You’ve written a book. You’re getting ready to send it out to literary agents, but you want a professional editor to take a look at it first. What should you expect to get from them?
Proof reading, copyediting or structural editing?
Structural editing is the first stage of any editorial process. It’s the only service that most first-time writers should ever have to pay for. It involves getting tough, in-depth advice about every aspect of the work: plot, character, pacing, prose style, dialogue – and, indeed, everything else.
Copyediting is worth doing only after structural work is complete. Copyeditors are there to fix typos, spellings, punctuation, repetitions, inconsistencies and other relatively minor issues. Your manuscript will need copyediting, but only after it has been acquired by a publisher. The publisher, not the author, will pay for copyediting.
Proofreading is the very final stage. A proofreader is there to make sure no errors have been introduced in the typesetting process, and is also a final pair of eyes to catch anything that the author, editor, and copyeditor may all have missed.
Hands-on editing or editorial advice?
A book editor is there to advise. An author is there to alter the work in response to that advice. That’s how it works in the publishing industry proper, and is how it should work when new writers are getting their work ready for literary agents.
You will sometimes come across copyeditors or just ‘editors’ offering to do a hands-on edit of an entire manuscript for as little as $1000. Offers such as this are almost always ridiculous.
For one thing, if the person in question were genuinely competent, their daily rate would be no less than $300. So you’re buying just three days of editorial work for an entire book. That’s a ludicrously short time, especially when the person involved hasn’t yet read the manuscript. Additionally, nearly all first time manuscripts have some kind of structural issue (plot, character, pacing, etc). These things just can’t be successfully addressed through any copyediting type process. Better to identify the real issues, then address them as any pro author would: by doing the hard work yourself.
What will a good book editor advise on?
Everything. At the Writers’ Workshop, we don’t have a set template that our book editors have to follow, but a typical editorial report will cover:
Market. Is your book suitable for the current market?
Plot. Does your story work? Is it compelling, original and surprising? Does it carry emotional conviction?
Pacing. Was the pace right? Were any flashbacks or flashforwards well timed and appropriate?
Characterisation. Do the major characters work? Are their interactions convincing? Do they engage the reader’s sympathies?
Prose style. Is your writing strong, vivid and well tailored to your genre? Is your manuscript well-presented?
Other major issues. Is interiority well handled? Are points of view handled appropriately? Is the handling of place and time working OK?
A similar set of issues will apply if your book is non-fiction.
Should I want a book editor to have expertise in my specific genre?
Ideally, yes. You need a fantasy author to advise on your fantasy manuscript, a literary one to advise on your literary manuscript, and so on. A larger provider, like The Writers’ Workshop, will have a large pool of book editors and will find one suitable for you.
What kind of costs would I be looking at?
That depends on the length of your manuscript, but a sum of around $600-800 / £400-500 will be approximately correct. Don’t try and pay too little – remember that bad editorial advice can be worse than useless. The good stuff is priceless.
By Harry Bingham, of the Writers’ Workshop. Harry is a best-selling, prize short-listed author of novels and non-fiction, including the category-leading book on Getting Published. The Writers’ Workshop’s team of book editors is second to none. Between them, our book editors have written hundreds of books, sold millions of copies and won or been shortlisted for countless literary awards.