Why You Should Have a Professional Edit Your Work

They look at your work with a fresh pair of eyes.

You’ve probably looked at your manuscript a few dozen times now. While self-editing is essential for the first few drafts of your manuscript, writers can get so familiar with and attached to their work that it becomes difficult for them to look at it objectively.

Getting an editor means a new pair of eyes that can look at your writing, pinpoint what works and what doesn’t, and make suggestions for improvement. Developmental editors, for example, analyze elements like characterization, plot, pacing, etc., for fiction.

For non-fiction, a developmental editor will check if the content of the book is complete and appropriate for its intended audience. You don’t want to throw around a lot of jargon for a beginner’s textbooks, but it’s so easy sometimes to assume that your audience knows what you’re talking about. Editors help you avoid making that mistake.

They make sure your words match your message.

Good writing means clear writing. That’s true whether you’re writing an instructional textbook on building your own living room set, or a fantasy novel about elves and orcs. An editor looks objectively at your writing and makes sure that your intended readers will understand what you’re trying to say.

Content editors look at things like punctuation, word choice, and syntax, for example.

They know exactly how to phrase and punctuate a sentence. They can hack away at weak qualifiers and unnecessary adverbs to get straight to the meat of a scene.

If you get your work professionally edited, you get the best possible product.

Editors work really hard to make sure your book comes out exactly right.

Line editors look for grammatical errors, typos, inconsistencies, and other issues in your book.

Proofreaders are the last line of defense, making sure nothing slips through the cracks and your book stays as error-free as possible.

Step Four

Final Approval

After seeing a proof of your book, you give final approval to end production and bring your book to life. We will send your book sent to the printers, oversee printing, and list it in retail sites like Amazon and our own AuthorHouse bookshop.

They can save you money in the long run.

Professional editors would recommend that you first get an editorial assessment to help you figure out what kind of editing you need and when. Say a writer—let’s call him Arthur—purchases a line edit, figuring he’s done enough structural edits to his work. He sends his edited manuscript to his friend Bill, just to get his opinion. Bill says, “It’s a good book, Art, but there’s a matter of a plot hole in chapter five…”

Now Arthur has to change his book almost entirely, get a developmental edit (which costs money), and another line edit when it’s done.

Yikes.

An editor not only fixes spelling and grammar errors. They help you hone your craft, and they save you time, trouble, and cash in the long run. The right editor is absolutely worth their weight in gold.