Editing Basics

[jeanfrese]

I'm a very new author. I've just finished my first novel and I'm about a quarter of the way through the second. I've read the horror stories about tradpub these days. There is one publisher I've found that I feel has enough integrity that can comfortably approach them about carrying my series, but in all honesty I'm not interested in waiting a year for them to decide whether or not they want my book. I want to go the self publishing route, but I recognize that my book needs copy editing at the very least. I'm sure this information's out there somewhere but finding it is fairly tough when you're not sure where to look and when there's so much misinformation out there.

Kris and Dean, as much as I love what they write are established. Their information on agents and publishing is invaluable, but the advice they've given generally seems to boil down to get a copy editor and get your book out. They might have gone into more depth and I missed it, but I've looked.

So I have some questions:

What's the difference between an editor and a copy editor?
Do I need both?
Do I need an editor at all, or will one (or several) good beta readers suffice in place of an editor?
How do I go about finding a good, reliable editor?
How do I go about finding a good, reliable copy editor?
What can I expect to pay freelance editors or copy editors?
What should I expect to get from my editors?

[Carradee]

All those job titles can have overlap in what they do. Therefore their jobs can be hard to describe in detail.

As a simple way of putting it, though, an editor looks at the big picture, and a copyeditor makes sure the details all add up, but both can make grammar fixes. A proofreader does a final check of grammar (and often formatting).

Of those three, you definitely want a copyeditor. You may want the other two. It depends on how you write.

In my opinion, I don't think you necessarily need to hire them. Maybe you can find someone who needs services bartered. Also, sometimes writers have friends and beta readers able to act in that capacity, and willing to be forthright. In my case, even my friends aren't beyond putting a book down in the first chapter and telling me "I can't finish this. The narrator's too annoying." Or alerting me "'She swapped the gas petal for the break', really?" (A few of my friends have even worked at a small local press.)

However, that doesn't mean that a professional editor/copyeditor/proofreader isn't worth hiring. A good editor will help make your story the best it can be to accomplish the story you want to tell. A good copyeditor will polish up your text so it matches what you wanted to say while matching your writing style, verify that your details all match up, and find those word and punctuation foibles you missed.

That writing style matching is important. Beware of anyone who starts slashing willy-nilly into things you chose on purpose.

Rates for these kinds of folks can be all over the place, and much of it depends on the quality of your writing. Judging from your post (decent grammar, some missed commas), I suspect you'd fit on the low end of somebody's fee scale. I've seen rates ranging from $1 to $55 for 1,000 words.

To find a good one, I recommend asking folks whose style resembles yours who they used. Some copy editors and such offer sample critiques of the first (few) page(s), to give both of you an idea how you'd work together.

Personally, I tend to work as a grammar tutor/copyeditor hybrid, for small segments of writing.

[antheal]

I've recently come across the term 'content editor' -- presumably to differentiate that kind of macro-editing from copy-editing, which deals with the nuts and bolts of what's already on the page.

Laura Resnick has some excellent resources for writers on her web page. Here's the link to her information on freelance editors:

www.sff.net/people/laresnick/About%20Writing/Writers%20Resource.htm#Editors

[antheal]

Oh, a resource I recommend for every author is SELF EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS, 2nd EDITION by Browne and King. Also, I second the advice to get some readers or a critique group. If you're not familiar with it, the Absolute Write forums provide members the chance to have their work critiqued (and give critique in return). There are other web-based critique groups out there too - though I don't have any of their information at my fingertips~

[davidgaughran]

I second the recommendation for that Browne & King book. I'm not usually that crazy about writing books, but this really worked for me.

[lvcabbie]

I would also recommend you visit some other forums that have loads of tips and hints on editing. One right offhand is AWWC.com. Do a Search for the subject and you'll find tons of stuff.
Another is to do a simple Google search for Self-Editing.

I've been writing stuff for at 60 of my 71 years and STILL find little things I miss or forgot or didn't know in the first place.

And, even with all the publisher hype, I've found errors in books published with big time author's by major publishing houses!

[gerald]

What does anyone think about using beta readers? Has anyone used a beta as an informal editor?

[Mark Neumayer]

Jun 16, 2011 19:40:33 GMT -5 gerald said:

What does anyone think about using beta readers? Has anyone used a beta as an informal editor?

I have, but I am extremely lucky that one of my beta readers is a professional copywriter.

But the biggest thing if you're self-copy-editing is to edit on a printed copy. I thought my text was pretty clean after passing through myself and four beta readers. I still caught a lot more stuff to fix once I got the printed proof back.

[Carradee]

Jun 16, 2011 19:40:33 GMT -5 gerald said:

What does anyone think about using beta readers? Has anyone used a beta as an informal editor?

I do it frequently, but it only works if the betas know what they're talking about. In general, betas who are mainly readers and only dabble in writing are best at big-picture critique. Betas who are writers themselves tend to be better at the minutiae—IFF* they don't try to replace your writing style with theirs.

*"IFF" means "if and only if"

[gerald]

Jun 16, 2011 21:16:18 GMT -5 Mark Neumayer said:

I still caught a lot more stuff to fix once I got the printed proof back.

I echo that. Reading on paper is still vastly different to reading on (any) screen. I wonder whether it's an environment thing - having an electronic device in front of you puts you in a different frame of mind?

[Carradee]

Jun 17, 2011 14:09:55 GMT -5 gerald said:

Jun 16, 2011 21:16:18 GMT -5 Mark Neumayer said:

I still caught a lot more stuff to fix once I got the printed proof back.

I echo that. Reading on paper is still vastly different to reading on (any) screen. I wonder whether it's an environment thing - having an electronic device in front of you puts you in a different frame of mind?

You actually read differently on a computer screen versus on paper. The way the screens function, the light hits your eye in such a way to make the text image get processed in a different order or something like that—I don't remember all the details.

Even just leaving things on the screen and changing the font and font size can help when editing—but printed proofs are best.