Disclaimer: This article first appeared 4-5 years ago on my Medium Profile. I will be continuing the series here on LinkedIn as well as on Medium.
Content has become a commodity these days and also key to visibility. And content, just like any other product, sells only if it is well-produced. In case of textual content like books and articles, well-written and well-edited.
Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, many people will often advise you to secure the opinion of alpha and beta readers (sometimes, even gamma readers) before editing it yourself. They also keep repeating that an editor is a must to give you an objective opinion of your book and to help correct those errors a writer could inevitably miss. Many take this advice and many do not. There’s pretty much a knowledge gap regarding the importance of editors and their profession. Many view them as harsh critics and, as such, are afraid of them.
But many do take the advice of hiring editors to make their manuscript better. A fraction of these people, especially in this digital age where visibility is paramount and subject to low attention spans, hurry with their writing, hardly knowing that one should treat writing as a business and if they need it to sell, they must give their baby the time of day. Hiring an editor to solve all the problems your baby has is not the?only?solution. In short, an editor expects the following things from an author:
- Definitely?NOT?the first draft ever: An editor sees a lot of authors sending in their first drafts to them for editing. Always remember that first drafts are for?your eyes only. They are in, most cases, not concrete enough for an editor to make any headway. In addition, most aren’t that well-written. It increases the editor’s job and it only makes them think that the authors think them as some kind of a garbage dump. This they definitely are NOT. Authors shouldn’t expect that the editors will turn their shoddily-written manuscript into wonders that will hit the bestseller list and make them sales enough to live off full-time. Sorry, doesn’t work that way. Editors are here to polish your manuscript and make it into something that can be published. They are here to point out errors that you might have missed as a writer. Of course, developmental editors may work with you since the inception of your draft, but other editors would not accept first drafts unless they’re sure that the authors have written really good first drafts before and they have belief in the author’s writing. This rarely happens. So, do not send in the FIRST DRAFTS. Never.
- Have your manuscripts beta read: Before sending your baby off to an editor, have it beta read. It should always be read by unbiased people; otherwise, it makes no sense. There has to be critique. Otherwise, how will you ever learn? Despite the write-to-market and other techniques that help you climb the bestsellers ladder, a book must undergo a proper cycle. Now, beta reading is not a mandatory component, but it is best if you take the help of beta readers. Have a team ready. At least, take the opinion of FOUR people before you start the editing process.
- Self-edit your manuscript as much as possible: Self-editing is an important component of the whole process. Edit your manuscript after you finish writing and taken inputs from your beta readers. Incorporate their suggestions and rewrite subsequent drafts that better the previous one. Only when you’re satisfied you cannot do anything more with it should you pack your manuscript to the editor.
- Format your manuscript: Yes, we editors do expect a clean draft of the manuscript. We do not expect the books to have been interior decorated, but formatted enough for us to have a clear view of the document. Follow the standard manuscript format to know what works.
Now, you have your edited document in hand. What do you do next?
Send it across to a proofreader, of course.
But before that, it is essential to know what a proofreader expects, isn’t it? Well, that will be the subject for the next post. So, see you all until next time.
