I put a lot of work into this horror novel I've written. I have a couple novels published with small publishers and several self-published novels and collections of shorts, plus some short-story credits in small magazines. I naturally want to take the next step towards a career as a writer, and that means I want to get an agent for this horror novel.
I've done several edits and I've been seeking feedback from some test-readers, but I'm also thinking about just hiring an editor to really tear the thing apart for me so that I can send the absolute best version of the manuscript to an agent.
Is this overkill? Is it somehow "bad form" to allow a professional editor to see the MS before sending it to an agent? If any agents are reading this, do you encourage or discourage pre-submission professional editing? Maybe it's superfluous? I'm pretty broke so I can't really afford it, but I want to give this 100% and make absolutely sure that I maximize the potential of this novel.
Any insight is greatly appreciated!
I've done several edits and I've been seeking feedback from some test-readers, but I'm also thinking about just hiring an editor to really tear the thing apart for me so that I can send the absolute best version of the manuscript to an agent.
Is this overkill? Is it somehow "bad form" to allow a professional editor to see the MS before sending it to an agent? If any agents are reading this, do you encourage or discourage pre-submission professional editing? Maybe it's superfluous? I'm pretty broke so I can't really afford it, but I want to give this 100% and make absolutely sure that I maximize the potential of this novel.
Any insight is greatly appreciated!