More writers are hiring editors these days, whether they’re going indie or just making sure the manuscript is polished before submitting to agents and publishers. If you’re a newer writer, unpublished, here are some things I think you should do before spending your hard-earned money on a freelance editor.
(1) Get objective feedback.
It’s best to have a critique group or partner, if possible. Try to get the most honest feedback you can—not on grammar and punctuation, but on the overall content of your book. Are readers finding the book engaging? Are they reading to the end? Are they confused?
(2) Edit & revise your book using reputable sources.
Find fiction resources HERE. My favorites for the revision phase are Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne & King, and Revision and Self-Editing for Publication by James Scott Bell.
Non-fiction resources HERE. Writing a memoir or personal story? Click HERE.
(3) Understand and follow 3-act structure.
This is for fiction and memoir. PLEASE don’t underestimate the importance of story structure. (Tweet this.) If your editor has to spend the bulk of their time fixing your structure and educating you about it, you won’t get the best value for your editing money. You can learn structure on your own—and seriously, your book won’t work without it. A couple of helpful resources are Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland, and Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell.
(4) Read your book out loud to catch awkwardness and poor phrasing.
This is especially helpful to make sure fiction dialogue is snappy and believable. But it helps with any kind of writing. Often when you read it aloud, you’ll catch problems you’d never spot by reading silently. (Tweet this.)
(5) Make sure your editor has edited published books.
It’s difficult to verify the legitimacy and credentials of each editor. So do your best to verify that they’ve edited books that have been published by traditional publishers. It’s your best bet for getting a good edit.
Here are some freelance editors. There are a lot more out there in internet-land! Do your research.
We’ve been talking about editing this month on the Children’s Book Hub. Even though I myself am a freelance children’s book editor as well as an author, I rely heavily on my collaborations with editors – at our publishing house, as well as on a freelance basis.
My mother and I are fortunate to work with truly gifted editors at our publishing houses – but for my own independent projects I always seek feedback from a freelance editor (such as Emma D. Dryden, whom I interviewed this month for the Hub). You see, I’m not very good at editing myself.
There are many good reasons to work with a freelance editor in today’s publishing world – but here is perhaps the most compelling one: Once a manuscript has been rejected, it will seldom be reconsidered by that same publisher… even if you rewrite it. So it’s very important to get it as polished as we can be before the submission process begins, and the best way I know to do that is to hire a freelance editor.
That said, there are a number of things we can do to become better self-editors, to get our manuscripts into the best possible shape even before we submit them to a freelance editor… and I thought, given this month’s focus on editing, I’d explore some of them. Here’s one for those of you who use Microsoft Word:
Use the Find and Replace and Thesaurus tools.
“Find and replace” is the most efficient way to replace overused words. For instance, I tend to overuse the word “wonderful”. It crops up all the time in what I’m writing and it drives me insane. What I do is write, write, write – and when I’m done, I click “Find” (under the Edit tab), type in the word “wonderful” and each time the tool pulls it up in the manuscript I choose a better word to replace it with (using the “Thesaurus” tool – or the real, bound Thesaurus if I get stuck!)
If you want to change a character’s name, you can use the find and replace tool to pull up all the “Mickey’s” and change them to “Mikey” in one mouse click. You can click “find next” and walk through the manuscript word by word, or you can click “find all” and do a global replace on a word or name.
Among the things you might want to ‘find and replace’ (with better choices from your Thesaurus!) are:
- Cheap or cheesy modifiers (very, just, etc.)
- Passive verbs / tentative or weak sentence construction (was going, been having, seemed, felt etc.)
- Words you use too often (wonderful, like, suddenly, little)
- Adverbs that prop up weak verbs
- A character’s name (Replace All)
Will hiring a freelance editor ensure you pitch the perfect game? In writing terms, will it ensure you get published? Do you need an editor? Read on...
I recently read a great post at Kidlit.com. The article discussed the pros and cons of hiring a freelance editor, and even went into which writers would benefit from hiring one and which writers wouldn’t.
Here is the partial gist of the post plus my own input:1. One of the most important aspects of hiring someone to critique or edit your work is to be open to criticism. If you do not have the personality to handle constructive criticism, suggestions, and/or edits, then you shouldn’t hire a freelance editor.
2. Before you contemplate hiring a freelance editor, get your manuscript in the best shape possible. What this means is you should know your craft or engaged in learning it. You should obviously belong to a critique group that focuses on the genre you write. This group should have new and experienced/published authors in it. This will help you to hone your craft through the critiques you receive and the critiques you give.
There are also a number of fantastic free online writers conferences such as the
Muse Online Writers Conference (join up soon before registration closes). There are workshops offered covering just about every writing genre, plus freelance writing and marketing. AND, you will have the opportunity to pitch to publishers. Between the networking and learning, it’s not something you should lightly pass on.
Next up on the road to learning your craft is to join a couple of writing groups – again be sure they have new and experienced writers. If you’re writing for children, the best and most bang for your buck coaching group is the
Children’s Writers Coaching Club with Suzanne Lieurance. Check out the article,
How do You Learn to Write For Children.3. Hiring a freelance editor to go over your manuscript will not guarantee it will get published, even the best in the field can’t promise this. What they will do is help you to get it in the best shape possible. But, whether or not you take their advice is another story. And, again, even if you do, there are no guarantees.
This holds true everywhere in the writing world. You may send your manuscript out, after it’s polished, to 20 publishers and agents and get rejections. The, you send it to one more and it happens this publisher has been looking for what your have. Time and Chance, my friends, time and chance. But, be sure, if you’re manuscript isn’t polished, you won’t ever get that far.
4. If you did your best to get your manuscript into what you think is publishable shape and you want an editor to give it a final once over, be sure to ask for recommendations from other writers.
Check out the VBT Writers tour schedule at:
VBT Writers on the MoveUntil next time,
Karen Cioffi
http://karencioffi.comhttp://dkvwriting4u.com
Seems like
Winston the Wonderhound is having some trouble locating the TOTAL number of children in the park. Did find them all?
©GingerNielson2007
Great information Karen. Thank you for posting.
Hi, Susanne, I'm glad you found it useful!
Karen