Is it necessary? I googled it and found out that they're really expensive, I don't have that much money. I'm just a high school student! No one should expect me to have $1000+
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Writing, even more than most careers, is largely a pursuit for desperates and dilettantes.
Nor is that - sorry It favours good writing.It hugely favours those with money and connections.
Well, yes, but -Every edge you can get will help
- do they? I do know a lot of writers and I don't think any of them used an editor before they went agent-hunting. Different if OP was planning to self-pub, but I think paying for an editor before or during the submission process is muddying the water. Part of the writer's skill-set should be editing: and the agent is expecting to rep the writer - not writer+editor.a lot of people who snag agents or publishers are able to do so in part because they paid for an editor, who either helps the MS shine in a slush pile or else directly recommends them to someone in the industry.
Necessary, no, but it is immensely helpful.
Writing, even more than most careers, is largely a pursuit for desperates and dilettantes. It hugely favours those with money and connections. Every edge you can get will help and increasingly I notice that a lot of people who snag agents or publishers are able to do so in part because they paid for an editor, who either helps the MS shine in a slush pile or else directly recommends them to someone in the industry.
And yet agents/editors don't object to people who study creative writing or do a degree?
My MS could not have been completed without my IRL partner, my two critique partners, my many beta readers, my many crits received and many MS that I read. Should agents and editors also look down on that because I didn't write in a vacuum?
A developmental editor may guide an author (or group of authors) in conceiving the topic, planning the overall structure, and developing an outline—and may coach authors in their writing, chapter by chapter. This is true developmental editing, but not the most common way of working. More commonly, a developmental editor is engaged only after someone (usually the publisher) decides that the authors' draft requires substantial revision and restructuring. In these cases, developmental editing is a radical form of substantive editing.
The first being--that's essentially saying that some kind of privilege is more acceptable than others. Got a good education? Grew up with access to books and writing and general support? Cool, no problem. But if you didn't grow up weaned on novels, didn't get tertiary education, and instead saved up for a dev editor or writing mentor to teach you craft (there's a lot of overlap in many cases), suddenly that's not okay. For no reason other than Just Because.
Second reason; disability. My partner is dyslexic and wants to write in future (he hasn't got time now). My father is dyslexic, and *has* completed a novel. My partner would absolutely use an editor, and my father did as well. It's all well and good saying, get a beta reader, but that's an awful lot of dyslexic grammar you are asking someone to slog through, not just once but every potential revision.
I guess fundamentally, I'm also dubious that so many agents have this bias.
As a second example, a LOT of agents also double up as book doctors or offer MS assessments/reports.
But... I would argue that if agents really do look down on FT authors hiring editors, then they're being discriminatory and irrational, for a few different reasons.
The first being--that's essentially saying that some kind of privilege is more acceptable than others. Got a good education? Grew up with access to books and writing and general support? Cool, no problem. But if you didn't grow up weaned on novels, didn't get tertiary education, and instead saved up for a dev editor or writing mentor to teach you craft (there's a lot of overlap in many cases), suddenly that's not okay. For no reason other than Just Because.
Second reason; disability. My partner is dyslexic and wants to write in future (he hasn't got time now). My father is dyslexic, and *has* completed a novel. My partner would absolutely use an editor, and my father did as well. It's all well and good saying, get a beta reader, but that's an awful lot of dyslexic grammar you are asking someone to slog through, not just once but every potential revision.
People who haven't had the same educational background, who have dyslexia or other issues, shouldn't be penalised because of irrational bias.
I guess fundamentally, I'm also dubious that so many agents have this bias. One of my critique partners found her (very good) agent through an editor recommendation. It meant she could skip the query letter and long que to get the MS read in its entirety, and clearly the agent in that situation had no issue with the MS being edited, since they take recommendations from various editors.
I think carrying the skill-set yourself is a far greater advantage and privilege than having the money to pay someone else to do it for you. I say that as someone who doesn't have and has never had a novelists group, or mentors or a degree in writing - or indeed a university education or even a High School diploma. And still feels pretty privileged, thanks very much. To my dear old mind, privilege* has less to do with those things than not living in a war zone, having good health and supported healthcare, having books and time and thoughts - and a place to write.I refuse to cede that having an editor is somehow not an advantage. It absolutely is. As you say, privilege is in everything.
Yes, we seem to have made a derail without even trying. Sorry, OP.What constitutes privilege is probably a separate discussion. .
I'm not sure I've ever had a true developmental edit on anything I've done. And if we work with this definition - yeah, I'd say this is something you ideally ought to learn how to do yourself if you're planning to make a career of writing fiction. You could even convince me that hiring a developmental editor is a good way to learn - but if I were an agent looking for a long-term client, I'd want to make sure you had learned, and that you weren't going to need such a high degree of assistance for everything you wrote.
But I suspect neither one of us meant anything this radical (although I could be wrong). I'm guessing we've both been thinking of what they refer to here as "substantive editing" - the sort of finish work a publisher routinely does with a manuscript they've acquired.
If you're looking for an editor as just another person you're getting feedback from, I think that's different than expecting them to make your book publishable. But if you're looking at them that way, I'm wondering why you're spending the money. A good editor of any kind is not cheap; I'd think you'd want more out of it than what you'd get from a really conscientious beta reader.
If they're taking money for it, it sounds a lot like a conflict of interest, and would worry me. If you're talking about unpaid editing - yes, there are a lot of agents who do that for their clients, with varying degrees of skill.
I don't actually have an issue with people hiring editors, even if they're going to sub to agents. My bias comes in because I see an awful lot of people (not necessarily anyone on this thread) who believe all they need is a professional editor, and they'll somehow magically have something they can sell. Most of these people are not the kind of people a professional editor is going to be able to help enough, because the reality is they're still learning. (And yeah, if they can learn from a professional edit, that's not a bad thing, but in most cases that professional edit is not going to be the final step before fame and fortune.)
At the risk of sounding provocative, isn't that sort of the point for things like PitchWars Mentors? Authors and other industry professionals picking up diamonds in the rough, giving them a good polish, snazzing up the query, presenting them to agents with recommendations?
Should agents not be concerned that said mentees won't be able to replicate the same product, without the input of mentors?
One of the mentees (Ian Barnes) has two mentors this year. What happens when he sits to write his next book and they're not there, looking over his shoulder, putting spit-shine on his query? The agent he's now landed, didn't seem particularly concerned ;-) I personally think he'll be fine.
Quick note on this--you can be John Jarrold's client or you can hire him for editing, but not both. All the reputable ones who offer this service don't mix and match.