Can anyone recommend a good and affordable editor

Paula

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Hi everyone. I need some help with my book and will probably need to hire an editor.
I'm kind of lost, don't even know where to begin. Did any of you use a good and affordable editor you could recommend?

Thank you
 

Paula

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Can anyone recommend a good and affordable editor?

Hi everyone. I need some help with my book to finally get it ready to submit to agents and will probably need to hire an editor. The community has given me some feedback on my first chapter, which helped me understand there are flaws I am not being able to detect by myself. I could just keep posting chapters for feedback but I feel like I actually need someone to guide me through this process to make sure the book is the best that it can be when I start submitting it.

I'm kind of lost, don't even know where to begin. Did any of you use a good and affordable editor you could recommend?

Thank you
 
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CaoPaux

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Please don't start multiple threads. I've moved your question to a more suitable forum.

Have you read all the stickies and FAQs around the forums? Here's a good one to start: Publishing Services Providers

ETA: Which I see Old Hack has beat me to. :)
 

Paula

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Thanks. I tried to delete the first thread but i couldn't figure out how to do it. I went through the list Old Hack told me about but unfortunately most of those agents are too pricey for me.
 

Old Hack

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Thanks. I tried to delete the first thread but i couldn't figure out how to do it. I went through the list Old Hack told me about but unfortunately most of those agents are too pricey for me.

I assume that was a slip but just in case it wasn't, agents don't charge any money: they get paid a commission on the sales they make for you. They don't offer paid editorial services.

I know P N Elrod, who is on the list I linked to, has very reasonable prices. You're not likely to find good editing at a lower price than that, and bad editing isn't worth having. It might be a good idea for you to post some pieces of your work in our Share Your Work sections, and see what feedback you get there; and if you precede that by critiquing others' works, you'll learn a lot too about how to revise your work more effectively.

I hope you find something to suit.
 

Paula

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Thanks Old Hack. I was refering to editors, I do know legit agents don't charge you but get a comission. I looked into P.N. Elrod but for my novel it would be around $1,500 which is way over my budget. I will take your advice on sharing my work. I did that with my first chapter and got a number of notes that made me think I need an editor to make it all come together.
 

Marissa D

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Honestly, I think your best bet is to go to the Share Your Work boards and spend some time critiquing others. Learning to identify what works and what doesn't in other people's work will teach you more about your own writing than even receiving critiques will--really truly.
 

Siri Kirpal

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Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

You can also post a thread in Beta Readers asking for readers to critique your whole work. This is free. The worthiness of the advice varies, but can be very helpful. If any of the people who gave suggestions on your first chapter seem to you to be better readers than others, you can send them a PM and ask them to beta read for you.

Best wishes.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

Victor Douglas

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If you have a university or community college, try posting some flyers near their English Dept. offices.
 

Old Hack

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I looked into P.N. Elrod but for my novel it would be around $1,500 which is way over my budget.

As I said earlier, if you're paying for an editor you have to find a good one. There are cheaper ones out there, but you're not likely to get good value for your money.

Use all the free resources you can find before you pay anything. So, Share Your Work, beta readers, and so on.

Are you planning on self publishing? Because if you're hoping to find a trade deal you don't need to pay for an editor at all.
 

Paula

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Siri, I'm always wary of beta readers that I don't know personally.
Victor, that is a good idea, except that I don't live in an English speaking country.
Old Hack, no, I' not planning on self-publishing. I know a lot of agencies will work with you to edit the book but for them to do that, the manuscript has to be polished enough so that they will be interested. I thought mine was but the comments I received on my first chapter made me realize it's not. :cry:
 

Siri Kirpal

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That's why I suggested you approach those whose critiques of your posted chapter(s). You may not know them to know what they look like, but you can tell if they seem to know what they're doing.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

mccardey

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Fiverr has lots of editors that can do a bang up job in the $200 per full-length novel range.
Here - I think you dropped this: :sarcasm

ETA: (okay, sarcasm is the wrong word - but I'm guessing you're not making a serious suggestion here?)
 
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Marissa D

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The thing is, learning to see what needs improvement in your work and fixing it is a necessary skill for a writer--you can't rely on others to do it for you. You're at a place where most advanced-beginner writers find themselves, not just ones who are writing in a second language. Now is when you have to dig in and learn. I have all the faith in the world that you can do this!
 

Old Hack

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Old Hack, no, I' not planning on self-publishing. I know a lot of agencies will work with you to edit the book but for them to do that, the manuscript has to be polished enough so that they will be interested. I thought mine was but the comments I received on my first chapter made me realize it's not. :cry:

If you're hoping for a trade deal, you really don't need to pay for editing prior to submission.

If your work isn't up to scratch, paying for an editor isn't going to resolve that. You need to learn how to write well enough without outside help. Editors and agents want your work, not your work which has been enhanced by someone else.

Spend a lot of time in Share Your Work. Critique as many pieces as you can. It's the best way I know of to improve your own work, as it teaches you what doesn't work, and why, without your having to deal with the emotional attachment you have with your own work. It's brilliant.

Fiverr has lots of editors that can do a bang up job in the $200 per full-length novel range.

Nope.

Don't use people who claim to be able to edit a full novel for so little. They will not do a good job for you. Ir will be a waste of money and might even cause more problems than it solves.
 

Maryn

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I will repeat a favorite horror story. An online acquaintance at another site, a man whose native language was not English, self-published a book and linked to it on Amazon. I clicked and used the Look Inside feature and was dismayed to see it had a lot of really bad mistakes in the part potential buyers could read. This wasn't subtle stuff people might not notice but sentences like Smith is been to Space and On the way to red blue planet Smith went into comma and woke in universal astro mind.

The author was not a friend, but I felt bad for him, putting up such a poor showing. I private messaged him suggesting the English wasn't what it could or should be and urging him to take it down, get professional edits, and put it up again.

Here's the horror part. He'd paid for professional edits. He'd even found someone who worked at a bargain price.

Maryn, appalled
 

Chase

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He'd paid for professional edits.

Indeed a horror story. I have a feeling the only reason the edits could be termed "professional" was the "editor" professed to be one and accepted money.
 

Maryn

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Alas, it ended badly. I insisted he'd been ripped off and urged him to seek to get his money back, and this somehow made me the bad guy. He started reporting my posts and I was in constant self-defense with site management.

Maryn, killed messenger
 

Old Hack

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That's a common reaction, Maryn. I'm sorry you had to deal with him, but am glad you tried.
 

Thomas Vail

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Nope.

Don't use people who claim to be able to edit a full novel for so little. They will not do a good job for you. Ir will be a waste of money and might even cause more problems than it solves.
It's like bypassing a real mechanic to have your car fixed by a guy who'll do it for a case of beer. Sure, you might know a guy who'd be happy to do car work for a friend for a 24 pack, but what exactly do you think you'd get from someone who advertises, 'will fix cars for Stella?''
 

JDlugosz

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I thought mine was but the comments I received on my first chapter made me realize it's not. :cry:

Are you talking about story elements here, or low-level things like grammar and commas?

(everything I’ve beta read, even a mature manuscript with a dozen prior readers, had typos, misplaced puntuation, and whatnot. Some people are just more sensitive to that.)