Four Ways to Choose an Editor (and why we all need one)

This is an expanded version of a post that first appeared on The Muffin.

Too many definitions

There’s only so long, isn’t there? There’s only so long writers can tell ourselves that it’s just an unlucky streak, or that our preferred genre just isn’t popular right now. When that moment comes… when ‘so long’ becomes ‘too long’… it’s time to just do it. Just pack up the draft that came screaming out of you like offspring, work out the Velcro on your wallet, and hire yourself an editor. Someone to help seal up your plot and tone down your hyperbole.

That’s what I did after a few millennia of rejections, and I haven’t regretted it for a microsecond. I am writing again.

It’s a difficult decision to make, I’ll grant: tougher than the choice between buttermilk or buckwheat at Denny’s. To admit to oneself that another reader might see the value and flaw in your manuscript more clearly than you do is a humbling realization. Once it’s made, though, the hardest part is over.

Of course, choosing from the many, many editors available edges into the race as a very close second-hardest. How do you trust someone who isn’t much more than a website? With some advice from Cathy Hall at WOW, here are the four steps I took to face the challenge.

Step One: Decide who will be encouraging 

Yes, I actually placed this as my first priority. With so much discouragement stemming naturally from the process of submission, I knew that I needed something—and something fast—to get my motivation back on track. What would be the point of finding out what is wrong with my work, if the news might only empty my sails and leave me unable to revise? A good editor knows as much about when to be positive as when to be critical, so that a tailwind might take that writer all the way to a final draft and to representation. Try to put aside the selfishness of this priority—because there is some—and focus instead on the benefits of adding more of what you do well to your writing.

Establish some communication with the editors you are considering. You will have plenty of questions to ask them, and their answers will tell you volumes about their nature. Personally, I shy away from services who do not identify the exact person who will be doing your editing. You need a connection first!

Step Two: Decide who will be honest

To some extent, this is a contradiction of step one, and it must be. Editors, like schools, probably need to balance keeping their clients happy with evaluating honestly. Biting that proverbial hand might not seem to serve their interests, but it is an essential part of the service… otherwise, why even bother seeking advice?

Be sure to get a sample.

A good editor with some history should be able to provide you with samples of previous work: some of the comments and advice that they have offered other clients. Of course, you should only peek if you know that your editor has permission from that author, but there is bound to be someone who is OK with it..

Step Three: Decide who is qualified

This one’s a no-brainer, but perhaps the most difficult to achieve. “Qualified” is only partly based on a resume that your editor might provide. Have they published any books themselves? Can you access their blog to see how they write, and how they write about writing? If you’ve been a writer for long, you are bound to know other writers who have had good experiences. Cast as wide a net as you can in polling these colleagues; maybe a good editor’s name will even come up twice.

Step Four: Decide who is best for your genre

Again, some legwork is necessary here. Not all editors write fiction or memoirs themselves, so if you are writing a Science Fiction novel or a Romance, then it’s too easy to assume that a good editor might be equally qualified for anything. It would be nice to know an editor well enough to determine their reading preferences, but that’s a bit hard to achieve. This was the one area where I wasn’t comfortable before I made my choice and, even though it worked out, I would have preferred to know how much experience my editor had with my particular genre.

With all of these factors weighed, my eventual choice was the hardworking and prolific Matthew Bird. A blogger, author of successful how-to-write books, and just an approachable human being, it was a fairly simple matter to answer most of the questions that I had. Is there still risk? Always. Is the same editor right for everyone? Absolutely not. Will the same editor suit every book you write? Unlikely… but finding an editor, like going out on a blind date, will be a much more rewarding experience after these four steps of due diligence.

Comment me up with any steps that I missed!

– Some poorly edited Words from K. Alan.