I am going to take the next couple of days with some reflection and thoughts about the last conference I attended. This was a smaller conference so I sort of knew what I would see and the type of writers I would meet. I love conferences like these because these are people truly passionate about the craft and art of writing. Today, I want to focus in on one panel I sat on.
This panel was WORKING WITH AN EDITOR. I was the only agent on the panel so I was certainly able to give a different perspective from the other three on the panel, all of which were essentially contract editors. These are people who you would pay to provide you editorial feedback prior to submitting your book.
As these three talked, they really pushed the need to have a professional look over your writing before submitting. Now, don't get me wrong. I have talked numerous times here on the blog of having someone who "knows how to write" review and edit your work. We want you to send out the best work possible. However, this is where I felt really bad about the authors sitting in that room. These are people desperate for knowledge. They are really trying to learn how to be a great writer. Unfortunately, these authors were such beginners they would buy anything that someone told them. Let me explain.
If you go to someone to provide editorial services, these can be for critiques, copy edits, line edits and so forth. They will read your whole manuscript and provide detailed feedback. Sounds great, right? They charge a lot of money! You would be looking at paying, after an initial "free consult" which would be about 15-30 minutes, or maybe a single page read, roughly $400-$800 for this feedback.
Now, here is the concern I had. One author, toward the end of the session ask a question for clarification. What is the order in which I should go through for getting this editorial feedback? In other words, when do I ask for line editing, coaching, developmental editing and so forth. They provided the order for editing, which I would agree with. We do coaching first (that's the planning part), developmental editing while you write to take care of the big picture, then move to line editing and finally copy editing. Every author should do this. BUT!!!.... the members of the panel really seemed to push and imply that you should pay for these. Remember the prices? If you are honestly doing this, you are putting out a ton of money.
Money that could be saved if you did this yourself.
These poor authors were being fed the idea that they don't know how to write at all. Now, granted, there were a lot of people in that room who might be in that situation, but these are also people who need to be reminded that being successful in writing DOES NOT mean being published. Everyone can write, but not every can or should be published.
So, do you need outside services such as this? My answer has always been no. First of all, if you don't know how to write a story, then maybe this is not the business for you. Look, I don't know how to do a lot of things, so I am not going to start that as a career. So, if you just want to write stories and it makes you feel good, don't pay these people.
If you have a support group, such a critique partners who are successful writers, the will be enough to get you through this. Add in critical thinking skills on your part, and you should be fine. Editing for grammar and punctuation can also be done on your end using quality online resources and those in your quality word processing programs.
One person in the room did ask if having these contracted editors would make a difference in the submission process. Obviously, they all said "of course it will because we are making your story better." However, the reality is, if you submit to me and say it was professionally editing, it doesn't mean anything. All it says to me is you paid someone. Editors and agents simply look at your story and ask: 1) Is it well written?; 2) Does the story draw us in as reader?; & 3) Is this a story that is marketable?
But I guess I would leave you with this simple thought. If you don't know how to compose a paragraph, or write a story, is this really a business for you?
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