Somebody
asked me the other day if getting your book edited is a good idea. My answer,
in two words: hell yeah.
An editor
means a new set of eyes cast upon the product of your brain. Not only do they
read the text from the outside, but they do it the professional way, i.e. by
looking precisely for the things the public is responsive to. You may have a
very good picture of where the story goes, of the chronological order of your
episodes, of the nature, density, and personal development of your characters.
But, surprise-surprise, things that are crystal clear in your brain may be
opaque as muddy waters in the brain of somebody else. And while it’s advisable
to have your book read by friends, relatives, and well-wishing acquaintances,
the kind of reading performed by an editor goes well beyond kitchen wisdom or
family commendations. And that’s because they read not with the heart but with
the mind.
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It sometimes feels like this, I know: senseless murderers killing
all that was good in your book. But take a step back and think again.
Maybe they're right every now and then.
(c) Picture Book Den |
An editor is
trained to see mistakes you fail to notice, even after going over the text for
the tenth time. From grammatical inconsistencies to spelling mistakes, and from
structural flaws to logical slips, there is an impressive range of things they
have their eyes open to.
In saying
this, you might want to ponder this: what exactly are you looking for – a copy
editor, or a developmental editor? And since the question has been asked, I
better try to say a few things about these two.
Copy editors
A copy
editor may be trained to do a lot of things with your book. However, they will
most likely concentrate on things to do with grammar, typography, punctuation,
capitalization, paragraph structure, titles, hypertexts (if applicable) and
such things that pertain mostly to the material aspect of your text. In other
words, they make sure you look good through your words. The role of a copy
editor cannot be in any way diminished. Readers respond often caustically when
encountering a poorly edited text, full of mistakes and dirty with editorial
inconsistencies. Sometimes, a mere typo gives way to a deluge of malicious
criticism, which is very hard to get out of without sustaining some serious
injuries to your ego. And so, the thing about copy editors is this: they are
vital.
Developmental editors
But there is
another type of editors, whose role is of equal importance. Developmental editors
are trained to look for things that transcend simple copy. Yes, they will tell
you if grammatical mistakes have slipped into the final copy. They will tell
you if you’ve used the apostrophe in the wrong way or if you missed to
capitalize ‘The Matisse Puzzle.’ But what they are even better at doing is
pointing out to you mistakes of a different nature. A developmental editor
looks primarily for flaws in character development, in narrative progression,
in the chronological order of your chapters or episodes. If you have a
character who kills someone at 7am in chapter three but then is found still asleep
at 9am in chapter six, you’re in trouble. As with all kinds of self-reading, it
is very likely for mistakes of this kind to find their ways into your text. You
don’t have to chastise yourself for it. Great authors who are read by millions
have gone through similar processes. And because they used good editors, they
succeeded only with the embarrassment of having to buy them a coffee for every
major mistake found in the text, rather than having to face the rage of
disappointed multitudes. If you don’t know what I mean, think of all those
websites priding themselves in being the champions of chasing for mistakes in
movies. Take that, and apply it to books – it works the same way.
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First page of JG Ballard's Crash: a case of editing to show that authors
are used to not being completely pleased with themselves.
Source: LitReactor |
So get that editor, no matter what
As Paul
Jarvis says in his Write and Sell Your Damn Book, if you have any budget saved for the purpose of this book
of yours, spend the money on a good editor. Forget about fancy covers, about
paid ads, and other similar money-eating things, which can’t even guarantee any success. Get instead that editor who can give you the peace of
mind that the text is safe and sound, and that it can stand the test of avid
readers.
