The Editorial Process…

Or: to take a butcher’s cleaver to your precious.

I suppose the editorial process happens throughout the writing of a work, and not just for self publishing authors. Editing is something I’m constantly doing, wether in my head or on the keyboard. But the editing I want to focus on today is the kind you need a professional for. Maybe I’ll hit on my approach to editing while writing another time.

I’ve only had the one experience with a professional editor for my upcoming book, so my perspective is limited. But I wasn’t even sure I wanted to hire an editor for my book, so maybe you can gleam something from my experience.

I’ve heard two views on professional editors in the self publishing space: don’t do it, and you need to hire an editor! Sure, there’s a “third” perspective: try it if you want, or don’t, lolz! But that’s just Wishiwashi.

Don’t be the sad fish.

I’ll say this: in my humble opinion, it doesn’t help anyone if you try to cut costs by passing on an editor. Why? Your product suffers. You don’t learn from your technical mistakes. If your readers are knowledgeable, they won’t be likely to come back and read your next work. And you cast a shadow (small as it may be) on all self published works.

In short, you hurt yourself, you hurt your readers, and you hurt your peers. Not a good look.

Now I understand–paying an editor isn’t cheap. That’s why I was tempted to skip it for my book. But for the above reasons, I decided to bite the bullet.

Honestly, I don’t expect my book to recoup the cost of publishing it. Certainly not for a while. But if it’s going to have even a chance at success, it needs that professional touch.

So after I finally broke through that fog of fear that was preventing me from publishing anything, I got myself an editor.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, and they have trusted services that offer discounts for members. There are a number of editing services found through AOIA, and one of them was offering my first 1,000 words edited free.

This was TypeRight.

*Spoiler alert: I highly recommend using TypeRight*

I figured I’d send in my manuscript to TypeRight, see how they mark up those first 1,000 words, and if I liked the work, I’d go with them. I liked the work.

TypeRight is kind of like on demand editing. They have a group of vetted editors–ranging multiple genres–and one of those editors is assigned to you once you request an editing service. They offer editing for the whole writing process.

My 1,000 words were returned, and my editor recommended a copy edit for my manuscript. Intersection is just over 13,000 words, so the quoted amount was just over $400. Dagger to my wallet.

TypeRight offers a 10% discount on your manuscript if you’re not in a rush for it to be finished (which means it’ll take about 12-14 days to be returned). Being a member of the alliance gave me another 10% off as well. These two discounts really helped me out.

By the by, I don’t make any money talking about TypeRight. I just think they offer a great service.

So I got my manuscript back, and as I was reviewing the changes, I realized some mistakes I’ve been making, so I’m working on cleaning those up for the story I’m writing now. But I also saw that the industry standards are not the same as I thought they would be. There’s certain grammatical rules that aren’t conformed to, and I can only conclude this is the case to give the reader an easier read.

I should also mention: the editor assigned to my manuscript was professional in conduct, and he answered all my questions going into the process. I liked the experience with TypeRight so much that I’ll be using them for my next story, which I plan on releasing at the end of the year.

For tomorrow, I’d like to start Free for all Friday: this will be a blog post that has very little to do with writing. Stuff I like, stuff I don’t like, and the things I’m doing when not writing. So I hope you join me for that.

The first Free for all Friday will feature two recently released albums that I’m really not liking, despite really liking both bands. I guess I’ll throw in an album I’m regularly listening to as well.

Until then, I hope you have a wonderful day,

Colin J Switalski

*This was originally posted on my old blog on June 8th, 2023.