Editors Can Make all the Difference!Good editors abound, so choosing the right one for your particular work can be a challenge! First and foremost, choose an editor with whom you can establish a positive relationship – someone who seems to have a good sense of what you and your style are all about. Your career as a writer, especially if it is to continue beyond one book, is an ongoing partnership between you as the writer, your editor(s) and publisher. Choose your partners wisely. You want someone with experience as a book editor, preferably within your particular genre, who will take the time to ensure the best possible book evolves from your relationship. Relationship Your work is your life, especially if your work is writing a book. You need someone who not only knows what he or she is doing, but also someone with whom you can relate, someone who can understand what you, as well as your book, is all about. An editor is like a business partner and confidant rolled into one. Find out how he or she works, how he will approach your work, how easily you can confer on writing issues. You are not going to marry this individual but what you’re doing is, indeed, a team effort. You need to look for signs of a potentially long-term, positive relationship with your editor. Experience Choose an editor that has some credentials... real editing credentials and education, not someone who thinks he’s an editor because he knows how to run the spell checker on his computer or can recite a lot of the rules of grammar. Good grammar, of course, is extremely important, but so is an editor’s sensitivity to the nuances of your personal writing style. You don’t want your best creative efforts turned into sterile but grammatically correct pablum. You never want a manuscript edited so heavily that you don't recognize your own work. Ask for references or testimonials from previous clients. Genre familiarity If you’re writing poetry you probably don’t want the editor who has been polishing business plans throughout his career, or who has edited only non-fiction books on fishing, or academic theses. Good editors can be flexible to a point because their business is the English language and they know it well, but if you want assistance with improving your baking skills, going to a sushi chef is not likely the best choice... unless, of course, he also bakes. Cost efficiency There are different levels of editing, from basic to substantive. Be sure you know what it is you want an editor to do and be willing to pay accordingly. Don’t fall for the quick editor who promises 24-hour turnaround on a 200,000-word novel... at any price. If you do, you will likely be paying someone else to run your book through a spell checker. You get what you pay for. Be willing to give prospective editors a sample of your work to be edited and have them send it back with a quote on the whole project. That way you get to see what he or she does to your work in the name of “editing,” and he gets to see your work before quoting. You want to be comfortable with what an editor does with the sample you send him, as well as with any suggestions or comments she makes about the work. Are they valid, do the suggestions make sense? If you don’t like either what he or she does to your precious words, or the price, move on. Good luck! And remember, editors are not proofreaders. These are two different professions. Don’t pay for an editor if all you’re getting is a proofreader. For more on editing:
Editors and editing are essential!
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