Do You Need An Editor For Your Book?

The answer is…..Yes!

It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned author, or a first time writer, working with an editor is a vital part of the writing process.

In this blog, I'm gonna give you the three key reasons why all writers need an editor.

And here we go….

1)    You’re Simply Too Close To Your Own Work

The reason why editors are absolutely critical for any writer is the fact that you are too close to your own work to see the flaws in it.

Think about it. You’re at your laptop, happily typing away, and, like most of us authors, you get so caught up in the story that you sometimes overlook those pesky little mistakes that should be jumping right off the page at us.

Example.

I was sitting at my computer the other night, just tapping away at my ASMR keyboard,

( those are AWESOME by the way, and if you spend a lot of time at your keyboard, I HIGHLY recommend getting one ) and I was so caught up writing a scene that my fingers were flying across the board.

I was on fire! Totally in the writing zone.

When I finished, I shut down my computer and went to bed.

The next morning, I looked over my work with an editing eye, and low and behold, what did I find? Run on sentences. Punctuation errors. And even some spelling errors.

And why? Because I was too close to my own work to spot the mistakes that I'd made.

And that, my lovelies, is why we need an editor.

And yes, I too have an editor, just so ya know.

As writers, we’re so in the thick of our story, we can’t see the forest from the trees.

Which is where an editor’s perspective can help.

An editor provides a fresh perspective on your draft. They're coming at it from a third party perspective, because they don't know the story, ideas, worldbuilding, or characters in your novel going into it for the first time.

Whereas you, the writer, have known everything about your novel from its beginnings.

Another example. Something that makes perfect sense to you when you read through your draft might actually not make sense to your readers, but you won't be able to determine that unless you have an external perspective come in. 

By working with an editor, you will be gaining a second set of eyes that will be working hard to make your story the best it can be.

2)    You Are Too Focused on the Page

The second reason why writers need editors for their books is because an editor helps you see beyond the page.

Editing goes way beyond fixing and correcting spelling and grammar errors that you see in the document itself. It's also about discovering what's not on the page that should be.

A good editor will provide ideas on how to deepen the story you're trying to tell.

For instance, an editor can offer an idea you hadn't thought about but, is actually important to the story. Based on their feedback, you could end up adding a whole other character's perspective or developing their backstory. Perhaps you realize you need to change the setting or add more details to bring the setting to life.

These are things you don't necessarily see when you're looking at your manuscript.

But an editor reading your novel for the first time can bring that broader perspective and can determine what is going to enrich your story and make it even more effective than it already is.

Working with an editor is also important because they can help you determine how to shape the story so it resonates with the intended readers.

If you are looking to publish it within a certain genre, an editor can help you determine what needs to be in your draft so it best fits that genre. They are bringing their professional knowledge of the industry, which has been earned through their editing of many books, to help guide your book to narrative success.

3)    You Will Become a Better Writer

Lastly, working with a good editor should ultimately make you a better writer.

The goal of any editor is to help you strengthen your writing and your storytelling ability.

It is about you and your story, not about the editor's opinion. Editing is never about the editor's vision for the story, it is about yours. 

That's why I approach editing as a partnership where we can work together to make your vision come to life. My feedback is all in an effort to help that vision become a reality.

Ideally, the feedback you get on your current story will help you strengthen the next one you write, so investing in professional editing has a compounding benefit. 

Writers sometimes have the impression that editors will hack up their novel with red marks everywhere, telling them what's wrong and then leaving them to figure out their issues on their own.

However, that's not my approach to editing. I don't think that's how the partnership should be or what it should look like. It should be a collaborative effort, a two-way street going both ways. 

So, yes, I might deliver a document with a ton of red text on it from the suggestions I've added, but from there we're going to have a dialogue on why those changes will make the story more effective. If you reply that you don’t agree on something, then I will respect that and leave it alone.

You and your editor should have these kinds of conversations so that you end up in a place where your vision for the story is retained but elevated by whatever the editor brought to light. Ideally,  you both will feel like the manuscript has become much stronger.

And there you have it my lovelies!

I hope this blog has spread a little light on the editing process, and why it is absolutely essential for an author to have their work professionally edited.

Until next time my friends.

Happy Writing!

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.

Simple as that."

Stephen King