How to get an editor for your book

Once you have completed writing your manuscript you should look at having a professional editor review it, this is a stage that some indie authors overlook, sometimes for cost reasons and in others for over confidence. However, being so close to a volume of writing can lead to a blinkered view with regards to the flow, construction and fine tuning of the work.
​
A good editor is not there to be a negative over-user of red ink, they should be able to help you in polishing your work to a higher level and thus give your book the best chance of shining when it’s published.

But there are many editing services out there along with some freelance websites that offer editing to indie & self-publishing authors, you of course want an editor that’s within your budget and also has the experience/talent to complete a great job for you.
​
So, what should you be looking for in your search for an editor? 

​Well first of all you need to understand the different types of editing services that are normally on offer.

Developmental Editing, this looks at the overall book itself and is more of a full-on edit, the book’s structure and narrative will be edited along with analyzing and critiquing the narrative, plot, pacing and so on.

Copy Editing assesses the grammar, punctuation, consistency and overall mechanics of your book.

Proofreading is normally the next and the last stage in checking that all issues have been found and highlighted for correction.

Which type of editing service you choose will be down to your timeframe and budget, but we would recommend that you plan ahead and ensure that your book is looked at thoroughly.
​
Once you know what type of edit you need you should start to look for editors to work with, but keep in mind doing the following:

1. Speak to other writers and find out which services they used and get honest feedback.
2. Send a one page example to potential editors to ask for their opinion.
3. When you send in a one page example, make sure you hide elements within the document to see if they can catch it.
4. Look at their experience and previous work, how many years have they been editing for? What genre do they work in? What are some of their previous books?
5. Do they understand your specific project?
6. Contact several editors to compare and contrast.
7. How many books per month does the individual editor normally work with, 3 to 4 should work, but if they’re working on a dozen then you may want to look elsewhere.

Here are three of the more popular and highly rated editors that have great records and are chosen by a large number of professional self-publishing authors, you may want to check them out first.

Reedsy – They’ve been around since 2014 and have a large team of professionals, they’ve edited over 3,000 books and continue to help countless authors going forward. 

NY Editors -  They have worked with some of the biggest names in the publishing world and bring many years worth of experience from some of the biggest publishing houses in the world.

​EDIT 911 – With all of their editors being PhDs, they have a great deal of knowledge to edit your book, on top of this they have edited over 30,000 books since 1999.