How I Chose My Novel’s Editor
By: Joanna Maciejewska
Tags: Writing, Editing, Self Publishing Tips, Writing Life, Self Publishing

How I Chose My Novel’s Editor

Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

When I decided to self-publish, I knew I would need an editor. I was confident enough in the storytelling side of my writing, and I had magnificent beta readers to help me improve my story, but as a second language speaker, I wasn’t confident enough with my English grammar to release a book with no editing. Even if most of my writing is on par with, or maybe even better than, the average native speaker, a book is something I always perceived as needing to be error free (at least as much as possible). That meant I needed either a line editor or copy editor, but knowing that you need one and finding the right one are two entirely different things.

So here’s my process of finding the perfect editor for my debut novel. I hope it’ll help you develop your own process of finding one when you need them.

Different editors for different needs

If you’re unfamiliar with what various editors specialize in, here’s a quick breakdown:

Developmental editor

Looks at the story, its structure, portrayal of characters, possible plot holes, and generally the big picture. If you aren’t sure if your story glues together or the pacing is desirable, a developmental editor is the right choice.

Line editor

Works on the line level, helping you to polish your sentences and your style. If you feel your story is solid enough, but you aren’t sure about its purely linguistic execution, a line editor might be the right choice for you.

Copy editor

Takes care of grammar and other technical issues with your writing.

Proofreader

Does one last sweep of the manuscript in search of typos, missed commas and similar minor problems.

This is also the order in which you would be working with those editors if you decide you need more than one, which happens often, especially at the beginning stages of being a writer.

Preparing to search for an editor

As I mentioned above, I was confident in my story, so I decided to skip a developmental editor. I also believe that a team of good beta readers can substitute developmental edits. After having my short fiction published in the past, I also had confidence in my writing style, and though I wouldn’t mind a second pair of eyes on it, I primarily wanted someone who would find and fix any grammar issues that my manuscript was still likely suffering from, despite my best second-language effort.

Therefore, I settled on finding a copy editor, possibly one who also did line editing.

Then came the time to define my budget. The cost of editing will depend on the editor’s rate (some charge per word, some charge per hour) and the length of the book. So the total you’re going to pay can be as little as several hundred dollars to several thousand if your book is long and you choose a more expensive editor (or use services of more than one).

Deciding on my budget ensured that I had enough money saved and that I would only look at editors within that budget, significantly narrowing the search.

I also made several personal choices based on my perspectives of what kind of people I want to work with. I determined that I will only work with an editor who charges per word instead of per hour. This choice stemmed from my work as a freelance translator where I’m also paid per word, which means I’m paid for the work done rather than time spent on the work — thus efficiency is being rewarded. It also ensures that there are no double standards in charging clients and no shift in the money charged when “the novel took longer than I expected”. There’s nothing wrong with editors charging per hour, and many charge less in the end when they finish their edits quicker — it simply wasn’t the way I wanted to do business. I preferred a possibly higher cost up front to the uncertainty of not know what my total would be.

Another such decision was only to reach out to editors who stated their rates on their websites. I didn’t mind if the rate would change during negotiations because of their limited availability, the size of the project (longer novels might get discounts) or my manuscript being too ridden with errors in need of corrections. I simply needed a range to start with, so I could save both the editor’s and my time if their rates were too high for my budget.

How I searched for my editor

I like to be prepared, so I started my search long before I decided I even needed one. As a member of various Facebook groups for writers, I would read through threads regarding editors, whether they were discussing price ranges or looking for specific recommendations, and I saved links to websites of those editors I found suitable. I used such criteria as specializing in my genre or having recommendations of people whose books I considered well-written and well-edited.

But I felt anxious about working with strangers I knew little of, especially since there were significant amounts of money involved, so I threw my first net “closer to home”: I asked my already self-published friends if they had any recommendations. This yielded me a list of three editors, all within my budget, so I moved them to the top of my list for contact. To protect their privacy and business, let’s call them Editor A, Editor B, and Editor C. Now all I had to do was pick one… and ensure that they were the best fit.

The process of making a choice

Out of the three of them, editor A had the highest rate per word, but also offered two passes on the manuscript, line edit and copy edit, so it felt like a fantastic deal. Editor B’s rate was lower, and they offered only one pass, but at the same time they were offering a mix of line and copy edits. Editor C had a flat rate for novels up to a certain length which — when calculated against the word count of my novel — was an excellent offer, and they included comments on characterization, sensitivity reading, and other things commonly related to developmental editing.

It is customary for editors to offer a free sample edit. My first chapter was quite polished, and I considered choosing pages from a less refined one, but I decided against it. It would be better to see what issues they could find in the best version of my writing: after all, I wanted them to find what I had missed.

I was also going to take into account their communication style and how quickly they responded. Of course, I was going to account for the delays related to time zones and professional and personal life obligations, but if I had to wait for a response for more than a few days without a good reason, this didn’t bode well for future cooperation.

The first one out

Both Editor A and Editor B agreed to do a sample edit of the customary 5-pages (formatted as standard 12pt Times New Roman with double spacing). Editor C said they would do a sample on my entire chapter 1 (which they didn’t know was quite lengthy), but I would have to pay for it (the amount would later be deducted from the total).

That gave me the first opportunity to choose. Considering that the free 5-page sample was closer to freelance standards, I didn’t feel inclined topay for edits of a first chapter that I might never use. I also wasn’t fond of the flat rate for editing. Sure, it was a good deal for a first-timer like me, but I hoped to find an editor with whom I’d be able to form a longer working relationship. The flat rate meant that my shorter books would cost more, and the longer books could become expensive too if they fell into the higher word count and price brackets.

I also didn’t feel too comfortable with an editor doing everything: developmental comments, line editing, and copy editing in one go. It seemed like asking for things being missed, and if I had to address the bigger picture, making significant changes, it could render some of the more detailed edits useless.

So, Editor C was out of the run. I sent a polite thank you email and waited for my samples to come back from the two others.

Evaluating the samples

Both editors remaining in the run returned to me within 24 hours, which was a good sign, and each sent a file with the changes tracked, so I could see what they did with my writing. One file had quite a lot of corrections and plenty of comments, while the other marked only a few mistakes.

The choice seemed obvious, didn’t it? Yet, it wasn’t. The amount of errors caught might not be the most important metric, so I had a closer look at their work.

I have a tendency to write long, compound sentences, and having grown up on fine literary works, I refuse to simplify my writing to what nowadays seems to be the common standard of “make it readable for 5th graders”. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I don’t want to preserve clarity of communication. In the past, my husband spent a lot of time untangling the monsters of my complex sentences to teach me how to structure them properly, while one of my beta readers painstakingly took it upon herself to root out my comma splices. But once I got a better grip on English grammar and sentence structure, I indulged with full confidence in creating paragraph-long behemoths whenever I felt it was necessary. Though truth be told, the ones I had in my sample were nowhere near such giant length, and there weren’t that many of them.

Yet, Editor A flagged nearly all of them. “Consider splitting this sentence” was one of the most often occurring comments.

Editor B didn’t mark up any of them.

I inspected every single one of those sentences, because — perhaps — I’d gone wild somewhere, and my sentence was too jumbled to be clear. I didn’t find a single justification for splitting the sentences Editor A marked: they were clear and structured correctly. This told me that while Editor B recognized my writing style and worked to preserve it, Editor A was trying to push me into the frames of what they thought was better. Of course, these were only suggestions I could ignore, but I’d still have to give each of those flags due consideration, and given the amount of complex sentences in a novel-size work, it would significantly slow down the editing and the review processes.

And when I looked closer, some of the flags which Editor A left were… mistakes. For example, they didn’t know “black” could be a noun (a fact I checked with a dictionary) and suggested correction to “blackness”. This gave me another pause. I’d rather have an editor miss a mistake than possibly introduce new ones to my work or correct things that were fine.

Other considerations

Editor A was a lovely, friendly and warm person: someone, I’m certain, delightful to work with. They complimented many things in my manuscript. Editor B was all business-like and professional, with minimal interaction necessary to conduct business.

But with the two passes Editor A was offering, I thought how quickly it would become frustrating to both of us: for me to go through countless “consider-splitting-that-sentence” remarks, and for them to see in the second pass that I had ignored (likely) 99% of those recommendations. Therefore, the warm and friendly relationship could quickly become cumbersome instead.

Another consideration had nothing to do with the editors’ skills, but was significant in my business-oriented perspective: availability. Editor B worked fast and was generally available because of that, so I didn’t have to worry about him not being able to take me on in the future. At the same time, through other channels, I learned that Editor A was booked well in advance, and it was hard to get an editing spot. In addition, editor A had some personal issues (the nature of which I wasn’t interested in) causing delays with all of their clients. This meant I wouldn’t be able to plan for the future, or I would have to adjust my plans due to unforeseen circumstances or overbooking. From a business perspective, this was less than ideal.

Being happy with my choice

I liked Editor A as a person, and I appreciated their work, but as you might have already guessed, I went with Editor B. I might have not gotten the warm and fuzzy feeling of “this is good!” comments within my manuscript, but line and copy editors aren’t supposed to help me with my real and imaginary writer insecurities.

Editor B returned my edits in lightning-speed time, but they were still as thorough as I expected. That editor caught all those grammar issues my second-language speaking self was fearing to have left in the manuscript while not trying to change the way I write, and it makes me feel that I made the right choice.

Takeaways

I learned a lot from the process itself. It’s definitely worth starting the search early to avoid poor decisions or lack of options due to limited time. It also pays off to examine the samples carefully, so you end up with someone whose work you’ll be confident in and whose edits you’ll look forward to with excitement instead of dread. Another thing that can be useful is saving money ahead of time. I started putting away small sums long before I needed an editor, which meant that my budget was more flexible, and I was able to get someone I considered the best match.