I hear you’re interested in hiring an editor. Smart move. So what are you waiting for? Grab your checkbook (do those still exist?), your manuscript, and your realistic expectations and get to it.
What’s that? You don’t know what to expect? Here. I’ll help.
Ten Things Your Editor Can Do
- Your editor can see what your novel could be someday, no matter what it looks like today.
- Your editor can show you all the little pet phrases and words you repeat to distraction.
- Your editor can solve plot problems that would make readers want to throw your book into a woodchipper.
- Your editor can point out all the ways your characters are acting out of character, and suggest ways to remedy that.
- Your editor can help identify, refine, and celebrate your unique writer’s voice, or explain why you don’t yet have one.
- Your editor can tell you when your novel is nowhere near ready to share with the world, then point you toward additional resources that could help you change that reality.
- Your editor can make you feel like a gifted writer while simultaneously providing ample evidence you’re a hack.
- Your editor can listen patiently to arguments about why you made certain narrative choices, then offer wisdom about why those choices suck.
- Your editor can remind you that writing is a long game, and that the hard work of re-writing is worth the pain even if the book never finds a publishing home.
- Your editor can comfort you when the hard drive is corrupted and you forgot to save to the cloud.
Ten Things Your Editor Can’t Do
- Your editor can’t make your book a bestseller. (Editors aren’t in charge of market conditions, sales trends, or readers’ whims.)
- Your editor can’t turn you into a brilliant writer. (That’s a function of hard work and genetics.)
- Your editor can’t fix everything. (We try, or at least try to identify all the problems, but we miss some things. And frankly, some things just aren’t fixable.)
- Your editor can’t write your book for you. (You’re looking for a ghostwriter.)
- Your editor can’t pretend your book is wonderful when it isn’t. Okay, we could, but prefer not to. (There is no benefit to the writer when the editor lies.)
- Your editor can’t edit faster. (I’m editing as fast as I can, current clients. Like pretty much every available minute. Except for the few it took to write this post, of course. I know. Sorry. I’ll get back to your book right now. Well, not right now, but in a few minutes.)
- Your editor can’t get everything right all the time. (Just most of the time.)
- Your editor can’t force you to accept all his/her changes. (But a good one never makes a change or suggestion without careful thought, so you might want to discuss those reasons before clicking “reject change.”)
- Your editor can’t explain why great books get rejected and awful ones get published. (I mean, we can try, but let’s face it – we live in a crazy, unpredictable world. I don’t need to elaborate on that, do I?)
- Your editor can’t move into your basement so you have access to his/her brilliance 24/7. (Not without a decent salary and benefits, anyway.)
You’re welcome.
