From Edie: A.C. Williams share why every author needs an editor, how editors improve your manuscript, and practical tips for choosing the right editor for your book.
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Why Every Author Needs an Editor (and How to Choose the Right One)
by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author
I am terrible at jigsaw puzzles. It’s something about how all the different little shapes fit together that makes it a challenge for me to identify what pieces go where. I’m also stubborn enough that I will try to force a piece into a place, whether it actually goes there or not. But it never fails, after I’ve been working on a puzzle for ages and ages, when someone who has never seen it before comes up and looks at it, they can instantly spot where pieces go.
There is something about our human eyeballs that goes blind to what we’re focused on after we’ve been staring at it for a long time. I’m sure there’s a name for it. Regardless what it’s called or where it comes from, it happens to all of us no matter what kind of project we are working on. It’s not just jigsaw puzzles. It happens to authors too.
How do you think typos survive? Sure, some typos are just resilient, but for the rest of them, either the proofreader went too fast on the final review, or they had already seen the manuscript multiple times and had grown blind to it.
The same is true for authors reviewing their manuscripts. After you have developed your concept and molded your character arc and agonized over your synopsis and assembled your outline and slogged through your draft, you have been living and breathing this manuscript for at least six months (probably longer than that for the average author). Your mind has become so accustomed to the story as you planned it that you can’t see any other way to the story to be told. You can’t see the problems because you are too close to it.
This is where an editor is invaluable.
I have met many authors who don’t believe they need an editor. That is their choice, of course. Sometimes it depends on how much experience an individual author has. For example, when I am writing a simple, straightforward story with a single point-of-view character and a basic story line, I usually don’t plan to have it edited. I have a team of beta readers who will review it for me, and that normally provides enough critique and feedback to suffice. However, if I’m writing a story with a complex world and multiple POVs, or if it’s part of a large series, I always have an editor on standby. There are simply too many threads for me to carry at the same time with total accuracy, and I need a second pair of eyes to look at it with me.
If you are a relatively new author, it is wise to always have an editor review your manuscript before you submit it to a publisher or agent for consideration. After you have spent so much time working on the same project, there’s a better chance someone who hasn’t seen it before may have some creative solutions for you.
The problem is, anyone can call themselves an editor. How do you know that you are hiring the right editor for your project? What if you hire someone to work on your manuscript and they make it worse instead of better? This is a valid concern. Here are a few things to keep in mind when looking for and working with an editor.
First off, make sure that you are working together as partners. An editor’s job is not to recreate your story. An editor will make recommendations for how to improve your story, but editors don’t make those changes for you. Or at least they shouldn’t.
It’s also a good idea to make sure you know what kind of edit you need. Generally speaking, we find three kinds of edits within the publishing industry: a developmental/structural edit, a line edit, and a copyedit/proofread. Each of these focus on different aspects of a manuscript, and most of the time they are charged by different rates. Also, a developmental editor may be a terrible proofreader because the required skill sets are completely different. So if you are looking for someone to check your grammar and punctuation and spelling, don’t hire a developmental editor!
Another aspect to consider is an editor’s specialty. Find out if the editor you’re talking to has experience with the kind of manuscript you are writing. Some editors focus on non-fiction. Other editors focus on romance genres. The editor I work with most commonly specializes in speculative genres, and since that is what I write primarily, it’s a good fit for me. It’s not that someone who specializes in fiction can’t edit a non-fiction manuscript, but choosing an editor who has the right experience for the story you’re writing will help ensure that the finished product is aligned with industry and audience expectations.
Additionally, one of the best practices you can adopt when working with an editor is to ask for an example of their work. Some editors will offer a sample edit—usually the first few pages of a document to demonstrate their style and how they operate. This step of the process is vital because it will tell you a lot about the editor.
Can you complete a manuscript and prepare it for publication without an editor? Sure. But I wouldn’t recommend it, especially if you are still learning how the industry works.
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