Every writer needs an editor. Period. End of story.
It doesn’t matter if you’re self-publishing or writing ebooks that can be corrected later. Your work is not perfect and can always be improved.
Chances are good, you’re acutely aware of the need for editing. However, if you’re just getting started, you may think you can’t afford an editor and instead, you ask a friend or relative to review the piece.
That’s not the best idea. People you know don’t want to hurt your feelings, so they won’t offer truly unbiased feedback. Therefore, you won’t receive the kind of constructive criticism that ultimately improves your work. And you need an expert who is skilled in language and can correct your mistakes. So even if your mom majored in English, she probably won’t find all the grammatical errors in your manuscript. (No offense to English-major moms.)
Here are some other reasons you need to hire a professional editor:
1. Cost-effectiveness. Professional editors review other people’s work for a living. Therefore, they can do it faster and better than you can do it yourself. At some point, you must consider your own time as a resource and the more of it you spend editing, the less time you have to send query letters, market yourself and work on new projects.
2. Reputation. Even if you self-publish, the work had better be edited. Otherwise, you risk your reputation before you even get started in the publishing world. Readers won’t come back for more if they find tons of grammatical errors and poorly constructed sentences in your books.
3. Sounding board. Editors and writers must work together for product development. True, your words are like your children and you probably think they’re perfect. But books – regardless of how they’re published – are a product that must be packaged in a way that’s attractive to consumers. Editors can help you see aspects of your work that need to be improved before being offered to the masses.
Writers need professional editors to help them correct mistakes and prepare their books for sale. Find a way to hire a skilled editor who can move your career forward instead of relying on the good intentions of friends and neighbors.