How to Hire an Editor

I am often thought of as The Frugal Book Promoter because that is the name of the first book in my HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. But I consider editing the single most important aspect of promotion. After all, a well-edited query letter is the first thing most agents, editors, publishers and producers ever see from a writer.So knowing how to edit is important even for writers who never intend to be an editor per se. Though there are times when an author absolutely must edit her own work, only a foolish writer trusts the editing of her book entirely to a publisher. When a writer is working with an editor—one she has hired or one hired by her publisher, she must know enough about editing to tell if the editor is doing more than searching for typos.

It follows that it helps to know how to hire an editor.

•But first things first. I probably need to convince you that you really need an editor and that you need to know as much as you can about editing itself. So here are some of the arguments I hear. And, of course, my arguments! I hope you’ll be convinced by some of them.

I don't need to worry about an editor. My book will be traditionally published.

•You can't rely on the editor provided by your publisher—any publisher. I've seen even the biggest publisher let boo-boos in books slip through. And many small publishers hire inexperienced people. There is lots more to editing than watching for grammar and spelling errors. Besides, your chances of selling a manuscript will be much greater if you’ve utilized the talents of a great editor before you submit it.

I'm hiring an experience editor. I'm letting her do the work. That's what I'm paying her for. So why did you say I need to learn more about editing?

• You can't rely on even the best editor you hire. You need to be a partner with your editor. If you know little or nothing about the process, how can you know what to accept or what to reject? You need to know when you're sure you want to break a rule. You need to know when you want to consider what the agent is telling you, even if it goes against your pattern or makes you uncomfortable. "Partner" is the key word here. You want to be able to do that even if you're publishing with Harper's and your editor turns out to be a channeled Jacqueline Kennedy.

I'm just publishing POD for my family. They won’t care if the work is letter perfect.

•No, they probably won’t. But this book will be a keeper. It will be passed from generation to generation. No matter how you publish, you need an editor before you go to press. Regardless of how you are publishing or what you call the process. (By the way, many terms used for publishing these days have become almost unintelligible because so many are using them incorrectly. That adds confusion to an already confusing process! I guess that could be considered an editing problem of sorts.)

I know I should have an editor but I keep procrastinating.

•The Frugal Editor (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870/) gives you guidelines for the way to find a good editor. That section is an article all it’s own. One of the most important things you can do when you go to hire an editor is, of course, get references and look at credentials. Just because someone has written a book doth not make him or her an editor,

The guidelines in The Frugal Editor are there for people who have the best intentions and just don't get around to doing it. Do not flog yourself if you’ve put it off. We all tend to make excuses to ourselves for not doing not getting an editor of my own. Well, OK. I know I made excuses or at least one excuse. My excuse was, I AM an editor! Ahem!

I've already been over this book 15 times. If there is an error in it, I'll eat my hat!

•One pair of eyes is never as good as two different pairs (or three or 10!) pairs of eyes. Two pairs of eyes on people who got As in English or teach English are never as good as one pair of eyes on an editor with years of publishing experience.

I've had lots of people read my book to help clear it of errors. Even my husband who is an engineer and catches every misplaced comma!

•People who are good grammarians or good typo hunters aren't necessarily good editors. A good editor will also spot errors in the way you've set up your table of contents, your index, how you spelled the kind of “foreword” used in a book's frontmatter. She'll even have ideas for you about the titles of your chapters.

I had my college English teacher check my book. If she can't do it, no one can.

•Good editors will be good grammarians, spellers and typo hunters (like your college English teacher) but they bring a whole lot more to the table than those skills. Most teachers have had no publishing experience. Thus, they won't know much if anything about frontmatter or backmatter as an example. So start saving your pennies for a good editor and in the meantime, read up on the process for yourself.

OK. You’ve convinced me. I’ll hire an editor. But what about all those extra pairs of eyes I’ve been using?

•In The Frugal Editor I advise you use all those extra pairs of eyes to your advantage. Let them help you clean up your copy. That gives the editor you hire the advantage of working with near-immaculate copy. He or she can then concentrate on all those aspects of editing that your other advisors don’t know because they aren’t editors. Things like structure, dialogue, formatting, the differences between the styles used in college papers and those used for books.

I have a caveat for you here. Let those editing helpers suggest housekeeping chores or where they might be confused. Things like that. But don’t take their word for everything. Even literate readers don’t know the elements of fiction, as an example. Wait to work with your editor on some things. Keep an open mind but be aware that it is your book. You’re the one who gets to accept or reject ideas. So we’ve come full circle. You’ll be better able to do that if you know lots about editing.

Some ask me why I am so passionate about editing. "Editing really doesn't have anything to do with content," they say. Well, my passion comes from my experience with my first novel. When my new editor saw This Is the Place, she told me it was the "cleanest" copy she ever saw. OK. I'm an editor. But, I have to tell you. She missed much that I'd missed so that made two of us who had missed things that any good editor would surely have found! I'd love to go back, review that book myself and then have another editor look at it. Too late. It's in print.

 

Contributor

Carolyn Howard-JohnsonCarolyn Howard-Johnson is award-winning author of both fiction and nonfiction, a former publicist for a New York PR firm and an instructor for the UCLA Extension renowned Writers' Program. She is an editor with years of publishing and editing experience including national magazines, newspapers and her own poetry and fiction. Learn more about the author at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com. Her The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't won USA Book News' best professional book award and the Irwin Award. The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success is top publishing book for USA Book News and Reader Views Literary Award. The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need To Know To Sell Your Book in 20 Minutes or Less is also helpful, and only 49 cents on Amazon!

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