What an Editor CAN and CANNOT Do for Your Book

Since it seems more people are tuning into this blog, I'll try to post more often--it's just sometimes I don't feel I have anything worthwhile to say! 😐

As I forge my way through my manuscript and incorporate changes from my editor, I've come to a greater understanding of how to set expectations when enlisting the services of a professional editor. First and foremost, don't expect your editor to write your book for you. Seems obvious, but many writers expect that an editor can take their mess of a book and magically make it bloom and sparkle like the brightest stars in the sky.

Won't happen.

Editors aren't like Rumplestiltskin--they can't take your pile of hay and spin it into gold. Here's what an editor can do for you:

• Address issues such as plot, pacing, thematics, character development, narrative sequencing and chronology
• Special concerns you may have as an author, such as genre and marketing strategy
• Copyedit/line edit focusing on flow, punctuation, grammar, word choice, syntax, consistency of language
• Continuity of plot, setting, and character traits

That's a broad range of issues that any good editor will tackle, which is why talented, experienced editors charge a lot and spend many hours on your book.

But here's what an editor won't, or can't, do for you:

• Rewrite your book--hire a ghost writer for that!
• Take what is essentially an unpublishable novel and turn it into a bestseller
• Take a poorly thought-out story idea and bland, two-dimensional characters and magically transform those deficiencies into compelling literature
• Most editors will not recommend specific agents or publishers for your manuscript, since publishing markets change constantly

As you can see, editors take on a great deal of responsibility when they agree to work on your book. I've found that when working with editors their main value lies in closely reading your work and  helping you polish, tighten, and add depth to what is (hopefully) an already strong, well-written manuscript. In fact, the very best editors will reject jobs if they review a sample and find the writing too weak to warrant their time and effort!

So before you hire an editor, my advice is to go through your manuscript and rewrite as often as it takes until you deem it as close to perfection as you can get. If you can find some beta readers to read and comment on your work, that's even better. But your book must be as good as you can get it before you commit to the expense of hiring an editor. Otherwise you're wasting his/her time as well as your  own time and money.

I'm convinced that by the time I'm through with my final edits in the next couple of weeks, I will have a super-strong manuscript ready to do battle in the publishing market free-for-all. 

I welcome comments and suggestions on this or any other posts and will respond to all of them! Heck, I'm stuck at home just like you!