Do I need an editor?
Do I need an editor? If you ask yourself that question, take a step back and remember drafting a novel is a painstaking task. The long hours at a computer screen in the office, or laptop in Costa coffee or on the train. The sleepless nights agonising over your character’s voice and traits – would they say this? Would they really do that? Wandering around for days on end, not sure where the story’s taking you. What I’m trying to say is, I’ve been there. I bought that t-shirt and wear it with pride. So the answer is yes – you do need an editor.
But what happens next? What happens after we immortalise that final full point? As authors, we inherently believe everything we churn out is worthy of mainstream publication. Our readers should worship it like da Vinci or Bach; or Lady Gaga if that’s your thing. But we also know, deep down, that it’s complete tosh. If we read it back, with fresh eyes, those spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors would jump out and slap us around the face like a wet kipper. Not to mention the glaring inconsistencies in the plot, character traits, spelling, grammar, and punctuation – US vs UK, to name just a few. Those niggling annoyances will derail your goals if not addressed.
Why so many editorial levels?
While it may appear overkill, each individual editorial task requires its own skill set which I have highlighted in the table below. Although there’s overlap in tasks completed at the different levels, each level looks at different issues. This means you can only combine closely related services. Of the four editorial services I offer, you can only combine line editing and copy-editing, but these tasks would still be completed in sequence: line edit followed by copy-edit. A critique and proofread can only be stand-alone tasks because of their unique requirements.
The different levels of editorial services I provide
Book level
Overall theme
Point of view
Perspective
Plot structure
Character voice
Narrative
Overall consistency
Any weaknesses in the story
Sentence level
Paragraph and section breaks
Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax
Word choice and phrasing
Run-on sentences and redundancy
Repetition of words and phrases
Sentence, paragraph, and dialogue tightening
Clear and concise action, meaning, and transitions
Tonal shifts and natural phrasing
Bland language and digressions
Pacing
Readability
Sentence and word level
Paragraph and section breaks
Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax
Style consistency
Spelling
Capitalisation
hyphenation
en-rule vs em-rule
ise vs ize
ellipsis, etc.
Extraneous words, sentences or phrases
Correct and consistent punctuation of dialogue
Repetition of words and phrases
Ambiguities
Standard paragraph indentation
Sentence, word, and layout level
Correct pagination and chapter sequencing
Paragraph and section breaks
Spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax
Word choice and dialogue punctuation
Consistency in design of text and image placement
Correct paragraph indentation
Highlighting or correction of minor errors
Removal of extraneous letter and line spacing
Highlighting of widows and orphans
Can I edit myself?
I recommend it. You know your story inside and out and should pick up the glaringly obvious errors in the plot and character mishaps. Maybe even spelling, grammar and punctuation errors too. But unless you have a total understanding of writing styles, nuances in punctuation, grammar, spelling, and industry standards, I guarantee you will miss most of the important errors.
As you wrote the story, you’re too close to the words and won’t catch things such as past and present tense, passive voice, long sentences, and too many adverbs. Then there’s consistency in style, capitalisation, punctuation, dialogue, serial comma, ise vs ize, I could go on, but you get the gist. To have a successful writing career, these issues need correcting.
My advice is, write the story, leave it for a while, then go back and edit it to the best of your ability. Once you’ve done that, seek the services of a professional editor to go over it again. Even I follow this rule. Once I’ve edited my manuscript, I send it to a fellow editor to go over again. I do this not because I’m no good at my job, I am, but because I’m too close to my own words. I miss things I swear weren’t there when I edited.
What should I ask for?
This depends on your budget. If you have a bottomless pit of cash, I’d suggest the whole hog; critique, developmental (not a service I offer), line edit, copy-edit, and proofread. If, like most authors, you’re on a tight budget, I’d suggest a mini-critique which looks at a sub-section of your manuscript. This will give you an idea of what needs correcting to improve the work: most of which you could do yourself reducing future editorial costs. I would then suggest either a line edit followed by a copy-edit, or a combination of the two. And finally, before sending to a traditional agent or publisher or to the printing press, finish with a proofread.
Ready for a quotation or simply want to chat about what comes next?