When Should I Hire an Editor? | Getting Ready to (Self) Publish #1
If you’re like me and one of your goals for the year is to make time to write, dangit, you’re in the right place.
And if one of your resolutions is to self-publish something (or take steps in that direction), this post is for you!
Whether you publish something yourself or go the traditional route, you’d probably be surprised by just how much goes on behind the scenes. Sure, you see the pre-order campaigns and the release day parties, but you probably don’t see the struggles with different publishing platforms, the frustrations of formatting, and the searches for the perfect cover designer.
Full disclosure, I haven’t personally published anything yet, but as an editor, I’ve spent the last six years working closely with dozens of authors and following hundreds of them. I’ve seen a lot of them struggle with similar things; I want to let you know what to look out for and give you some tips on what to do when you can’t dodge every bullet.
And something I’m super qualified to tell you about is editing.
It’s one of the very first steps you need to take when you’re thinking about publishing, so let’s start there!
I’ve turned down clients who weren’t ready for editing yet.
I’ve worked with clients who weren’t as ready for editing as they should have been.
And I’ve worked with clients who went through all of the work (and expense) of editing only to realize that publishing wasn’t really something they wanted to do.
So how do you know you’re ready for an editor?
Well, that depends on what kind of editing you want. Still, I’d ask you the following:
Do you love your manuscript to pieces?
Could you re-read your manuscript a dozen times without throwing in the towel?
Are you able to save up or pay for an editor right now?
Are you open to constructive criticism?
Have you written anything before?
Are you willing and able to make the time it will take to pursue your writing?
Have you written at least two drafts?
If you said yes to every single one of those questions, you might be ready for an editor.
I think i’m ready for an editor. When should I hire one?
Before I can answer that, I need to do some explaining!
There are different kinds of editing. If you want developmental editing, that should be done at the beginning of the publishing process.
If you want line or copy editing, that should be done after developmental editing but before proofreading.
different types of editing
what is DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING?
Developmental editing is a type of editing that focuses on the overall structure and content of a manuscript.
I work with authors to strengthen their plot and characters, look for issues with pacing, make sure the worldbuilding is consistent, and more.
Among other things, I…
Analyze character arcs
Make sure the relationships are realistic and have the impact you want
Help you with those scenes you can’t get quite right
Give feedback on dialogue
(You can read more about my developmental editing services here!)
As you can probably guess, developmental editing can change your story a lot. You might have a lot of rewriting to do.
Because of that, it’s the first kind of editing you should do/get done.
What is copy editing?
Copy editing is general editing—punctuation, grammar, spelling, all that good stuff. It’s less about the choices in words (although that’s still part of it) and more about making sure your manuscript follows style guides (usually CMOS).
Because copy and line editing are important and similar, I combine them into one service for you. (Read more about it here!)
What is line editing?
Line editing focuses more on style (as well as some general editing). Style means making sure your writing voice is consistent and that each line fits your story factually and tonally. When doing line edits, I also help you identify and cut down on repeated phrases, fix clunky sentences, and do some fact checking.
It makes your prose a little more polished and enjoyable.
Because copy and line editing are important and similar, I combine them into one service for you. (Read more about it here!)
Other editors might offer them separately.
If you want the services done separately, you should get line editing done before copy editing.
What is proofreading?
Proofreading is the last line of defense against those typos and mistakes, including ones in page numbers and chapter headings.
Unlike copy or line editing, proofreading is done after a book is formatted.
I offer proofreading services, but I don’t have a specific page to link you to yet! I usually only do this once or twice a year.
It might be bad for business to say so, but if you want to save some money, I think this is something you can do yourself.
And just like there are different kinds of editing, there are different approaches to writing.
No approach is wrong, but they do affect your readiness for editing. So does your overall experience.
That makes it hard to say exactly when you should hire an editor.
Generally speaking, I would say that someone who outlines like their life depends on it and follows that outline to the letter will be more ready for editing after their first draft than someone who just writes wherever the story takes them.
But what if you edit as you go?
And what if you’ve never written anything aside from school assignments?
You can see why I didn’t start this post with a definitive answer. It’s complicated and highly personal. But I can give you some advice!
When am I ready for developmental editing?
Because each writer and each draft is different, it’s more of a question of when you aren’t ready for developmental edits. With few exceptions, I would say that you are not ready for developmental edits before your second or third draft.
If your first draft is just telling yourself the story, the second draft is there to start making the story good. That means making sure the beginning draws the reader in, the middle keeps them turning pages, and the end makes them want to follow you and buy everything else you publish.
And that’s just the beginning. What about your character arcs, your worldbuilding, your dialogue?
If your manuscript is a high-fantasy novel, you probably have 100,000+ words to edit. I don’t think most writers, especially newer ones, can get that ready for an editor in only two drafts.
But what does “ready for an editor” mean?
In the context of developmental edits, your manuscript is ready when you can say:
You’re happy with the foundation of the story—meaning you’re happy with the big decisions your characters make and where those decisions lead them.
You’ve identified specific flaws but you aren’t quite sure how to fix them on your own.
Those flaws won’t require an entire reworking of the plot.
You’re looking for ways to improve your readers’ experience.
Because I edit a lot of fantasy books, I’m going to talk about that some more.
There’s magic involved, right? Do you have a general idea of how and why magic works the way it does, or are those details still fuzzy?
I’m happy to make sure your magic is consistent and that the rules make sense, but I’m not here to make up your whole magic system for you. It’s a big element of a fantasy book; if you don’t have that worked out yet, you’re not ready for developmental edits.
Or, more broadly, if you’re not sure yet if Character A should end up with Character B or Character C, you’re not ready for developmental edits. I can’t make that decision for you. Once you have made that decision, though, I can help you make sure their relationship feels natural and make sure there’s chemistry between them that your readers will love.
You have to know what the building blocks of your story are first. You don’t have to know 100% where every block is going to go, but you have to know what you’re working with and you need to have a vision for what you want it to look like.
Developmental editing is there to make sure your readers experience the story the way you intend it. Your characters might have amazing chemistry in your mind but an outsider might see otherwise. You might feel like all of the details you give at the beginning of the story are necessary to understand what’s going on when they aren’t—or worse, they bore your reader before the story even gets started.
When should I book developmental editing services?
This is what gets the ball rolling toward publishing, so it’s early on in the process. So early that I would recommend not having a release date out in the world yet. You can have one in mind as a goal, but you might have way more work ahead of you than you realize. (This is extra true if you’ve never published anything before or you’re a newer writer!)
My turnaround time for developmental editing is around four weeks; depending on the length of your book, that’s average. Even if you don’t need to make a lot of structural changes to your book, you’ll have a lot of work ahead of you before your book is ready for a shelf.
So if you do have a release date in mind, I would book developmental edits six months in advance at the very latest.
Taking away the four-ish weeks it would take to do those edits, that leaves you with only five months to implement any changes you need to make (including really big changes!) and that’s really not as long as it sounds like it is, especially if you only have an hour or so a day to write.
When am I ready for line or copy editing?
If you’re done making big changes to your story, you might be ready for line or copy editing.
If you think you still might take out (or add) scenes or rewrite a big section of it, you’re not ready quite yet.
Why?
If you remove a large chunk of your story after line or copy editing, those are words you paid for without needing to. And if you add something to your manuscript after line or copy editing, those are unedited pages that might be inconsistent with the rest of the manuscript or have errors in them.
But I said might for a reason. Again, this answer isn’t quite as simple as it seems like it should be.
You don’t have to be an editor to do your own editing. And while I think a fresh pair of eyes on your story is crucial, there are still things you can and should edit yourself before sending your manuscript off to an editor.
I’ve edited some messy manuscripts, and those jobs are frustrating. This sounds harsh, but those really messy jobs make me feel like I care more about your readers’ experience and your writing than you do.
I don’t expect you to do everything right—any editor will tell you that they aren’t perfect either—but here are
three things you should do before sending your book baby for line or copy editing:
Please make sure your tense and point of view are consistent. I shouldn’t have to change “is” to “was” multiple times on every single page, and we shouldn’t be hopping from one POV to the another in a single scene unless you’re writing in third-person omniscient POV (and you probably aren’t).
Please get rid of excessive exclamation points, bold text, and ALL CAPS. If words need that much emphasis, italics and strong verbs are how to do it. I’m the first person to use way too many exclamation points in my texts and emails, but have you ever seen that in a book? No. (This one is surprisingly common.)
Look for filler and repetitive words on your own. This is something I’ll help you with, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it too. We all have phrases and words we use over and over again. These are things that you can notice during your revision process and rewrite on your own. I once edited a manuscript that was around 250 pages and used the word “eyes” 238 times. This is absolutely something you can edit on your own.
I do trial edits, but that’s only a small sample of your writing; it can’t show me everything. I can’t know if a problem I see is going to be a one-time thing or something that shows up hundreds of times. You can, though.
when should i book line or copy editing services?
Again, I have an average turn around time of four weeks, which is average. Editors should communicate this to you when you contact them (if not display it on their websites).
That doesn’t mean you should book line or copy editing four weeks before your publication date. Believe it or not, I’ve had clients who are in such a rush that they published their books, like, two weeks after I sent their edited manuscript back to them.
Can you do that? Sure. But I wouldn’t.
I don’t think you should just blindly accept all of the changes an editor recommends. At the end of the day, it’s your manuscript; chances are good that you won’t absolutely love 100% of those suggestions. Carefully accepting or declining those suggestions will take time—and when you have work and other obligations, time isn’t easy to come by.
There are also other steps in the publishing process you need to consider. How are you going to format your book? That needs to be done after the editing process, and if you want to get author copies to check the formatting that will be another week or two just to be able to hold them in your hands. Are you going to proofread your book (or have an editor do it) before publishing? That will take time. Are you sending out ARC copies? You want time for those reviews to come in and attract new readers—a few weeks isn’t going to cut it.
And in case you need another reason: I often have clients who aren’t as ready for editing as they thought they were when they booked my services. That happens for a lot of reasons, as you can imagine, and they’re often things like surprise expenses or health problems—things totally out of your control. What happens then? Sometimes that means rushing to get the job done on time, other times that means cancelling, and still others have to push back their publication date.
That sucks.
As a general rule, I recommend not setting a publishing date until your line or copy edits are done.
And if you do have a release date in mind, give yourself a nice big window and book line or copy editing services at least 90 days in advance.
I know that that sounds like a long time, but the publishing process is exhausting. You want to give yourself and your editor plenty of time to do it well and with as much ease as possible. Any extra time you have can be spent prepping launch material!
When am i ready for proofreading?
If you’ve done all of the editing you want to do and you’ve formatted your book, then it’s time for proofreading.
The formatting is important. Proofreaders look for mistakes in chapter headings, page numbers, and paragraph indentations too, so you want those details in place before they get their eagle eyes on it.
when should I book proofreading services?
As it relates to your publication date, again, you need to give yourself or your editor time to do the work and you need time to implement those changes.
I’d say to book proofreading for at least 60 days before you intend to publish your book. That will give your editor about a month to do their work and it will give you the same amount of time to tie up any loose ends.
So, to recap!
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Just because you’ve finished your first or second draft doesn’t mean you’re ready to hire an editor yet.
Don’t rush the editing process. Give yourself (and your editor) plenty of time to make your manuscript shine!
If you can, avoid publicly announcing a release date until you’re done with line or copy editing.
Book developmental editing at least six months before you want to publish it.
Book line or copy editing at least three months before you want to publish it.
Book proofreading at least two months before you want to publish it.
Hiring an editor doesn’t move all of the work to their plate; you still have work to do!
There’s a lot to consider, huh?
I hope you found this information helpful, and if you want to learn more about my editing services, click here!
If you think you’re ready for some editing, you can send me a project proposal!
And if you aren’t ready for editing yet, sign up for my waitlist; when you are ready, you’ll get first dibs when I’m booking!
Happy writing!
You’ll be hearing from me soon!
