{"id":9856,"date":"2020-04-03T15:12:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T19:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/?p=9856"},"modified":"2023-02-21T08:12:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T13:12:06","slug":"when-to-hire-a-book-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritelife.com\/?p=9856","title":{"rendered":"When is the Right Time to Hire a Book Editor?"},"content":{"rendered":"

First-time authors sometimes make a grave mistake when seeking a book editor<\/a> for their first manuscript.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I started as a freelance editor, I couldn\u2019t put my finger on the problem. But, as my client list grew, I realized why I was secretly getting frustrated with a few of their books.<\/p>\n

Highly experienced editor Shawn Coyne<\/a> expresses the problem succinctly and memorably: \u201cA lot of people just want to dump their goo on an editor and have the editor form that into something for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

When weary writers submit their premature manuscripts to editors too soon, both parties will inevitably become frustrated.<\/b><\/p>\n

For the most part, I don\u2019t believe first-time authors do this knowingly. They just don\u2019t know any better. They\u2019ve written what they believe is a workable first draft, and because they want to do the process right, they begin looking for editors for hire.<\/span><\/p>\n

But a first draft should <\/span>never<\/span><\/i> be sent to an editor, unless you\u2019re working with \u2014 and willing to pay \u2014 a developmental editor to help you create a workable draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why premature manuscript submissions happen<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Authors who submit under-cooked books are subconsciously motivated by the twin specters that haunt every writer, every day: fear and resistance. <\/span><\/p>\n

They may fear they don\u2019t have what it takes to be \u201ca serious writer,\u201d so they send their \u201cgoo\u201d to an editor in the hopes that the editor can affirm their work and make it monumentally better. <\/span><\/p>\n

Unwittingly, these authors place the burden of failure (or success) onto their editors\u2019 shoulders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or, maybe the writer has been working on their book for three months, or a year, or many years, and they\u2019re so tired of looking at the thing that they send it off because they just want to be done with the process. In Steven Pressfield\u2019s parlance from <\/span>The War of Art<\/span><\/i>, that\u2019s Resistance.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Pressfield writes, \u201cResistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How much does a first-time author\u2019s first book mean to them? The world. <\/span><\/p>\n

So how much Resistance can they expect? Planet-sized. <\/span><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re up against a foe like that, I don\u2019t blame authors who\u2019d rather have the editor fight that battle.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not our job. As the writer, this is your fight.<\/span><\/p>\n

When should I start reviewing editors for hire?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The question that arises then is: When is the right time to hire an editor?<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider these questions, and be brutally honest with yourself in answering them before figuring out how to find an editor<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n