Honor Your Readers, Hire an Editor

I received an email this week from Smashwords. The ebook publisher is celebrating the 40,000th book that was entered into its catalog last week. It warms my heart to read about the success of this publisher. Smashwords' success means that a lot of self-published authors, such as wiz kid Amanda Hocking, now have a voice. No more dependency on the big guys!

The dramatic rise in self-published books should mean that indie editors like myself are working overtime. Unfortunately that's not the case, and consequently our dirty underwear is showing. For example, I was curious about a particular self-published book, so I clicked over to Amazon to investigate. The following comments say it all:

• "sad state of publishing"
• "This book is the most appallingly written book ever -- there are elementary spelling, grammatical and factual errors that any real publisher would have spotted straight away, on every page."
• "cliched"
• "double spaced, big font, with new topics starting every couple of pages immediately following empty space"
• "Ugh. Get an editor."
• "glaring typos"
• "spelling and grammar errors were very distracting"
• "The most glaring thing wrong with this book is the editing, or lack thereof! There were so many run-on sentences and sentences lacking correct punctuation that reading this book became a chore. I had to reread sentences because incorrect words were used. Seeing all the typos suggests to me that this author was only concerned with turning a quick buck."
• "pass on this one"
• "save your money"

You might sell your first book, but you won't get repeat business if you refuse to honor the reader. Your book has to be readable. The rules of grammar and editing exist to make reading a pleasure, not a chore.

If your book is not readable, people will save their money the next time you publish. I guess it could be argued that the market will weed out the bad stuff, but really, self-published books that haven't been edited, fact checked, or proofed give this entire industry a bad reputation.

I've heard every excuse in the book as to why writers won't invest in editing and proofing. Most say they don't have the money. Then, writers, you must raise the funds. In fact, before you even begin writing, come up with a plan for how you will finance this most important step in making your book the best it can be.

Even the greatest writers must be edited, fact checked, and proofed.

Honor your readers!

 

Follow Donna Marie Williams on Twitter: www.twitter.com/celebrityeditor

Comments

[Joseph Teller]

09:39 AM on 04/06/2011

Great if you are rich. Not so great if you aren't. Hiring an editor can cost you thousands of dollars for a book ($30 to $50 per 1000 words from the looks of the going rates online). If you are new and breaking in and on a shoestring budget you have no choice but to depend on friends at best to do the basics. Plus, many of these 'pro editors' are nothing but proof editors, not real quality ones who pay attention to details, fact check, or offer good constructive criticism to help shape a manuscript.

[Sue Collier]

09:56 AM on 04/07/2011

Joseph--You are wrong about the rates being so high. My firm offers substantive level editing for about $5.50 per page (1 page = 300 words), and we fall somewhere in the middle of the road in terms of pricing. I am a pro with more than 25 years of experience and have edited hundreds of manuscripts in many genres (both fiction and nonfiction). Ask around among your writer friends if you are looking for a good, experienced book editor, then ask for a sample edit of a chapter or so to see whether the editor can improve your writing while still maintaining your voice. There are excellent, affordable editors out there.

[Joseph Teller]

12:06 PM on 04/07/2011

Actually I personally have a few writer friends and one who is an editor (for textbooks). Many did it the hard way, without hiring a professional editor, but they did so before the age of rampant E-book publishing, so its hard to gauge the current market and whether it would have worked for or against them at present. They went through the old school publisher route and not online sales. You also have to gauge the expected income from a work vs the cost. If you are writing for a market where selling 2,000 PDFs at $5.95 (or as little as $1.99) is considered average sales, rather than mainstream, the $900 or so dollars for a book your rate covers (for 50k words) would cut severely into the income from the work.

[Joseph Teller]

12:10 PM on 04/07/2011

Side note : I'm glad to know that some reasonably priced folks, for those that can afford such, are out there, such as your firm. I'm just saying that that there are folks who we consider names who struggled along for years through the publisher system and didn't hire professional editors to polish their work before getting known out there. Editors, when good, are wonderful to have, but there are some very tight markets for PDF publishing where its just not possible.

[Meg Justus]

01:52 AM on 04/04/2011

It would be easier to hire an editor if there was some sort of way to vet them. That's about where I am now, trying to *find* one.

[Donna Marie Williams]

07:16 PM on 04/04/2011

Here's a good article that might help you: http://www.larsen-pomada.com/lp/pages.cfm?ID=20. Good luck!

[Meg Justus]

10:13 PM on 04/04/2011

That's more for people who are going the traditional publishing route. I'm planning on self-publishing because my book's really in a niche.

[HollyTRR]

09:03 PM on 04/01/2011

I hope Amanda Hocking has better luck with St. Martin's editors than some of their other authors. I found so many mistakes in an M.C. Beaton book (character's names changed from one chapter to the next, wrong character quoted, missing words, etc.) that I wrote and, citing some of the mistakes, offered my services (I freelance as well as working at a newspaper). No response, of course, and the errors continue.

[Lev Raphael]

07:17 AM on 04/01/2011

Absolutely right on every point. I would add this: proofread the Kindle and Nook texts more than once. I published my first novel "Winter Eyes" with St. Martin's and got the rights back recently. So it had already gone through editing and proofing--but that's moot when it comes to conversion to new formats. I proofed the ebooks versions several times, checking that each set of corrections was made and didn't somehow create new problems. I wanted the book as clean as possible for readers. They deserve it, even though I know no book can be perfect. Respect your readers, respect your audience--and they will respect you!

[Donna Marie Williams]

07:24 AM on 04/01/2011

Lev, I didn't even think of that! One of my books was converted, too. Great advice!

[ShinjiIkari]

11:49 PM on 03/31/2011

Ms. Williams, I have proofread manuscripts and written manuscripts, but even though I have a book about to go to second edition (after 10 years), I suppose I need someone to review my writing for whatever I may be missing. Contacting people by email, snail-mail and/or telephone doesn't seem to work. I really need to know about my next step, and the Conventional Wisdom seems to be: Hype the book. Well, I try, but there's no score-card for that either.

[Donna Marie Williams]

02:10 PM on 03/31/2011

Amalya, you're right. We need "good grammar, fresh thoughts and something new."

LisaLisa, my friends and colleagues tend to be entrepreneurial types. From those relationships I get my clients. I network online through my blog (http://thecelebrityeditor.blogspot.com) and social media. Indie editors have the freedom to pick and choose their projects, which is awesome, so specializing in religion/spirituality, education, cultural issues, motivation, and self-help gets me attention in certain circles. I don't edit fiction because I know that's not my strength. So, basically, know yourself, market yourself, and then be ready (training, capacity) when opportunities come your way!

[Amalya]

01:17 PM on 03/31/2011

Bravo! I never much thought about the word "Bravo" until this article. Bravo looks so much like Brave because I suspect we are honoring the courage of the performer! I agree. Writers honor your readers with good grammar, fresh thoughts and something new!

[LisaLisa1234]

12:36 PM on 03/31/2011

Excellent! Thank you!

I have to say that it is for this very reason that I hesitate to buy any book from Smashwords that has no or only a few reviews. Offering books for free for a limited time is a great way to build up good reviews, imo.

So how does one become an indie editor? How do you find your clients, or do they have to find you?