Why Shouldn’t I Hire an Editor for My Novel?

To figure out why you should hire a professional editor for your novel, perhaps we should first look at why you shouldn’t do so. That because, well, it’s not at all cut and dried. Not everybody needs to put forth the effort, legwork and cold, hard cash to hire an editor for their novel. There are good reasons not to, and you might fit that profile.

• Are you writing this book just for the hell of it?
  Maybe this is just a lark for you. You’ve always had this story you’ve wanted to put down on paper … well, digital paper, anyway. Or you’ve just always wanted to see your name in print on the cover of your own book. Or it’s a version of your family’s history, or a very personal story, and you’re just going to hand it out at family reunions and drop it in kids’ bags on Halloween night. You don’t care about how many books it sells. You just like the idea of seeing it in print, and you’ll maybe toss it up on Amazon to see what happens, because who knows? Maybe you’re some kind of natural Shakespeare and didn’t know it. But if it doesn’t sell any copies, whatever. Nothing wrong with that. If that’s you, don’t hire an editor.
• Are you really damn poor?
  Maybe you got laid off and this is something you’re doing trying to fill in the income gaps. I might suggest that being a trash collector probably pays better and gives you steadier income, but perhaps you don’t like the smell of garbage. And you know how to write! Maybe you’re one of my many journalism brethren who are trying to scrape by, and this is a way to put your wordiness to use. You really have basically no money, though, and you’re thinking of this like starting a very small business with almost no overhead. You may not sell a lot, but you’ll do what you can, and try to have it all be profit. Fair enough. I get it. If this is you, theoretically, you can round up some beta readers, then upload as many revised editions as you want, correcting as problems come up. It’s inefficient, and your book won’t be as good as it could be — especially at first — but you do what you’ve got to do. Right? If that’s you, don’t hire an editor — though, if you’re going to hire anyone, you should probably make it an editor.
• Are you perfect?
  I mean, you might be. I don’t know your life. Maybe you’re a superhero whose super power is writing ability. You got bitten by a radioactive gerund when you were a teenager or something. If that’s you, don’t hire an editor.

Now, if none of those descriptions fit you, you should probably find a the best, most experienced editor you can afford for your novel. I knew this before writing my book because, fortunately, I’ve had the value of editors beaten into my head for close to 20 years in the journalism world. Good editors have saved my ass from stupid mistakes more times than I care to mention. They save you (and have the potential to save you again) enough that, when they don’t, any writer who knows the value of that net knows to take the blame yourself. Never blame the editor for missing it. You made the error; you own it. You know you’ll need them the next time.

But, as much as I knew I needed to have a real book editor look at my work before publication, this past week has underscored that in a big way, as I’ve gotten my developmental edit back and have started the process of working through it. My book isn’t all that long (around 300 book pages), and the plot isn’t ridiculously complicated, so I thought it was possible a couple rounds of my edits, and a beta reader round, might be sufficient to tighten things up and get it ready for publication. I thought maybe the editor won’t find all that much wrong with it at this point, after it’d been through all those rounds, and seen by all those eyeballs, some of which were clearly trying to find every little problem possible so they could insult me and try to make me feel bad about them (You know who you are, beta readers, and I’m glad you did it).

That, of course, was kooky talk. The developmental edit (no proofreading yet) came back with, literally, hundreds of comments about what should change, extra chapter suggestions, character development issues, character relationship questions, plausibility problems, etc., etc. Turns out that, in close to 80,000 words, you have a lot of time to create a lot of issues that need to be addressed. Who knew? I’m really happy with the edit. It gives me what I think is a roadmap to take this story to the next level I want it to reach. And the basic structure of the story is intact. My editor seems enthusiastic about the story, and thinks it has potential, which is important. You need an editor who is excited about seeing where you take your story, and wants to follow it to the end with you. She needs to want to polish it and make it shine. So do you.

So, why should you hire an editor for your novel? Because you know you’re not perfect, and you know you need help to take that cool story you had in your head that you’ve now put into words, and make it into a great novel. Eye-catching book covers and SEO-friendly descriptions may draw readers in and get your foot in the door with them, but nobody’s ever recommended a book to a friend by saying, “You really need to read this book. The cover is amazing!” To get that word of mouth going, you have to bring out your book’s potential. For that, you (probably) need an editor who knows what they’re doing. Unless you actually are perfect. In which case, can you be my editor?