Do You Need An Editor? - By: Peter Stockwell

You have written your novel. The hard work is over. Now it is just a matter of sending it out to publishers. Not really. You need an editor. In fact you need two editors and three would be even better.
There was a time when writers sent their hand written manuscripts, tied with red ribbon, to a publisher. There, if the work was accepted, in-house editors would help the writer push and pull their work into shape. No more. There are still in-house editors, but these appear further along in the process. Now a publisher expects submissions to be of a high editorial standard before being considered for publication. Indeed if they are not they stand very little chance of being accepted.

So you need an editor. There are two types of editor and you will want both. The content editor and the copy editor. The content editor looks at the overall form of the work, reads to ensure the plot makes sense and looks to see if characters are well developed. Also a content editor will alert you to any obvious grammatical errors or typos. The copy editor checks for errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation and word usage and gives the final polish to the work. You will have to pay for these editors yourself. Fees vary, depending on the experience of the editor and are usually based on word count.

Before paying anybody it is a good idea to have a family member, or maybe somebody from a local writer’s group or online writer’s community, read through what you have written. They may not be professional editors but could well give you useful
comments and suggestions worth considering.

Then it is time to look for an editor. The best places are advertisements in writers’ magazines. Try to find an editor who specialises in, or at least expresses an interest in, the subject matter of your book. You will also need to check their fees. For the content editor I would choose one who is not too expensive. You need to know the faults in your work - and there will be faults. But they are probably such that you will not require an expensive superstar editor to find them. So send off your manuscript and wait for the response.

When your manuscript returns you may be horrified, but remember that it is the job of the editor to point out faults and make suggestions. It is the job of the author to decide whether or not to accept the suggestions. So take a deep breath, rewrite whatever needs rewriting and put your book in a drawer for a week or so. After that take it out and read it thoroughly. If you are reasonably pleased with progress now is the time to consider the superstar editor. There are many people who do not use two content editors and are happy to keep with the one they have. But I like the idea of two pairs of eyes looking at my work, and a top editor can take it to a higher level.

When you really feel your book is as good as it is going to get it is time to find a copy editor. Look through the writers’ magazines again and find one who seems experienced and charges middle of the road fees. This time the experience should be less traumatic than with a content editor, who is being paid to find faults in your creativity. The copy editor is just dealing with the words on the page and making sure they hold together. It is a skilled job. If you do it yourself you will miss things, so a copy editor is essential.

Now at long last you are ready to submit your work to publishers. Success is not guaranteed, but you will know that what you are sending out is in the best possible shape and worthy of consideration. Good luck.

About the Author

Peter Stockwell is the author of award winning children’s book ‘The Horse Painters’. http://www.the-horse-painters.com

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