Observations on Choosing an Editor

Back to the original purpose of this thread (did I hijack my own thread? can one hijack their own thread?):

I've narrowed it down to three candidates. I don't think that I can go wrong with any of them, but I want to make the right choice. Hopefully, typing out my thoughts below will help with that. Note: last night I sent each of them the question - how will your comments make my book more of a page turner and help make more of an emotional connection between the reader and my characters? Only one has responded thus far.

Editor A -

25 years experience editing fiction, including actually being employed by someone in that capacity. She made fewer comments than most of the editors, but all were spot on and changes that would make the scene stronger. She said stuff like "this (paragraph) is just a little boring" and "I can always tell when a new writer thinks description will add to a sentence." Basically, I found all her comments to be extremely relevant and most addressed issues that no other editors did. She's also been doing this a long time. She's going to tell me what works, probably in lieu of telling me what I want her to tell me.

Editor B -

She has a degree in copy editing but a lot less actual experience; she also has experience judging literary contests, which I thought might add something to her take on things. Seems more eager to please, and her sample edit was more the kitchen sink approach; she made a lot of nitpicky comments, so a lot more thorough but maybe not as impactful. One thing I liked about her is that she really seemed to dig my story.

Editor C -

15 years of experience editing, much of that with Wizards of the Coast. I have to be honest; that geeks me out a little. He's worked with RA Salvatore. His comments are less kitchen sink than B and less impactful than A. Good middle ground? Besides the cool work experience, he made a character comment that shows he's really concerned about how I portray that character while being patient enough to see how it plays out before considering it a problem.

To be honest, right now I'm heavily leaning toward A. Again, though, I think all have the knowledge and experience necessary to help me become a better writing and help make my book better. I do think that A will be slightly harder (?) to work with than B and C, but maybe that's a good thing?

 

T.Allen,

Regarding B, I probably didn't articulate my thoughts well enough.

The real advantage is that she'll be willing to put in more time for the same money. Since she has the book-learnin' down, will that extra time compensate for the lack of experience relative to the other editors?

I don't know, and I'm leaning toward A as I said. I do think that she's at least worthy of consideration, though.

She's the first person to respond to my questions, too, and I thought her response showed a good level of knowledge.

C is out, btw. His response to the question didn't meet my needs.

 

Svrtnsse,

I've pretty much made up my mind, but I would like to hear her response to the question. If she is unwilling/unable to focus on the goals I want to achieve, I may be better off going with B. Assuming her answer doesn't totally jinx the thing, I'll go with her.

 

Devor,

At this point in my writing "career," I'm very much still focused on learning over the quality of the novel. There is so much to learn, however, that I've really focused on the two areas I've mentioned. I value being taught how to better my writing in those areas over improving the book.

I still think A can do that better than B but only if she's willing.

Thanks.

Brian

 

Alright, done.

I selected Editor A, as those of you waiting with baited breath surely anticipated.

Man, I really have no idea if I did the right thing. Truthfully, if I had $2400 to spend, I'm not sure I wouldn't just hire three different $800 editors...

 

Good deal. I accept!

Given the editing process so far, I may even be able to finish ahead of schedule, maybe as early as mid August.

 

I hope so. I'm planning on taking a break from epic fantasy and writing a superhero novel next.

 

Ouch!

What's your ROI for that?

 

More Observations about Choosing an Editor:

I've been in a lot of internet discussions about editors. There's a camp that says, "You absolutely should not self publish without procuring an editor." I, obviously, side with that camp.

Within that camp, though, there seems to be an opinion that, not only do you have to procure an editor, you need a really expensive editor.

I think that there exist editors that are really, really good and have a ton of experience taking manuscripts and turning them into bestsellers. I have no knowledge of these people, but my guess is that they are quite expensive and are employed by the big publishers.

My guess is that those saying you need to pay for quality editors are themselves only able to afford the midlist editors.

So does a midlist editor provide 3 times the value of someone who you find on Elance for $800? Maybe. I really have no way of knowing. I'm highly skeptical, though.

What I do believe is that, whether you go midlist or bargain basement, you need to do everything you can to make sure the editor is going to fit your needs. I also think that the bargain basement is divided into sections:

1. People who are building their resume - An editor with a degree but no experience may be willing to charge less in order to get that experience. The right one of these people might be a great value.

2. People who will give you less time - What you're actually paying an editor for is their time. Maybe for less money, you get a lot of quality for the amount of time they put in, but less time spent. This can still be a good value to you. As long as they focus on the most important things, your book and writing will still be greatly improved.

3 People who have no idea what they're doing - Pay a lot of attention to the sample edit. It's your biggest tool in determining value. If the comments don't ring true, move on to the next editor regardless of the amount.