Writing Blog Number 2

20240603 Hiring An Editor

Hiring An Editor

Next WdC question: To hire an editor or not.
What to do if you disagree with your editor.
When to stop editing and submit.

Okay… here’s my thing. Hiring an editor or not is up to you. BUT I feel having an external editor is vital for success in traditional publishing, and to be taken seriously as a self-published writer.

So, here’s my deal. I started by using a friend who edited my work until I came to realise he was not that good. I used another friend for a while, but when she got married, her husband didn’t like our close friendship. Then myself and a fellow writer decided to do swaps. It was slightly unfair as I would write 2 or 3 long works a year, she would write one every eighteen months, and yet she was quite happy to go along with it, and that lasted for over 20 years. Then she had a stroke, and could no longer do it. So I used a student studying editing and professional writing at TAFE for a couple of years, then she wanted to charge me too much, so I found a local retired writer who does it for me in return for me doing some computer stuff for her.

Using an editor has been vital to me being published. And I will state here and now: an editor who relies on Grammarly or the like is a waste of your money and time.

Now, when you submit, the publishers will also do an in-house edit. Especially coming from Australia and submitting to US and UK markets, there are differences in style, and not just spelling. So traditionally published will see your work edited twice. And that is not a bad thing.

So, what happens if you disagree? Well, with the editors you pay for or use personally, if you disagree with a suggestion they make, then ignore them. They won’t know. However, if you think they are wrong, look it up to make sure. Not online – use Strunk & White or something else decent.

If, on the other hand, you disagree with the in-house publisher, you had better have a good reason. You can negotiate – I’ve done it to keep my stories “Australian” – but if you argue every point, you will get quite the negative reputation. As I’ve said before, many publishers talk; this will not go well for you. But if you really do disagree, explain yourself.

The final question above I think is more about personal editing, going over works again and again, though it could well be hiring editor after editor – when to stop.
         This is not easy. Once I’ve given it to an editor or a beta reader, then I stop. But some people use self-editing as a crutch to avoid submitting. It’s a mental thing. If you are going to use an external editor, then rely on them and stop.
         Way too many will edit over and over again. If you find yourself going back and forth between two phrases in the same spot, if you find yourself just adding words and deleting them, if you find yourself moving sections only to return them, then it’s time to pass it on to an external person.
         While over-editing is often an avoidance tactic, it can also be an indication of genuine fear. While it’s easy for me to say, you need to trust yourself and at some point let go.

And that’s working with an editor.

NOTE: I am not going to go into the different types of editor. There are three reasons for this:
1) the different types of editing has different names to different people (Wikipedia and Google are rubbish);
2) too often people do not agree with what various types of editors actually do; &
3) having people look for spelling, grammar, punctuation, context, etc., is what an editor should be doing; story beats can also be done, but that is also what a beta reader is for.
                             IN MY OPINION!