Hiring an editor is one of the best things you can do for the book you’ve poured your heart into. It’s an exciting process and also a bit nerve-wracking. After all, there are plenty of horror stories of editors mercilessly butchering your voice until it breathes its last and vanishes from your book, or of others forcing changes on your book that turn it into something other than what you had hoped. Never mind the nagging fear that you might accidentally hire a pirate and they go ahead and publish your book under their name.
Yep, hiring an editor is as frightening as it is exciting. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be. There are things you can look out for that will help you hire an editor with confidence or run away. Let’s start with some things you can do to prepare, then go through some red and orange flags you can keep an eye out for when selecting editors to work with you on your book.
What You Can Do
First, research the industry. Get to know how publishing works. What steps do traditionally published books go through before being published? How many of those are critical to self-publishing (if that is the path you want to take)?
Get to know the different levels of editing. One of the biggest challenges you will face when hiring an editor is figuring out what types of edits they offer. That’s because there isn’t an industry-standard list of names for each type of edit. For example, big-picture edits (edits focusing on the plot, pacing, characterization, and so on) can be called developmental editing, substantive editing, book doctoring, macro edits, or whatever fun name an editor wants to give it. And just to keep you guessing, sometimes those terms can be used to refer to a different type of edit. That’s where understanding the different levels of edits becomes important because you can ask the editor to describe what they do and, if you know the general types of edits, you can see where their definition fits.
(To learn more about the different types of edits, you can visit https://thechristianpen.com/editing-definitions.)
It will also pay you to learn a little about style guides. Style guides, like the Chicago Manual of Style, list guidelines relating to grammar, usage, punctuation, typography, citations, and more. Style guides govern the decisions made by copyeditors and proofreaders. But there are many and which one should be deferred to depends on the type of book you are writing and who the intended audience is.
Speaking of the intended audience, one of the most important things you can ever do as an author is define your target reader. That decision alone will dictate not only how and where you will market but also what content will be accepted in your book and the words you will choose. It will also influence who you ultimately pick as your editor.
One more thing you can do before hiring an editor (besides settling on the budget): get to know which genre your book fits in. Like the intended audience, this decision will affect where and how you market and what content is needed in your book.
You don’t need to get a PhD in publishing for this. In fact, you don’t need to do any of this when hiring an editor. But having these bits of information filed away will certainly help. Let’s move on to some things you need to keep an eye out for in an editor.
Red Flags
They don’t respect you.
One of the most important aspects of your relationship with any editor is mutual respect. If you don’t respect them, you are less likely to accept or consider their edits. But if they don’t respect you, they are less likely to try and catch your vision for the book and more likely to approach the edit with the attitude of “I’m right.” The result?
An edit that turns your book into their idea of what it should be, with a side of frustration, heartache, screaming, and possibly tears.
You will generally be able to pick up on an editor’s attitude toward you in the discussions before you hire them. But it will also come through in their edits and the way they phrase their comments and suggestions. If possible, get a sample edit done before hiring an editor so that you can see their general approach not just to your book but also to you.
They are unwilling or unable to explain a change.
For any writer who wants to improve in their craft, there is one thing they must do. Ask questions.
There will be times you come across an edit or suggestion from your editor and you simply don’t see why it was made. Reach out and ask them about it. Most good editors will be willing to explain or discuss it. The editors you want to avoid hiring are the ones who refuse to explain their changes or who don’t have a good reason for what they suggested. “It sounded better to me” or “I like my way better” is not a good explanation from an editor, and those statements indicate they are more interested in forcing your book to conform to their vision for it, rather than making your book the best it can be for the people and the reasons you are writing it for.
They haven’t invested in their own education.
We aren’t looking for a masters’ degree in English here. What we are looking for is someone who is willing to attend conferences, sign up for courses, and read books on the crafts of writing and editing. Someone who doesn’t want to learn more about editing could be pedantic about rules they learned in high school and unwilling to at least consider another approach.
They don’t read your genre.
When it comes to developmental or substantive (big-picture) edits, this is vital. Every genre has certain requirements. A romance needs the main character and the love interest to be together in the end. An action needs fight scenes. Thrillers need a “ticking clock.” An editor who does not read your genre will not know when your book is missing those key elements, meaning they will simply help you release a book that doesn’t meet reader expectations. The result is disappointed readers and one-star reviews.
With copyediting and proofreading, this is less important, but it is still an advantage to have an editor who reads your genre. They will be more open to style choices specific to your genre and might even be able to suggest some word choices that will better suit your book because of the genre.
English is their second (or third) language.
This one is key at the copyediting and proofreading stages. There are many nuances of the English language that cannot necessarily be learned. Those who grow up speaking English as their first language will intuitively know these things, while someone who has English as their second or third language will not.
They quote a fast turnaround time.
You have a fifty-thousand-word manuscript and a proofreader says they’ll get it back to you in three days.
Run. Away. Fast.
There are two possibilities in this scenario. One is the proofreader will use AI like Grammarly to proofread your manuscript. Maybe they’ll go through and check the suggestions, maybe not. But what happens with this is that your unique voice and possibly some specific style decisions you had made could be lost in the generic, rule-based focus of algorithms. The other possibility is that the proofreader will read your book once (and quickly), correcting what errors they do spot but leaving a significant number behind.
Get to know how many hours freelancing editors typically take on the various levels of edits. Freelance editors often edit between twenty and thirty hours a week, so knowing approximately how many hours they will need for your project will give you a rough turnaround time. Just keep in mind that every editor is unique. Some edit faster while others want more time to be able to give your book the attention it deserves. The goal with knowing how long an edit could take is to avoid those who are going to do a shoddy job.
A good place to get an idea of editing speeds is https://www.the-efa.org/rates/.
They are unaware of style guides.
Quality copyeditors and proofreaders do not make a correction without referring to or having an extensive knowledge of the relevant style guide. For fiction and general nonfiction, the style guide most frequently referred to is the Chicago Manual of Style (for works published in the US) and New Hart’s Rules (for works published in the UK). A good discussion to have with an editor before you hire them is what style guide they will be referring to, especially when it comes to grammatical edits. If they do not know about style guides (even at the big-picture edits stage), then rather don’t hire them to edit your book.
They don’t ask questions.
What type of book are you writing? What are your dreams/hopes for it? Who is your target audience?
These are just some of the questions an editor could ask about your book (if you don’t provide them with the information early). These questions are vital because what your goals as an author are for the book will influence how the editor approaches it. A book that is meant to be a Christmas present for the kids or grandkids will have different needs to a book you hope to get onto the best-selling lists. And an experienced editor will work to meet the needs of your book.
Also, when an editor doesn’t ask questions during the edit (either by contacting you or by leaving questions in comment bubbles in the manuscript), it could be a sign that they are approaching your book with an “I’m right” attitude.
They tell you only what you want to hear.
“This will be a best-seller!”
“You are the next [insert famous author here]!”
Ah, flattery. We all like to be told that we have done a good job. And the endorphin rush that comes with positive feedback can make the best of us take leave of our senses.
If the only thing your editor is telling you is what you want to hear and they aren’t pointing out areas you can improve in, run. They do not have your or your book’s best interests in mind. Chances are good they are pulling the wool over your eyes so they can hoodwink you into some nefarious plan that leaves them with your money and you with shattered dreams and a book that received a subpar edit.
Orange Flags
They don’t have a website.
This isn’t super important, but not having a website could be a sign that the editor is a newbie or lacks the professionalism you might be looking for. At the same time, however, not all editors have websites because maintaining a website can be a pain and a time suck. So while an editor not having a website may be reason for concern, it shouldn’t send you running. They might have simply chosen to not have one.
They aren’t a member of a professional organization.
When an editor is a member of an editorial organization, it shows they are serious about their craft and about being a professional in the industry. But not being a part of an organization is not a sign that you should run away. Like not having a website, the editor might have chosen to not join an organization. Or the cost of being a member could be outside their budget right now. Whatever the reason, not being a member of a professional editors’ association is not a red flag, but it could be worth asking them about it.
Some editorial organizations include the Editorial Freelancers Association, ACES, Reedsy, the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (for UK editors or editors trained in the UK style), and the Christian PEN (for Christian editors and proofreaders).
Their rates are below industry standards.
This is a sign of newer editors. Like any industry, breaking into editing is hard. Writers want to hire someone with experience, but writers (or publishers) have to take a chance on an editor in order for them to get experience. One of the ways around that lack-of-experience conundrum is for editors to offer their services below industry-standard rates.
Like not having a website, this isn’t a red flag because the editor could have all the needed training, be a part of professional associations, and be absolute gold. But what you have to be aware of is that they possibly lack experience. If you are a seasoned author, this will likely be no problem, but when you’re just starting out, it really does pay to hire an editor with experience.
Two places you can go to check out typical editing rates are https://www.the-efa.org/rates and https://thechristianpen.com/christian-freelance-editing-rates/.
They offer one-and-done services.
Some editors offer both a developmental edit and copyedit of your book. You can get your book edited once and then you’re done. Sounds great, right?
Be careful. There are some editors who, because of their unique skill set and their years of experience, are able to do this and do it well. But most editors offer the edits in different stages because it is very difficult to do such a comprehensive edit in one go. In fact, many editors who do legitimately offer this service do at least two rounds of edits, sending the author big-picture revisions and looking for typos etc. once the author has implemented the changes. Such an edit typically works best on books that are very clean grammatically speaking.
Unless the editor has the experience and the track record of happy customers who hired them for these one-and-done deals, avoid hiring someone for this type of edit. It might sound amazing, but in the end you might get two below-standard edits when one excellent edit would have been better.
They are unwilling to give a sample edit.
Some editors do offer free sample edits. Others (typically those with more experience) charge a nominal fee. Some just don’t do sample edits at all.
A sample edit is useful for both the editor and the writer as it gives both parties a chance to see if the editor is a good fit for the project. I recommend getting several sample edits done before hiring an editor, if you are able to do that.
Some editors don’t offer sample edits because they no longer need to. Their track record and experience mark them as an expert in their field. They are unlikely to just take on new clients because they have a large number of existing clients who have booked them months in advance. So when an editor doesn’t offer sample edits, it could be for this reason, in which case it isn’t a red flag.
When an editor insists on you hiring them without a sample edit or a reasonable explanation for why they don’t do one, that is a red flag.
Special Thanks
I didn’t compile this list on my own. Rather, I reached out to the members of the editorial association I am a part of and asked them for input! So thank you to all the members of the Christian PEN and special thanks to these members in particular:
Karin Beery (Karin’s Facebook)
Jayna Baas (Jayna’s website)
Lora Donacea (Lora’s website)
Libby Gontarz (Libby’s website)
Susan K. Stewart (Susan’s website)
Photo credit: Photo by chi nguyen on Unsplash.