When it comes to finding an editor to help you with your book, make sure it’s someone who responds to what you’ve written and how you’ve written it. Make no mistake: no one likes to be edited. It can be an incredibly painful process. You’re basically paying someone to poke holes in what you’ve done and critique every aspect of it from concept to comma use. Like many things in the publishing process, it requires a leap of faith, and if you want to ensure your book is marketable—or at the very least navigable to readers—than it’s absolutely necessary.

Here’re a few pointers in choosing an editor:

1. Find an editor who specializes in your genre—if you’ve written a book about the Civil War, by all means, find an editor who has edited similar titles.

2. Ensure that a potential editor follows a specific style guideline—and that it’s what you and your publisher prefer.

3. Find an editor who’s genuinely excited about your project—again, your editor should respond to you and your book.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask for work samples.

5. Once you review an editor’s work, don’t be afraid to share your particular needs—you might want less insight on character development and more guidance on plot.

6. Be specific about your writing strengths and weaknesses—do you have an issue with tense or point of view? Share these concerns with a potential editor.

Ultimately, what reinforces the collaborative spirit between writer and editor is a clear understanding centered on ethics and expectations. It’s sort of like a marriage, except you’re probably not going to love your editor—not at first. But down the road, once you’ve come to appreciate the editing process and how the editing process led to an end product you’re genuinely proud of, you’ll realize your editor was essential—and that it was sort of like having a dentist, project manager, magician, and mother hen on your side. Sure it hurt at first. Sure it was a little daunting and often tedious—but then most things worth having don’t come easy.  

Ellie Maas Davis
Ellie Maas Davis is the owner of Pressque, a publishing consultation firm based in Charleston, South Carolina that offers editing, ghostwriting, and marketing services to authors and publishers. She is the author of Shooter: A Woman’s Journey in Combat from Behind the Camera, The Humours of Folly, See Charleston in a Day, and over twenty ghostwritten works of fiction and nonfiction.

I have the top-of-the-line iPhone case. It's completely submersible, shock proof, and can withstand a seven-foot drop inside of a sandstorm…and I hate it. Let me backtrack: I hate what it isn’t—it isn’t my iPhone. Underneath its watertight seal and military grade polycarbonate frame is one of the most beautiful machines ever made. Aesthetically, it’s a work of art, a living version of Reinhardt’s Black Painting, and it’s completely vulnerable.

I am lucky enough to get paid for my hobby. As much as I'd like to say this is for my tennis or scuba diving skills, it is actually more fun than that. I love to edit. In high school and particularly in college I was a decent writer, but I was always getting hammered on mechanics. Rhetoric and writing assignments would have comments from my professor like, "Strong style!" or "Great transition!" but the rest of the document looked like my professor had a paper cut. There were hundreds of sporadic red spots, circles, blobs, dashes, and carets spread over the page like so much spilled blood. In short, I was forced to focus on my mechanics. As I aged, I realized I was never really a talented writer, but the upside was that I was technically proficient. I can't write very well, but I can make my poor writing grammatically correct.

1. You’re a professional who needs a professional manuscript
2. You haven’t got the time
3. You can’t see the forest for the trees
4. You need contacts and experience
5. English isn’t your first language
6. You’re not the sole author
7. You tend to procrastinate
8. You’re more of an idea person
9. You don’t know how to begin
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“When walking, walk. When eating, eat” –Zen Proverb

As an editor, my number one headache when it comes to editing Indie authors, especially neophytes, is they’ve a tendency to prematurely offer design elements in their work. Unless the manuscript is a graphic novel, interactive children’s book, picture book, popup books, etc. stylistic measures hamper the editing process.

Strangely, over the years, I’ve found I rather appreciate finding an author bio enclosed at the tail end of a manuscript I’m about to edit. An author photo, which long ago might frustrate me for poking a hole through the veil of anonymity, now brings me pleasure.