPY EDIT
This is pretty straight forward. A copy edit is the correction of grammar mistakes, spelling, and punctuation. It's an objective edit because it follows the rules of writing and makes sure your book adheres to the rules and recommendations of editorial style. It's the final touches.
Now that we have a clearer idea of what each edit is, let's look at cost and editing plans.
"You don't KNow what you Don't Know."
Part of the complaint against self-publishers is that they don't pay the costs of hiring a good editor.
Some do. Some don't. This reminds me of the saying: "You don't know what you don't know."
How many self-publishers aren't aware they're breaking a grammar rule? How many self-publishers don't understand the concept of story-structure?
Probably a lot. I didn't, either.
Until I hired a good editor and was taught. I am in no way suggesting you can only learn these things through hiring a good editor. I have also attended writer's conferences and have taken writing classes, and grasped it even better there.
What I am saying is that a professional editor will catch things you keep missing, the things you don't quite know yet.
But now we have to think of budget and cost. My professional developmental edit, line edit, and copy edit, cost me a total of $3,200.00. That's a lot.
A developmental edit is the most expensive of the three. It takes a lot of time and a lot of back and forth if there are issues in your manuscript that need correcting.
Currently, a developmental edit will cost anywhere from $0.07-$0.12 per word. Some charge by the page, the average being $12-$15 per. My current manuscript is a novella at 40,000 words. If charged per word I'm looking at around $2,800.00. If charged per page, it will be about $1,920.00. If your book is longer or the editor charges more than the minimum, the price only goes up.
You can google what the other edits would cost and your eyes will bulge. The costs will vary from editor to editor and company to company, but it's not cheap.
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Authors who are published traditionally have free access to an editor through their publishing company. How and why? Because that publishing company will keep a large portion of the author's royalties and all the rights to their book.
For us Indie-Publishers...we need to have a better writing game or publishing gets to be too expensive, real quick. Or, we put out novels that aren't edited and it's obvious.
If you're writing a novel and you want a professional edit, here is my biggest piece of advice: LEARN HOW TO PLOT, STRUCTURE, and PACE A NOVEL SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR A DEVELOPMENTAL EDIT. Do it yourself. Then find high quality alpha readers to help you locate the plot holes. Then hire a pro for the line and copy edit.
"Indie authors have to learn more skills to keep up with traditionally published authors. It means more work, but the end product will be stunning."
In my last newsletter I said that humans are very capable of learning and adopting new skills. This means that indie-authors, if they want to, might have to learn more skills to keep up with traditionally published authors who have access to a team of pros. It means more work, but the end product will be stunning. More professional.
With all of that said, sometimes just hiring a person who really knows what they're doing is the best way to go. Editing your manuscript is important for the final, beautiful end-product you want to put into a reader's hands. If you prefer a professional and can afford it, do it. If you can and want to learn how to do a developmental edit yourself, exercise that brain and go for it!
So, how does one plot, structure and pace a novel? The basic principles will be included in my next newsletter. Keep an eye out!