5 Tips For Finding A Professional Book Editor

This post is derived from a comment I made on a post by the author, Lee Goldberg, regarding his ability to contact his editor, who was conveniently made available to him through his publisher.  Well, sought after, professional authors should have access to this type of support, but what about you and me?

Most of us don’t have a professional editor waiting for our phone call, so how can you find a professional book editor?

As a soon-to-be, self-published author, I am very aware of the power of a professional edit, so here are 5 tips for anyone considering a self-publishing or POD (print on demand) publishing process:

1. Search for the Society of Editors or Association of Editors in your city. The Society of Editors in Queensland has a website – http://www.editorsqld.com - which lists professional, freelance editors who  are members.  The list includes their credentials, experience, contact details and a blurb about their areas of interest.

2. Ask for a deal! Most editors I interviewed charge per page, or assign a fee based on a certain number of pages read per hour. This can get quite expensive even for a 35,000 word manuscript, so ask if they will consider a flat fee, or a payment plan. Many editors are also authors, so they understand the challenges with getting your first book out cleanly at a low cost.

3. Send a set of sample chapters for them to peruse. I use my blog to steer potential editors to view my sample chapters. Having a web presence shows you are serious, and if your blog is any good, it should gain some buy-in from potential editors. 

4. Offer to give them credit in the book for a reduced rate. Editors are often self-employed business people, so they need leads and referrals as well. If your book does make it ‘big’, that one little line of referral could mean quite a bit of future business for them.

5. Self edit as much as possible! Then do it again and again and again… One thing that really helped me was to take three months off from the writing project. That may sound ludicrous, but I used those three months to initiate my blog, and start to build awareness of me and my work.

I’ve now had over 2000 people visit my blog!  This is still a very small audience, but it’s 1000 more people who have been exposed to my content than last update, and the number is growing daily.

When I finally did sit down, to run through my final critical edit (before submitting it to a professional editor), I was amazed at some of what I had written, and was disgusted with other parts.  So it was easy to then slash and burn the bits, which were previously very precious to me only 3 months prior. 

By allowing some time to pass, I was able to read more objectively, and some of the content obviously had no place in the manuscript.

After speaking with several professional editors, I’ve negotiated a flat fee to get a professional editor’s review of 185 pages.  One reason is the editor I found is passionate about the subject matter, and secondly is pleased with the quality of the copy submitted; but I’m an editor at heart. 

This will be a first pass, and I may require a second round of editing for a fee, but by getting a professional opinion(s), I’ll avoid falling into the trap of producing a self-published piece of crap…

Don’t be afraid to negotiate, and go edit your work again!

Here are some helpful links:

Check Out The Professional Editors Group Site

Join The LinkedIn Professional Copy Editors Group

View List of Editing Associations by Country

Another List Provided By a Well Meaning Editor

Challenge for  You! – There is at least one grammatical mistake in the comment I left on Lee Goldberg’s blog.  Can you find it?

Write On!

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