Cross Your Ts: Hiring an Editor

Over the very long course of editing Lucid, I spoke to a few other self-published authors and asked them about their processes, including whether they hired a freelance editor.  Why or why not?  One told me not to worry about it.  All books, even those published professionally, have mistakes.  No need to stress too much or spend a fortune.  Another told me she hired a proofreader, and it was a mistake, because the proofreader missed a lot of things.  I read the book and can corroborate that.

Writing for me is not a hobby.  It is a dream.  My advice to any self-publishing author who dreams of reaching more than their friends and family: you must absolutely, unequivocally hire an editor.  Start saving now.  It will cost $2500 at the low end for a combination of developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, and proofreading done well by folks with meaningful experience.  Beta readers and reading groups are a decent alternative to editors and important to any writing process, but I find that those readers tend to be tentative about being critical and don’t have the time to provide meticulous feedback. Editors are paid to tell you what you’re doing wrong in great detail. Hiring them is not cheap, but they will add significant value to your manuscript, and you will learn a lot, if you conduct a robust search process.  I’ll tell you about mine.

Process

I sourced editor names through the Editorial Freelancers Association: www.the-efa.org.  I’m sure there are other places you can go.  On the EFA site you can search for editors using a number of different criteria, including services provided and genres.  You can then look at resumes.  I looked at twenty or so.  I chose nine people to hold initial calls with based on their experience: 1) how much overall, 2) how much in my genre or related genres, and 3) what types of services.  If you’re not sure which services you want or need, I suggest you inquire about them all.  It can’t hurt.  Gather information and develop an understanding for how it all works.

I held 30-minute calls with those nine folks.  I first asked about their backgrounds, including how they got into this line of work.  The goal was to gauge 1) expertise, and 2) passion.  If their answer was something like they took one English course in college, explored a few different unrelated career paths, and decided at some point to edit books of any genre for a few extra bucks, I passed.  If their answer was they had been devouring books since they learned to read, got an MFA, wrote their own book(s) and realized it was their calling to help other authors, I was intrigued.  Some of this information is captured in resumes, but it’s easy to gloss up a resume.  Have them discuss their experiences.  Attempt to verify what’s on the resume, and listen for passion.  Of course, editors with more experience and expertise generally cost more money.  I did not ask about cost before scheduling calls.  I interviewed people with varying levels of experience so that I could make an informed decision later as to the tradeoff between experience and cost.  Whenever you decide to ask about it, make sure you understand which costs are fixed, which can vary, and why.  Understand how the editor is charging.  One time fee?  By word or page count?  By the hour?

Other questions I asked: What is your experience editing in this genre?  What is your experience in other genres?  Which genre is your favorite? (If the answer is romance, and you are writing sci-fi, maybe it’s not a great fit.)  What is your favorite book you have worked on?  What is your experience with developmental editing, copyediting, line editing, and proofreading?  What is your least favorite part of the job? 

I then asked questions about process and had them assume I would hire them for all services.  I send you the manuscript, then what?  How do you decide what to focus on in the developmental edit?  Do I have a say?  Is there any back and forth?  What does the output look like?  A written memo outlining suggested changes?  And/or margin comments?  How long does it take?  When does the line and copyediting start, what does that output look like?  How do you handle situations where you or I take longer than anticipated at a certain stage in the process? The purpose of these questions is to 1) assess the robustness of the process, 2) determine how much say you have in what the editor focuses on, and 3) determine how much interaction there will be.  The editor should have ready answers to these questions.  If they do not, it may mean that their process is not buttoned up.  The answer “It depends” is valid, because every manuscript and process is different; however, they should be able to provide scenarios.

Whatever services you hire for, don’t expect daily or even weekly communication.  Some limited amount of consultation time over the phone at certain stages will be included in an editor’s fee.  Ask them how they operate.  You want to get a sense for what they do to understand what you are trying to accomplish, especially before but also during the process as it evolves.  What questions do they have for you?  The more they ask, the more confident you can be that they will be engaged in the work.  For example, one thing my editor does is send clients an author questionnaire before starting developmental edits.  It includes questions such as: What do you think are the strongest parts of your story?  Where do you think it needs work?  What does the main character want most, and what is getting in his or her way?  For the copy and line edit, are there certain stylistic choices you made that I should be aware of?

30-minutes was not enough time to discuss everything I’ve covered so far.  But I asked as much as I could and listened and learned enough to decide who I wanted to have second calls with.  I chose three finalists.  On second calls, I covered questions I didn’t get to on the first calls and went into more depth in certain areas.

But two calls were still not enough to decide who I wanted handling my baby.  The next phase of my process was reference calls.  Some editors provide references on their resumes.  Others will provide them upon request.  If an editor does not provide references, pass.  There is no valid reason for that (except if they are brand new to editing, more on this below).  Ask for the names of authors who employed them for similar work (novels if you are writing a novel, etc.) and ideally in the same or a similar genre.

I held 30-minute calls with three references for each of my three finalists.  I began by asking the authors about their books to provide context for the discussion.  Then I dug into their experiences with the editors.  How was the process?  Bumpy at times or very smooth?  What were they really good at?  What were they less good at?  Anything surprise you, good or bad?  Would you use them again?  Where they pleasant to work with?  Did they give you honest feedback, even if it was negative?  What was the output like?  Were they on time?  Anything else I should know?  Save the contact information of anyone you interact with.  Build your author network.

Next I looked at reviews of books the editors had worked on.  Some editors provide lists on their resumes, which probably means they are proud of their work and have done a good job.  Not having a list on a resume, however, is fine.  Just ask.  If they don’t have one, they are either new (go for it if you want to give the opportunity to a less experienced editor and they seem passionate and organized; you’ll probably save a few bucks, and they might be extra motivated to do a great job to build their reputation), or they don’t have many happy clients.  If there’s no list and no good reason why, pass. I looked at reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.  Reviews are about the story and don’t tell you much if anything about the editing; however, the quality of an editor’s clientele can be telling. 

One last thing, and it’s out of order.  It didn’t have a big impact on my decision, but it’s important to mention.  After first calls, most of the editors offered to provide copyediting samples of a chapter or two.  The offer and the output are standard.  The sample gives a flavor for how an edited manuscript looks in terms of tracked changes and margin comments.  There’s not a lot of differentiation here between editors.  However, one of my finalists read more than the others and actually provided some developmental feedback.  Which brings up a critical point: look for differentiation and extra effort.

Summary

I could have gone with any of my three finalists.  They all seemed to care about helping authors.  I could hear it in their voices.  They all took their processes seriously and were able to answer most if not all of my questions about what happened at each step.  They all had meaningful if not significant experience with the services I was contemplating, including in my genre.  Cost was roughly the same.  In the end, it was a judgment call, and a tough one, based on a synthesis of everything I had learned.

In summary, I looked for three things: passion, process, experience.  Whoever you hire will be handling your baby, your dream.

Keep dreaming.  Work hard. Good luck.