Excellent article. Thanks for the link.
I've never paid for an editor but I've use a few Beta readers on AW. I tell them to be as tough as they like, because I can take it. Some are superb and will nit-pick everything and give an overview of the plot and characters. They are the Beta readers I like. The ones who say nice-nice things only are the ones I tend not to trust and never ask to beta again.
I am a Beta reader here (please don't ask for me, I'm backed up). I usually ask for the first chapter to see how much work is involved. If almost every sentence needs correcting, I refuse to read more. I warn those who ask me to read that I'm probably the worst nit-picker around, and I'm brutally honest -- as I want my Beta readers to be.
I suggest a writer start out with a few Beta readers and then, if the author still feels something is wrong, look for a paid editor. At least it would cut down on the time an editor would have to spend and, with luck, cut down on the cost.
Just my opinion, of course.
Thanks for the feedback on the beta reading process and tips on how to cut down on costs when using editors. Reading your post made me think of something else to add to the discussion.
An editor is only as helpful as the author allows them to be. Why is this important? Some authors believe they know everything, or they are so personally invested in their work that they can't handle honest, effective criticism.
After the first developmental edit, Derek told me "there are a few options for this work, and the one I would recommend is a full redraft with my comments in mind." I thought about this for maybe 10 minutes before I got back to him and said "You're right. I believe everything in your analysis will make the work stronger." For three months, I rewrote a chapter at a time and changed much of the story to be tighter, have faster pacing, and remove all of the "tell" that I had naturally put in there from my experience in academic publishing.
The second pass of Derek's substantial edit dealt with a development edit of this redrafted story, and we managed to make the story even better. Then on his third pass, we did a fairly quick line-edit.
My beta readers were just superb. One of them practically gave me an additional development edit for two key scenes. I was floored because she was so right. I augmented the scenes to have a bit more emotion and impact. All it took from her was "I don't feel right about this. Something is missing here. Maybe this or this or this." And before I new it, the book was two pages longer. It wasn't that she told me what to write, the important thing was that something felt wrong. I took her gut feeling, considered it, and implemented changes to make her experience reading it better.
And that's what I think is important when working with both editors and beta readers. Trust your readers. Obviously, if they tell you that there is not enough glitter on the vampires or something, you can ignore that. But if they give indications of improper flow, bad character building, etc., listen to them and act on it! They're trying to help!
