Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Good editors?

This is topic Good editors? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by benmackay (Member # 8148) on :

So I just posted 13 lines in the novel feedback forum, and as I did so a thought came to me: do any of you hire editors to review your work before you go through the submitting process? Or do you have to get an agent first before you can get to that point?

I had a good friend of mine - who is very well read, a discerning critic, and has an English degree - read my manuscript and she provided excellent feedback. I was actually impressed that she had a lot of positive things to say. And she of all people knows the danger of listening to overly positive friend/family critiques since her husband has been a very hard working illustrator for the last 15 years. So I placed more stock in her opinion than I would normally in a friend/family review.

However: I'm to the point in the submission/rejection/revision cycle where I'll solicit her feedback on my revised manuscript...but I would definitely like a fresh set of objective eyes. Does anyone recommend editors who would do so? How much do they charge? Are we talking $100s? $1000s? (Just FYI, I could stomach the $100s...not sure about the $1000s).

Thanks,
Ben

Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :

I work as a freelance editor. Most of my clients are certified stenographers in the courts. Their writing is mechanically sound in ways that all to often it's not in creative writers'. It's recordation of legal testimony so the only suggestions (changes) permitted are strictly on nondiscretionary style, punctuation, grammar, spelling and such. People rarely speak better than they write. But what they say is what they say.

Light copyedit, nondiscretionary suggestions only: $0.35 per page
Medium copyedit, logic and nondiscretionary suggestions: $1.00-1.50 per page
Heavy copyedit, structure, logic, and nondiscretionary suggestions: up to $0.35 per word.

The latter and the middle to some extent are also known as developmental editing. In this age, developmental editing is rarely done by publishers. Fifty years ago it was more commonplace. My focus as a writer has been on developing developmental editing skills for my own writing.

The above rates are fairly common in the freelance marketplace. However, I prefer not to do developmental editing for others. It can be rough on both writer and editor. The several projects I've done that weren't for living writers weren't so tough and needed limited developmental editing, none of a structural nature was allowed.

I'm not prospecting for work. I've had 1000-plus pages this week so far. And a few hundred more are in the forecast. Next week, more of the same.

[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited January 29, 2009).]

Posted by Bent Tree (Member # 7777) on :

I do for really serious projects. WOTF and novel work. I have a good copy editor that is the wife of a good friend. She charges $15 an hour and she is very fast and thorough. It is sheerly grammar, style and spelling, but it is worth its weight in gold IMO.

I can give you her email if you are interested.

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

I have friends who were/are editors, I just use them. LOL

I figure I have to edit my own work to a high standard of quality.
Then I solicit input from writer's workshops.
Then I make my changes.

For really important stuff, then I print it out and read it again (after a rest period, ideally.) Or I read it aloud. Or I send it to my formerly professional editor friend or one of a handful of "early readers" and ask them to specifically keep an eye out. I have some really anal retentive friends, it's rare that they don't find something.

While typos sneak in, they are rare, and most editors of major publications don't care. They are editors. They catch that stuff (and sometimes don't, and I'm sure get a good laugh when they let something big slip through.)

Posted by Gan (Member # 8405) on :

Scott. I'd love her Email for future reference, if you wouldn't mind. While I wont need it any time in the immediate future, it would be great to have it on hand when I do need it.

Posted by TaleSpinner (Member # 5638) on :

I can sympathize with the problem, but I want to learn to be my own editor; it's my work. (Do painters and sculptors have editors? Are we not artists too?)

I find Hatrack feedback enormously helpful, though, granted, it's harder to get for novels. (But not impossible. I think a reader needs to feel they'll get something from critting a long work and I have done it once or twice for writers I know will give me a decent read, who will respond to my crits, and from whom I will learn by examining their work. Oh, and whose grammar and spelling is reasonably clean.)

I find I can be a good editor of my own work by leaving it for a while, not thinking about it at all. When I come back to it, the work seems fresh and I read it with a critical eye. I may not be a perfect editor, but I'll work for whisky and I know where it's kept.