How do you know if you need an editor?

  • Are you an author who has worked so long on your writing, but now you can’t read your words anymore? Have they stopped making sense even to you? It doesn’t matter if it’s a book, blog, or brochure: you can’t read it one more time.
  • Are you a department head responsible for making sure everything that goes out is written well and aligned with company vision and voice, but what crosses your desk comes from different levels of writers? Or has a pressing project come into your office and no one has the time to take it on? It doesn’t matter if you work at a nonprofit or for-profit: you need to make sure everything that leaves your department is clean, professional, and done on time.
  • Are you concerned that your writing isn’t the best it can be?
  • Are you looking for someone to partner with to make sure your thoughts flow and your writing suits your audience?
  • Do you need a neutral, experienced, thorough, and generous partner in your corner?

If you answered yes to any question, then you need an editor!

I can help with:

  • Books (academic and nonfiction)
  • Articles (journal, magazine, newspaper)
  • Short stories
  • Blogs
  • Reports
  • RFPs
  • Marketing materials
  • Financial prospectuses
  • Presentations
  • Scripts
  • And much more

Working with an editor

Now you know that you need an editor (or suspect that you do), but you’ve never hired one before. How do you even know what questions to ask? Where do you begin the conversation? The following offers definitions of terms in broad language so that we can start a conversation. From there, you can feel comfortable asking more questions.

Whether you’ve worked with an editor before or this idea is new to you, this page offers you a menu of options. This list is not everything possible, of course, but it may spark an idea for something your particular project needs. After all, my own branding is “working with your bright ideas”!

Types of editing

Developmental edit: An analysis of what is working and what is not based on the author’s goals. This can include, for example, suggestions if there is too much or too little description, what could use more context if a concept is not clear, and overall structure. This is the “10,000-foot” view, and it happens early in the process.

Light, medium, or substantive edit: The editing moves past discussion and suggestion and is made on the page. This could include simpler tasks such as making sure numbered lists are sequential and capitalization is correct (light) to more complex ones such as rewriting sentences and reorganizing sections (substantive). An editor is usually hired for one level of editing at a time (with substantive first, and light last), or a project can be priced to include more than one level.

Proofread: This is a final check after the writing and editing are absolutely complete. It is a detailed check for capitalization, correct use of punctuation, pagination, and so on. This is the last step in the editorial process. It is not uncommon for an author to think proofreading is needed when the writing suggests that one of the levels of editing should happen first or, conversely, that this final check is not as important as the other levels.

 

Editorial options

  • Does your work need to match a house style (self-publisher or traditional publisher, corporate, your own)?
  • Do you need a style guide made (e.g., is the spelling always healthcare or health care, use or avoid the Oxford comma, spell out numbers or use digits)?
  • Do sections need to be created, such as a glossary?
  • Does your work need to match a particular format (e.g., font, margins, etc.)?
  • Does your project require additional services, such as online searches?

If you are an academic or nonfiction author or a publisher, check out my Academic/Nonfiction page for more ideas on how I can help.

If you are a business manager or department head, check out my Business page for more ideas on how I can help.

If you are a creative writer (that is, short stories, plays, films, film treatments), check out my Creative page for more ideas on how I can help.