How to Find A Good Editor #WriterWednesday

You get what you pay for.

 

This phrase is tossed around in a lot of industries, and for the most part it's true. If you purchase a refrigerator for $5,000.00,  you'd expect it to be of better quality than one you purchased for $1,000.00. 

 

But with editors, this isn't always the case. 

 

I've seen editors who charge top dollar for their services, but aren't as good as those who charge half as much. Even degrees don't always broadcast the quality of an editor. In school, they teach how to edit research papers, not usually genre fiction. These are two separate animals and unless you want your book to read like a textbook, you probably don't want it edited like it's a science book.

 

So how do you find a good editor?

 

1) Ask around. Find out from other authors in your genre who they use.

 

2) Do your research. If the editor has a website or Facebook page, they will often have books listed there that they've worked on. Head over to Amazon, read over the sample, and see how well edited the book is.

 

3) Ask for a sample edit. Once you've narrowed it down to 2-3 editors, contact them and ask if they can provide you with a sample edit. This is usually either 1,000 words up to the first chapter of your novel. Editors do not typically charge for this, and it will give you a good idea of what type of work  you can expect from that particular editor.

 

Finding a good editor does take some work, but it's worth it. You wouldn't want to go into a store and buy a chair only to find out one of the legs is a little shorter than the other. In the same respect, readers don't want to purchase a book and begin reading only to find the story riddled with typos and missing words. You want to give the reader the best experience possible. You want them to get lost in the story and nothing can pull a reader out of a story faster than a badly edited book.