Write Right!
How to write your way and have readers clamoring for more:
I’ve done all I can do on this draft of my written work. I know I need help, but I’m not sure where to turn. When do I need beta readers, editors, or critiquers? And what’s the difference?
Hello, Word Lovers!
Welcome to Write Right!, a gathering place for writers, authors, editors, literary agents, readers and everyone else who loves words. In our last blog, we talked about the role of beta readers. Today, let’s get to know editors and critiquers, those wonderful folks who can help you get your work just right.
What Happens After I Finish Revising and Editing My First Draft?
Let’s suppose you’ve returned to your first draft after some time away. You’ve identified and fixed changes you needed to make, filled plot holes and fleshed out characters. You corrected typos and substituted better word choices for some of the vocabulary you used. And you replaced telling with showing when appropriate. Now you think you’ve got a pretty good draft. Is it time to submit your work to an agent or a publisher’s acquisition editors? If you’re self-publishing, is now the time?
Probably not.
So you’ve taken the next step. You sent your draft to one or more beta readers who read your genre and understand its readers’ expectations. As READERS seeing your book for the first time, they’ve answered questions like these for you: Were they attracted to the book right away? Did they get lost or confused or bored in certain parts of the book? Did they like your main characters and find themselves pulling for them against your antagonists? And they answered the questions you asked them to respond to in the short questionnaire you gave them.
Then you implemented the changes they suggested that resonated with you. But before you take that final step of submitting to agents or publishers or self-publishing the book, you need to take one more step.
Editors
A Professional Who Helps You Prepare Your Work for Publication
What an Editor Is
According to the website of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Editors plan, review, and revise content for publication.” They may:
- Read content and correct spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.
- Rewrite text to make it easier for readers to understand.
- Verify facts cited in materials for publication.
- Evaluate submissions from writers to decide what to publish.
- Work with writers to help their ideas and stories succeed.
- Develop story and content ideas according to the publication’s style and editorial policy.
- Offer comments to improve the product and suggest titles and headlines1
Within these general categories, you can find many task-specific types of editors writers and publishers. But the purpose of all of them is to make sure your ideas as a writer are presented to your intended readers as clearly and professionally as possible.
Types of Editors
As you may know, most businesses use some type of editor to make sure letters, reports, proposals, invoices or other matter are clear, legible and written correctly. As writers who want to make sure our work is the best it can be before we submit it to agents and/or publishers or self-publish, we’re most likely to look into hiring one or more of the following types of editors:
- Copy editor: Copy editors work word by word. The editor will look for errors or problems with grammar, word usage and syntax, consistency, redundancy, typos, spelling, and punctuation. They will usually correct errors and make recommendations for changes.
- Line editor: A line edit is done at the sentence, paragraph and chapter level. Line editors look at bigger-picture aspects of writing, such as tone, sentence readability, style, clarity and flow of ideas, and word choice. Many editors combine copy and line editing and offer both together.
- Developmental editor: Writers who have excellent grammar and composition skills but may be struggling with the cohesiveness or plotting of a story can turn to this type of editor. They look at the fundamentals of the work, things like structure, setting, timelines, character and plot development, pacing, and overall seamless transitioning and clarity. They’re more likely to present their suggestions for improvement in a report or document than make actual changes.
Other Editor Types
- Sensitivity or Cultural editor: Say you’re writing about characters who are not of your own race, ethnicity, culture, gender, age, sexual orientation, or other demographic. And you’re not embedded or acquainted with family, friends, coworkers, or colleagues who are a part of these groups. This type of “in the group” editor may be very valuable for you. You want to make sure these characters are realistic, and you don’t misrepresent them. Because writers don’t want to appear insensitive or offend, amuse or upset people based on how we write characters who are demographically or culturally not like us, these editors can navigate us in the right direction.
- Specialist editor: Depending on the nature of our project, we may want to hire specialists like fact checking editors or editors who work on one specific type of project (e.g., medical or legal thrillers or mysteries where the veracity and realism of the portrayal of doctors, lawyers or police may need to be checked and edited).
- Proofreading editors: Proofreaders edit the final proofs of documents that are being prepared for publication. Traditional publishers generally pay for proofreading. And even if you are self-publishing, you may want to consider hiring a proofreader to do a final edit on your ready-to-publish manuscript.
Editing Plan
To help your beta readers, you may have given them a short questionnaire to complete after they finished reading the book. You can give your editor a questionnaire, too. But the more common procedure is to develop an editing plan along with your editor. That’s because both of you want to be clear about exactly what type of editing will be provided, how much detail it will incorporate, what form it will take, and what it will cost. You will then enter into a contract or agreement with the editor.
Conveniently, many editors have prepared a portfolio that includes a list of the type or types of editing services they offer, samples of their work, and a price list. If they don’t offer to provide such a document to you after your first contact, ask them if they have one. They may want to meet with you over the phone, in person or via Zoom to learn what your needs are and discuss your options before they give you specific information about the type of service you’re looking for.
What Editors Are Not
To be sure, there are certain things an editor is not. Yours may or may not be qualified to fill these roles in addition to editing, but in this role an editor is usually not a:
- beta (or alpha) reader
- mentor or book coach
- writing teacher or instructor
An editor may or may not be a critiquer, but strictly speaking, they’re usually not. We’ll talk about critiquers at the end of this blog.
Don’t expect an editor to teach you how to write or to rewrite your book. A good editor won’t change your voice or style. If they have suggestions for improving these things, they’ll let you know. But it’s up to you to decide whether or not to use their suggestions.
So Where Do I Find Good Writing Editors?
Of course, you can Google for writing editors, but that may take a long time and you have no way of knowing what you’re finding without much deeper diving. Unfortunately, lots of scammers lurk there as well as legitimate editors.
Target more specific editors on professional social media (LinkedIn is good), writer websites (Reedsy vets the editors listed there), and professional organizations for writers, like Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America, and Science Fiction Writers of America. The Editorial Freelancers Association and ACES: The Society for Editing are examples of professional organizations for editors that offer services. Outside the US, investigate the writer and editor organizations in your country.
As always, human contact is a wonderful thing. If you can, attend conferences or meetings of writing groups and organizations online and in person. Get to know people. Many of them have processes for finding editors as well as beta readers and other professional services on their websites. And writers conferences are also good places to find editors to meet your specific needs.
What Should I Look for In an Editor?
Once you have some prospects, we recommend not hiring someone online immediately. Arrange to talk to them in person, on the phone or via Zoom.
Did you enjoy talking with them? Ask them what they like to read for fun and what type of book editing they’ve done in the past. Ask about their experience with editing novels or non-fiction books in your genre or category of writing.
Now ask what type of feedback they like to give: straightforward no-nonsense, positive as well as critical, feedback that’s encouraging but will push you and challenge your perceptions when that applies, etc. Do you feel they “get” you and your vision for your novel? Or does it feel like they’re developing their own vision even as you speak? Take the time to get the right fit. It may sound simplistic, but hire someone you actually like as a person, especially if you plan to work with them for a long time or are looking for an editor for not only this but also future work.
Making Your Selection
Once you’ve narrowed it down, make sure your editor is a qualified professional. In addition to requesting samples of the editor’s work, provide them with a few sample pages of your own work and ask them to edit the sample.
This helps both of you. You can see exactly what they have to offer, and they can see if you are someone whose work they would like to edit. Today, some editors will refuse to work with someone whose work is so badly written it will take them too long to finish it. Or they may charge you an additional fee. It’s best to get on the same page about your expectations.
And most importantly, make sure your editor reads and edits your genre or category of writing. They are more likely to understand what your readers expect and what attracts them. They know the conventions of the genre or category. So let your potential editor know what type of book you’ve written and ask if this is a genre or category they feel confident and excited about reading. You have choices. Why not select someone who will enjoy working with you and editing your type of work?
What Can You Expect to Pay an Editor?
Most often, editors charge by the word or the page. Some developmental or sensitivity editors may charge by the manuscript, but they’ll base that cost on a rough per word/page assessment. Charges can vary widely depending on what services are being provided and the condition of the manuscript. Anywhere from 3-10 cents per word or $5-15 per page is fairly standard but is in no way universal.
They may also charge flat fees for groups of words or pages: $10-15 per 1000 words for copy, line or proofreading, or $50-75 per 1000 words for developmental or rewriting. After 1000 words, the rate per 1000 words may drop, but not always.
Remember, editors are professionals who deserve to be paid for their expertise. But you can help yourself by doing as much self-editing and revision as you can. If you plan to write multiple books or works, it’s wise to consider taking some classes or studying craft books on editing and revision. You’ll find the investment is generally well worth it.
Critiquers
Critiquer is the French word for “critic.” These days, writers will see this word being used increasingly to differentiate people who critique manuscripts for writers from those who are hired to write critical reviews for publication (art, music, film and book critics).
A critiquer is someone who will provide you with a critical review of your manuscript. It may include anything the critiquer wants to tell you about, from grammar and composition shortcomings, to plot holes, to voice, character development, logic, factual errors, strengths, etc. But critiquers generally don’t fix things or get involved in minutiae. Instead, they’ll point things out and give you a report that you can use in much the same way you use the reports of beta readers.
Where Do I Find Critiquers?
Happily, Query Tracker (for writers) and Query Manager (for literary agents and acquisition editors), an online site for writers and agents to connect and send/receive submissions, has recently added qtCritique, a place for writers to peer-critique each other’s work. Here, writers can submit chapters, query letters, pitches and even whole manuscripts to peers for their critiques. And the system is set up so that critiquers can click on possible selections as well as add free text.
Critiquers may also be found in the same places as beta readers and editors. Generally, peers tend to operate more like beta readers, whereas professional mentors, book coaches and teachers often provide critiques to their mentees and students.
Thanks for Joining Us
I hope you’ve enjoyed talking about editors and critiquers and the value they bring to your writing projects. Along with beta readers, they can take your work from good to great and make it the best it can be.
1Click on the superscript #1 in the list of editor types to go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website section on Editors.
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May the Words be With You.
