Writing a book in itself is quite a long and tiring process but if you want to have a successful author journey, you’ll have to take care of a few more steps about Book editing services.
Finding a book editor who is professional and reliable is a whole other process so you need to make sure you’re aware of the basics and are able to find someone expert who knows how to edit your book.
Before hiring professional book editing services, here are five things you need to consider to ensure a smooth hiring experience and receive a perfectly polished book.
1. Understand the basics of editing
Book Editing is an umbrella term that involves many types of editing based on what your book needs.
Development editing refers to working comprehensively on a book and improving the developmental aspects of a story like a plot, theme, characterization, and pacing.
Copyediting & book editing comes after your book has a solid storyline and is done with the developmental aspect. It means having your book edited line by line and fixing issues related to word choice, sentence structure, flow, and consistency in style.
Lastly, book proofreading acts like a final touch-up that looks for minor issues such as spelling errors, uniformity in sentences, punctuation, and grammar.
2. What to look for in an editor
You want to find a book editor who is a good fit, professional, and fits your budget. The most important thing to look for in a book editor is the experience they have in the editing or publishing industry. The editor should be efficient and reliable to work with who has previously worked with clients in the past.
Moreover, there should be transparency about the book editing costs and process. You and your editor should openly discuss the budget to collaborate throughout the editing process effectively.
3. Request a sample edit
Even though your editor has proven work experience, there can be instances where you may find the need to have a sample edit just to make sure if you understand their writing style and tone.
You can request a few sample edits of a few pages from some shortlisted editors and then select one that best matches your own tone, writing style, and theme.
4. Find an editor in your niche
It’s crucial to find a professional book editor to work on your book who understands the ins and outs of your genre. If your book is a young adult novel, you won’t choose to work with an editor who has experience writing or editing nonfiction books.
5. Ask for referrals
There’s nothing more trustworthy than a word-of-mouth recommendation. You can ask your friends, colleagues, and acquaintances to suggest the editors they have worked with before. You can save a lot of time in this way that would be spent in hiring an editor and going through the whole process yourself.
Keeping these five things in mind will make your hiring process smooth and you’ll be able to choose someone who collaborated with you effectively.
