Why work with an editor?
If this is an investment of time and money, however modest or moderate, then a question better reflecting the inquiry at hand is 'Why invest in your work (yourself)?' Anyone who has bared their souls on the page, who is afflicted with a love of words and has seen their power to shape the world, knows why a written work and its creator are important. You who have toiled from the inception phase of the idea to a legitimate bulk of typed pages wrought with blood, sweat and perhaps literal tears, can testify to the importance and worth of your work.
So where does an editor come in? They come in with their twofold responsibility described on the Home page: to help the book become all it was created to be, to help you create all that you are to become. The editor invests their passion, time and skills to help the work reach its highest potential for your goals, your message, your authentic voice.
The right editor for your project won't just see what's there; they will see all that could be, recognizing and enhancing the inherent merit. Obtaining that professional edge, that specialized perspective through a nurturing relationship with an editor, is a serious statement of belief in the value of your project. Working with the right editor who expounds on their feedback and helps you to further cultivate your creative identity, will not only impact the one project, but will have a ripple effect on the writing done over the course of your career.
This page not only explains the beneficial aspects of working with an editor, but also serves as a general guide to what you should look for in a potential editor and what a synergistic writer-editor relationship can (and should) be.
Some Reasons to Hire a Professional Editor:
• It's common knowledge that the publishing industry has changed a great deal in the last decade, particularly in the last five-to-six years. A literary agent I'd interviewed back in 2009, discussed how "eighty-percent of conglomerates own book publishing which is only 1 or 2% of their bottom line," putting more emphasis on numbers and more constraints on choices of material than in the past. Publishers are less likely to take gambles on diamonds in the rough, and agents too, are looking for submitted manuscripts to be as close to perfection as possible. I attended a conference in 2010 where agents talked about the pressures of their roles and one mentioned the matter of seconds given per query. If you're submitting your work to be read, you want to be ready. It's not about raw potential here but the right eyes seeing that potential realized. There are no guarantees and no reputable editor will say that there are. Famed editors of decades past have spoken about the unpredictability of the markets. However, you want the odds in your favor; you want your manuscript to be in the best shape possible to give it as much of an edge as you can. Editors can help you do that with an objective perspective from a professional insider's vantage point. They are one of your first readers. They are, in the most positive sense, your first critic. The material gets the benefit of an acid test in a friendly environment where the "critic" is your consummate ally.
• The power of this alliance holds true for self-publishing as well. The work undergoes a trial run with a trained reader. With the advent of e-books, the floodgates opened. Writers were presented with new opportunities and increased levels of creative control. Along with opportunity, came competition. Here again, you want the odds in your favor with a professional edge that will distinguish you. Even more so in this circumstance, you are your brand and your product reflects upon you. You want your book in the best shape possible for reader consumption, thereby having the ability to build lasting relationships with readers. Editors help you toward this end with vigilant feedback.
• Editors can help you craft and define a vision for what you want your book to accomplish. What do you wish to say and how do you want to go about saying it? Will this be a single book or part of a series? They can discuss your goals with you, issue suggestions and depending on their experience, talk to you about writing for your target audience.
• You'll be in some stellar company. In demonstrating the merit of editors, we'll address a reservation some writers can have in regard to hiring one. They feel it is some sort of negative admission—that rather than it being a serious statement of belief in the work and in themselves as writers, it is an apparent undermining of their talents. The truth is quite the opposite. Writing giants work with and value their editors (much like star athletes and performers who look to their coaches to help them take their "game" to the next level). Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, JD Salinger, Maya Angelou, William Styron, J. K. Rowling...to name just a few. Some of the criticism on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is partly equated with its enduring success and Thomas Wolfe cut 90,000 words from Look Homeward, Angel. They shared Maxwell Perkins as both editor and friend, as did Hemingway. Angelou spoke fondly of Robert Loomis upon his retirement. It's about relationships, trust and mutual respect—finding an editor who cares about the work and the person behind it.
• Receiving a thorough one-on-one evaluation from a trusted source. This analogy isn't original, but it's accurate and enduring—your book is your baby. You conceive the idea, go through a creative gestation process, and then comes the painful labor of delivering it into reality. You may want help with the delivery or, more commonly, want the expert evaluation afterward. You take your creation for a full work-up: a detailed examination that will determine every strength, reveal practices to enhance those strengths, diagnosis any weaknesses, and develop carefully prescribed and customized remedies to address the weaknesses. You've heard that not every person's body reacts the same to a given medicine? Treat the whole person vs. the ailment? The same can be said of editorial suggestions. What might work for one person's novel might not for another, even if they share a genre. The suggestions should be unique to the needs and style of the story as well as to the writer. You want an editor who is both analytical and creative. Structured and open-minded. One who can make the most of the rules and knows when and how they should be broken.
• Avoiding a negative result from the wrong third-party input. The two primary parties are the writer and the living work generated from a mix of muse and mind. Nearly everyone seeks early readers from amongst inner circles to bounce ideas off of and receive encouragement to continue, or even motivational discouragement to defy. There can be valuable insights garnered from these interactions in terms of those that resonate with you and those you recognize as something to be argued against, delineating the boundaries of the work in your mind. That said, if you wish to have the length and breadth of the manuscript painstakingly evaluated in a professional manner, you're going to want seasoned, objective eyes that have a particular skill-set that is constantly in practice. Editing is equal parts art, intuition, creativity, analysis, science and critique. The process of editing is a very particular training ground where the right alchemical mix of the aforementioned components is called for.
Continuing with the analogy above, that a book is your "baby," you as the parent want the best care for your beloved creation. One wouldn't say, "I'm concerned for my child's health, so I'm taking them to my friend for a check-up because they're a parent, too," or "My friend is an excellent psychiatrist, so I'm taking my child to them for open heart surgery." Yet within the writing world, it can be much more confusing regarding the question of who to go if you're new to the editing process. The fellow writer may not have the objective technical and analytical components. The MFA or PhD in English or Literature may not have the intuitive, creative components of craft. Editing is a particular discipline strengthened in its practice. Editors are trained by every piece they edit, constantly adding tools and techniques to their repertoires. You want someone who "operates" all the time, continually maintaining and sharpening their skills.
Within the literary and artistic circles I've traveled in, I've come across writers who've shared their editing adventures and misadventures. I've been handed printed books with the statement, "My friend is a writer too, and I had them read it before I published." The volume of errors aside, it's heartbreaking to see potential in the prose and/or the scope of an idea that could have been further developed, characters that could have evoked empathy, endings that could have had impact but robbed the overall plot of significance. They're already losing readers and don't know why. This is not always the scenario with writer "friends" doing the editing, yet it is common enough for the better outcome to be the exception. Worse still, are some of the paid feedback stories. One involved an individual who didn't finish the work after years with the manuscript, demanded lifelong royalties once the author had finished and submitted the book on their own, demanded that they be listed as a co-author for minimal input, and gave corrections that changed the entire spirit and purpose of the book so that the author couldn't use them. After the story, after I referred them to the EFA (Editorial Freelancers Association) site and talked about what they should look for in the future, the author quickly added, "But of course, they have an MFA in English, so they're qualified. I'll go on paying the royalties. Besides, they're my friend."
If you have a friend with great editing skills who knows how to separate personal from professional spheres, works in an organized manner according to structured checkpoints and deadlines, and can give a full, objective evaluation with your goals and audience in mind, you are one of the fortunate few. In general, most of us need the outside editorial viewpoint with the exact specialties and skills that our book babies need to flourish.
Additional Quick Tips:
• Get to know how an editor works. How would they keep you updated? How much do they typically explain about their edits and suggestions? Do they give creative as well as critical feedback? What are their terms and contracts like? Do they place importance on your timeline? How available are they and can you discuss a change? What kinds of editing do they specialize in and what areas are most important to you?
• This is going to be, in its ideal form, an important relationship—and that's a factor worth considering. Do you feel comfortable with this person? Is there a rapport? Your work is personal, intimate. You want to feel that the editor has a passion for what they do and will care about the material as well as the writer. Is their feedback given in a constructive, helpful manner? Do they strike a balance between critique and encouragement? Is there a mix of insight and inquiry? You want someone who will not only provide feedback but who will ask the right questions. There should be indications of a right match within the initial consultation—the presence of a rapport, their philosophy on editing, the asking of in-depth questions about the project, brainstorming about general ideas and input based on your responses. You can probably see some of this in their testimonials as well, illustrating past and present client relationships. Also, a good editor will tell you, given their knowledge and experience, whether they feel the project itself is matched well to them and whether they can accommodate your individual needs at a given time. Ultimately, you need to find the right editor for you. This is a meaningful journey you will make together.
If this is an investment of time and money, however modest or moderate, then a question better reflecting the inquiry at hand is 'Why invest in your work (yourself)?' Anyone who has bared their souls on the page, who is afflicted with a love of words and has seen their power to shape the world, knows why a written work and its creator are important. You who have toiled from the inception phase of the idea to a legitimate bulk of typed pages wrought with blood, sweat and perhaps literal tears, can testify to the importance and worth of your work.
So where does an editor come in? They come in with their twofold responsibility described on the Home page: to help the book become all it was created to be, to help you create all that you are to become. The editor invests their passion, time and skills to help the work reach its highest potential for your goals, your message, your authentic voice.
The right editor for your project won't just see what's there; they will see all that could be, recognizing and enhancing the inherent merit. Obtaining that professional edge, that specialized perspective through a nurturing relationship with an editor, is a serious statement of belief in the value of your project. Working with the right editor who expounds on their feedback and helps you to further cultivate your creative identity, will not only impact the one project, but will have a ripple effect on the writing done over the course of your career.
This page not only explains the beneficial aspects of working with an editor, but also serves as a general guide to what you should look for in a potential editor and what a synergistic writer-editor relationship can (and should) be.
Some Reasons to Hire a Professional Editor:
• It's common knowledge that the publishing industry has changed a great deal in the last decade, particularly in the last five-to-six years. A literary agent I'd interviewed back in 2009, discussed how "eighty-percent of conglomerates own book publishing which is only 1 or 2% of their bottom line," putting more emphasis on numbers and more constraints on choices of material than in the past. Publishers are less likely to take gambles on diamonds in the rough, and agents too, are looking for submitted manuscripts to be as close to perfection as possible. I attended a conference in 2010 where agents talked about the pressures of their roles and one mentioned the matter of seconds given per query. If you're submitting your work to be read, you want to be ready. It's not about raw potential here but the right eyes seeing that potential realized. There are no guarantees and no reputable editor will say that there are. Famed editors of decades past have spoken about the unpredictability of the markets. However, you want the odds in your favor; you want your manuscript to be in the best shape possible to give it as much of an edge as you can. Editors can help you do that with an objective perspective from a professional insider's vantage point. They are one of your first readers. They are, in the most positive sense, your first critic. The material gets the benefit of an acid test in a friendly environment where the "critic" is your consummate ally.
• The power of this alliance holds true for self-publishing as well. The work undergoes a trial run with a trained reader. With the advent of e-books, the floodgates opened. Writers were presented with new opportunities and increased levels of creative control. Along with opportunity, came competition. Here again, you want the odds in your favor with a professional edge that will distinguish you. Even more so in this circumstance, you are your brand and your product reflects upon you. You want your book in the best shape possible for reader consumption, thereby having the ability to build lasting relationships with readers. Editors help you toward this end with vigilant feedback.
• Editors can help you craft and define a vision for what you want your book to accomplish. What do you wish to say and how do you want to go about saying it? Will this be a single book or part of a series? They can discuss your goals with you, issue suggestions and depending on their experience, talk to you about writing for your target audience.
• You'll be in some stellar company. In demonstrating the merit of editors, we'll address a reservation some writers can have in regard to hiring one. They feel it is some sort of negative admission—that rather than it being a serious statement of belief in the work and in themselves as writers, it is an apparent undermining of their talents. The truth is quite the opposite. Writing giants work with and value their editors (much like star athletes and performers who look to their coaches to help them take their "game" to the next level). Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, JD Salinger, Maya Angelou, William Styron, J. K. Rowling...to name just a few. Some of the criticism on F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is partly equated with its enduring success and Thomas Wolfe cut 90,000 words from Look Homeward, Angel. They shared Maxwell Perkins as both editor and friend, as did Hemingway. Angelou spoke fondly of Robert Loomis upon his retirement. It's about relationships, trust and mutual respect—finding an editor who cares about the work and the person behind it.
• Receiving a thorough one-on-one evaluation from a trusted source. This analogy isn't original, but it's accurate and enduring—your book is your baby. You conceive the idea, go through a creative gestation process, and then comes the painful labor of delivering it into reality. You may want help with the delivery or, more commonly, want the expert evaluation afterward. You take your creation for a full work-up: a detailed examination that will determine every strength, reveal practices to enhance those strengths, diagnosis any weaknesses, and develop carefully prescribed and customized remedies to address the weaknesses. You've heard that not every person's body reacts the same to a given medicine? Treat the whole person vs. the ailment? The same can be said of editorial suggestions. What might work for one person's novel might not for another, even if they share a genre. The suggestions should be unique to the needs and style of the story as well as to the writer. You want an editor who is both analytical and creative. Structured and open-minded. One who can make the most of the rules and knows when and how they should be broken.
• Avoiding a negative result from the wrong third-party input. The two primary parties are the writer and the living work generated from a mix of muse and mind. Nearly everyone seeks early readers from amongst inner circles to bounce ideas off of and receive encouragement to continue, or even motivational discouragement to defy. There can be valuable insights garnered from these interactions in terms of those that resonate with you and those you recognize as something to be argued against, delineating the boundaries of the work in your mind. That said, if you wish to have the length and breadth of the manuscript painstakingly evaluated in a professional manner, you're going to want seasoned, objective eyes that have a particular skill-set that is constantly in practice. Editing is equal parts art, intuition, creativity, analysis, science and critique. The process of editing is a very particular training ground where the right alchemical mix of the aforementioned components is called for.
Continuing with the analogy above, that a book is your "baby," you as the parent want the best care for your beloved creation. One wouldn't say, "I'm concerned for my child's health, so I'm taking them to my friend for a check-up because they're a parent, too," or "My friend is an excellent psychiatrist, so I'm taking my child to them for open heart surgery." Yet within the writing world, it can be much more confusing regarding the question of who to go if you're new to the editing process. The fellow writer may not have the objective technical and analytical components. The MFA or PhD in English or Literature may not have the intuitive, creative components of craft. Editing is a particular discipline strengthened in its practice. Editors are trained by every piece they edit, constantly adding tools and techniques to their repertoires. You want someone who "operates" all the time, continually maintaining and sharpening their skills.
Within the literary and artistic circles I've traveled in, I've come across writers who've shared their editing adventures and misadventures. I've been handed printed books with the statement, "My friend is a writer too, and I had them read it before I published." The volume of errors aside, it's heartbreaking to see potential in the prose and/or the scope of an idea that could have been further developed, characters that could have evoked empathy, endings that could have had impact but robbed the overall plot of significance. They're already losing readers and don't know why. This is not always the scenario with writer "friends" doing the editing, yet it is common enough for the better outcome to be the exception. Worse still, are some of the paid feedback stories. One involved an individual who didn't finish the work after years with the manuscript, demanded lifelong royalties once the author had finished and submitted the book on their own, demanded that they be listed as a co-author for minimal input, and gave corrections that changed the entire spirit and purpose of the book so that the author couldn't use them. After the story, after I referred them to the EFA (Editorial Freelancers Association) site and talked about what they should look for in the future, the author quickly added, "But of course, they have an MFA in English, so they're qualified. I'll go on paying the royalties. Besides, they're my friend."
If you have a friend with great editing skills who knows how to separate personal from professional spheres, works in an organized manner according to structured checkpoints and deadlines, and can give a full, objective evaluation with your goals and audience in mind, you are one of the fortunate few. In general, most of us need the outside editorial viewpoint with the exact specialties and skills that our book babies need to flourish.
Additional Quick Tips:
• Get to know how an editor works. How would they keep you updated? How much do they typically explain about their edits and suggestions? Do they give creative as well as critical feedback? What are their terms and contracts like? Do they place importance on your timeline? How available are they and can you discuss a change? What kinds of editing do they specialize in and what areas are most important to you?
• This is going to be, in its ideal form, an important relationship—and that's a factor worth considering. Do you feel comfortable with this person? Is there a rapport? Your work is personal, intimate. You want to feel that the editor has a passion for what they do and will care about the material as well as the writer. Is their feedback given in a constructive, helpful manner? Do they strike a balance between critique and encouragement? Is there a mix of insight and inquiry? You want someone who will not only provide feedback but who will ask the right questions. There should be indications of a right match within the initial consultation—the presence of a rapport, their philosophy on editing, the asking of in-depth questions about the project, brainstorming about general ideas and input based on your responses. You can probably see some of this in their testimonials as well, illustrating past and present client relationships. Also, a good editor will tell you, given their knowledge and experience, whether they feel the project itself is matched well to them and whether they can accommodate your individual needs at a given time. Ultimately, you need to find the right editor for you. This is a meaningful journey you will make together.