Are you just about ready to hire an editor for your manuscript? This is something you’ll definitely want to do before you publish your book or before you start showing it around to publishers.
And as I’ve said before, choose an editor who is accustomed to working with book manuscripts. The retired professor who attends your church is probably a very smart guy, but, if he isn’t involved in the publishing industry and if he’s unaccustomed to working with book manuscripts, he might not be the sort of editor you need. Your coworker might be brilliant in her job as ad writer for the company, but does she understand book editing?
How do you go about finding an appropriate and qualified editor? Word of mouth is usually fairly valid. Search out websites, follow up on editors and consultants whose articles and/or blogs you’ve read. Look at books they’ve edited. Ask for references and follow up on them. And get an evaluation and estimate from potential editors. Most editors will look at your manuscript, evaluate a portion of it (offer some idea about the types of problems they see and will correct) and give you an estimate.
How much will it cost? Depending on the scope and size of your project and the amount of editing it needs, you will pay anywhere from $400 to as much as $6,000 for a good editor. My clients generally pay between $800 and $2,000. Again, however, it depends on the shape and size of the manuscript and the client’s needs.
Once you’ve made your choice, it’s time to start establishing a working relationship with your editor. It sometimes takes time for a workable relationship to emerge through the egos, hopes, dreams and getting acquainted/learning to understand one another process. The process sometimes resembles a sparring match of sorts—only in a reaching out/probing sort of way. Sometimes the working relationship is a match and other times it isn’t. When you’re still in the getting acquainted phase, it’s okay to question and express concerns. Your editor understands that your book is very dear to your heart. You’ve put a lot of work into it. It may be your passion, in which case the manuscript represents a lot of heart and thought. It isn’t easy to let go of any part of it for any length of time. This is a difficult transition period for you. And working with a publisher is going to be difficult, too because most of them will make a lot of changes—usually to the title and sometimes to the content, as well.
When you turn your manuscript over to an editor, this may be the first time you’ve let it go—that you’ve dared to show it to anyone. It’s a scary moment—what if the editor blasts it, tells you it is terrible, says that you can’t write worth a darn? Well, most likely this won’t happen. In fact, the worst that could happen is that the editor may recommend that you look for another editor who would be more familiar with this genre or your writing style.
He or she might suggest some creative writing courses. I’ve seen manuscripts that weren’t quite ready for editing and I typically suggest to these authors that they join a good writing critique group and let the members help them to put the finishing touches on their books. A hopeful author might need help showing the story—allowing it to happen rather than forcing it to happen. They may require assistance with sentence structure.
Sure, an editor can assist with these things, but if the author lacks some basic skills, this can be quite an expensive and possibly useless process for the author. I think it’s best that an author learn the basics and begin to apply them before approaching an editor. A writers’ critique group can be very helpful to the author who is willing to work hard and learn.
At the editor’s discretion, she might offer to work with you one-on-one in order to help you get your manuscript in better shape before the editing begins. I will sometimes work with a client on sentence structure, dialog, smoother transitions or creating imagery, for example and then send him back to the drawing board before I start the editing work. I once suggested that an author tell her complicated, rather sordid story as fiction rather than a memoir. And I recommended to another author that he give his manuscript a stronger self-help element instead of making it simply informational. In these cases, the authors did extensive rewriting before bringing their work to me for editing.
In situations like these, not only does the client discover some techniques he can use forevermore, this is a great opportunity for us to learn to work together.
When you approach an editor with your manuscript, you are hiring someone with knowledge, skills and opinions. Be open to his or her suggestions. But remember that you have the final say. You don’t have to take the editor’s advice. I would strongly urge you to seriously consider it before dismissing it, however. The editing phase of your manuscript is an excellent time to practice detaching from your project. Maintain an emotional attachment to your project while trying to work with an editor, agent or publisher and you might just spoil your chances of success.
For information about self-editing, choosing and working with an editor and everything else you need to know about publishing, read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway