Now that you’ve finished your book or other document, you might have in mind some ideas for your editor, and that’s great! But, before choosing your editor, do you know what to avoid? Naturally, you know what you do want, and that’s a consummate professional, who is highly skilled, respects your work, and will offer you a fair price. Now let’s look at some of the things you might want to avoid.

Price is probably one of the major factors in choosing your book or document editor. So, one of the issues you will want to consider is whether the editing company charges by the hour or by the project. As an editor, I can tell you that here are some typical problems I run into when charging by the hour, and how it actually benefits you as a writer to avoid this method. Every single time I leave my desk to take a break (whether it’s 15 minutes or an hour), I have to jot down my start and stop time. This “time list” is very long by the end of the day. I have to then calculate the actual time spent editing your book, while wondering if I might have forgotten a break or two. Charging by the project relieves me of this concern. Also, suppose you pay by the hour, and the editor ends up explaining that it took five hours more than she first calculated? That can add up moneywise.

What if the editor has an emergency and cannot finish the job? Does he hand it off to someone else, who now has to start from the beginning of your 60,000-word manuscript? Do you now have to pay two editors for their time? Herein lies avoidance number two: it is usually in your best interest to hire an editorial services company rather than an individual editor. At FirstEditing.com, for example, I am one of a number of professional editors. If for any reason I cannot finish a job, someone else will take over, and you will still be charged the one flat rate.

Suppose you choose an editor you are not happy with? Most individual editors (and many professional editing companies) will not offer you a free sample of their work. FirstEditing.com does. We evaluate your work and make a recommendation for a particular editing level, not based on price, but on what the book or document needs. You might need nothing more than copyediting services, or you might benefit from rewrites, or deep commentary on plot and character. Ultimately, the choice is always yours, regardless of our recommendation.

Hopefully, this will encourage you to secure a flat and secured editing rate, use a professional editorial services company with qualified and experienced editors, and always get a free sample. We do all this and more at FirstEditing.com.

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3. How to Improve Your Writing: Capitalization
4. How to find a good dissertation editor – what to know BEFORE you buy!
5. Writing, Editing and Getting Your Book Published by a Professional Editor

Tags: editing, fiction editing, firstediting, firstediting.com, Professional Editing, Technical Edit, Technical Editing, Thesis Editing

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 3:19 am and is filed under Book Editing, Book Editors, Business Editing, Copy Editing, Editing Skills & Services, Technical Editing, Technical writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.