10 Things Your Freelance Editor Might Not Tell You-But Should Todays guest newsletter is from Tanya Egan Gibson. For more excellent advice on freelance writing, consider this popular guide: Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success. Before sending their manuscripts out into the world, many writers choose to work with a freelance editor to make their writing tighter, more engaging and ultimately more salable. Whether youre preparing to submit to literary agents or youve decided to self-publish, you dont just want your book to be good-you want to make it great. As a freelance editor, I get excited every time I embark upon this journey with a client. Being a novelist myself, I know how difficult it is to identify flaws in a manuscript on which youve worked for years. Partnering with a freelance editor sheds new light on your work-making it possible for you to see it from angles youve never imagined, capitalize on your manuscripts strengths and root out problems that might earn you a form letter rejection from your dream agent or a Meh on your first Goodreads review. Before you hire an editor, you need to know what kind of help youre looking for. Do you want developmental editing-big-picture feedback about structure, style, pacing and voice? A developmental edit for a work of nonfiction may include feedback about the books organizational structure, as well as both stylistic and informational strengths and weaknesses. (For example: The strongest parts of the book are where you use humorous anecdotes to illustrate your points about how bad managers dont even know they are bad managers. Why dont you try opening each chapter with one of those anecdotes, to make it easier for the reader to identify with the problems youre about to discuss?) If youre writing fiction, developmental editing also includes notes on plot, point of view and characterization. (For instance, I think the real story starts in Chapter 3, at the moment when she wins the lottery, or, While I love the way you show the character growing throughout the story and her sarcasm is often funny, she comes off as unlikable. Here are some things she might do/say to get the reader on her side from the beginning.) Often, a developmental edit is given in the form of a detailed report or letter rather than as notes made directly on the manuscript. If you want the latter, youre looking for someone to line edit your manuscript. In a line edit, your editor will point out specific things such as certain lines of dialogue that dont sound convincing, or pacing problems in a given section. (Why not skip the backstory here and move right to the kiss? Its what readers have been waiting for!) Often, an editor provides both developmental feedback and line edits. Because developmental feedback assumes the writer will return to the manuscript and rewrite parts, line editing is sometimes held off until that rewrite has been completed. Alternatively, the editor may be contracted to work on a second line edit of the book to address anything that has been added or changed in the revision. Copy editing and proofreading are about fixing errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, word choice and sentence structure, as well as catching continuity issues. (For instance, a protagonist who is barefoot and locked out of her house is suddenly wearing boots as she trudges through the snow to a neighbors house.) If youre certain you dont want any content or structure changed and you just want the writing cleaned up, you are looking for copy editing only. (Some editors work only on the structural and line level. Others also copy edit, or specialize in copy editing alone.) Hiring a freelance editor is a significant financial investment-one that can range from several hundred dollars to several thousand, depending upon the kinds of editing you require, the editors rate (which may be either an hourly rate or a flat fee, usually charged per page), and the number of revisions/rounds of editing. Freelance editors like me want you to get the most out of your money. We want to leave you feeling enlightened, empowered and excited to be putting your book out in the world. But some of what you need to know to best utilize us can be, well, difficult to bring up. Your writing is, after all, the sum of your energy, time, work and heart. You come to us with enthusiasm and passion-qualities you indeed need in order to survive and persevere in this profession-and we worry that unloading too many difficult truths at once may dampen your enthusiasm or intimidate you. I love writing, and I love writers. So before you hire someone like me, its only right that you know the following ... Get the Bible on Freelance Writing: Writer for Hire 101 Secrets to Freelance Success
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 21:13:24 +0000
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