Get An Editor!

Editing.  It’s the bane of a writer’s existence.  None of us thinks we need it, yet experience shows we all do.  I was reminded of this recently as I read some of the comments on my novels.

I had an editor for three of my five novels.  Now understand that when I say editor, I don’t mean someone curating for content.  I simply don’t believe in using a single editor for that, b/c content curations are subjective.  For that kind of thing, I use beta-readers.  No, by editor, I mean someone who makes certain everything is spelled correctly and makes sense when read by someone of average intelligence(not that my editor is “average” intelligence…she’s actually far above that grade of thinking).

As I said above, I did not use an editor twice, on Akeldama and Schism.  Both times the decision was made based on cost(editors don’t do stuff for free) and arrogance(I was certain I had everything correct after multiple readings).  Having learned my lesson, I will never not use an editor again.  Akeldama required multiple revisions by myself, sending those revisions off to the print conversion folks again(and again, and again).  Very frustrating, especially as this was my first publishing novel(frustrating?  Maybe Embarrassing would be a better descriptor).

Schism is where it has hurt me the most.  It’s not secret that I think SalvationDay is my best novel, but the audience has decided that it’s Schism.  I’ve gotten several good reviews and some decent exposure for that novel.  However, in almost every instance where it got four stars instead of five, the reviewer noted that they marked it down for editing.  That stings.

Save up.  Get a credit card.  Do whatever you have to do, but do not publish prior to an editor looking at your manuscript.  That doesn’t mean you have to accept every edit suggestion – it’s your work, after all – but it gives you the chance to decide if the edit makes sense or not(hint – it usually does).  You can decide if you meant it a certain way or you just had a brain fart.  Without that bit of pause, you come off looking like an amateur, and I promise this will apply whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned author with multiple best-sellers.  Such embarrassments can lead to a loss of credibility and a hesitancy to correct after so long because you’re afraid of being embarrassed.  How’s that for a paradox?