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Editing Needs for Indie vs Traditionally Published Authors
There’s often confusion about what types of editing a writer needs. I’ve talked about the different levels of editing, here, here, and here, as well as here. But who actually needs what?
Depending on what your plans are, you may need some levels of editing and not others. This usually depends on whether you intend to self-publish or submit to agents or editors.
Writers Aiming for Traditional Publishers
Theoretically, investing in editing isn’t necessary for writers who are seeking representation by an agent, who will then submit the book to the appropriate publishing houses. Agents are good about overlooking minor issues with typos, as long as the story grabs them. Additionally, if the book is picked up by a traditional publisher, you’ll be assigned editors who will take you through the various editing levels—developmental, copy, and proofreading.
However, the competition for these coveted spots with agents is fierce, so a lot of writers choose to have at least some level of editing done prior to beginning the submission process. Some, who are confident in their stories but pretty sure they don’t punctuate dialogue right, for example, may hire a copy editor to help them out prior to sending out query letters.
Occasionally, a writer really wants to ensure that they have the best story possible, or they understand that they could learn a lot and improve their craft with the help of a developmental editor, so they will invest in that type of editing too.
Both of these are optional, of course, and really depend on your level of confidence about your book and how much you’d like to (or are capable of) investing in your book. Keep in mind that a lot of my clients have had their books taken through all levels of editing prior to submission to agents, and then been grateful they had already done so when they decided later to just go ahead and self-publish.
Self-Publishing Writers
When you’re an indie author, you are basically your own publisher, and it is to your benefit to think of it that way from the very beginning. You are, essentially, starting your own business of publishing. Which means you likely need all levels of editing prior to hitting that publish button.
Again, I’ve already discussed the levels of editing in other articles (see above), so I won’t go over them again here. Instead, I’ll mention the risks of not having your books edited, and the benefits of having them edited.
Developmental Editing - This level of editing is a little tricky. I recommend that authors get developmental editing done, particularly if they are less experienced writers. Someone who is multi-published, either traditionally or indie, may have a good enough handle on their big-picture story that they don’t need developmental editing. They may be able to get away with just copy editing.
But if you’re a newer writer, investing in developmental editing is a must. It’s amazingly difficult to see the plot holes, character discrepancies, and other macro-level issues your book may have when you’re new at it.
The benefits of a developmental edit at this stage will be that you’ll have taken care of any story issues prior to publication. Your developmental editor will catch that you have six characters who all have 4-letter names starting with “J” or that your timeline is flawed. The risks of not getting a developmental edit are that, if you don’t have an editor catching these issues, your readers will.
Another consideration is when you’re writing a series. Consider the issues if you construct a world in your first book that has serious issues and you don’t have it developmentally edited prior to publishing. By the time you get to book three…those issues are likely to come back to haunt you! I have a client who started developmental editing with book three and learned so much from that edit that she has decided to go back and rewrite books one and two and then have them edited. She’ll republish them at that point, but she could have saved herself a huge amount of time had she done the editing beforehand.
Copy Editing - This is probably the biggest complaint I see in online reviews of self-published books—too many typos. I’ve had clients come to me after publishing and finding out that their readers were not, in fact, willing to let all the typos slide. Or willing to ignore that the author didn’t punctuate dialogue correctly, for example. I’ve seen reviews where the reader actually counted errors…which distracts them from the story, which is bad news for authors. By the time these clients came back to me for copy editing, they’d already collected 1- and 2-star reviews, in some cases, making them feel bad and, potentially, causing them to lose out on future sales, even after they fixed the issues.
The risk of skipping this level of editing is that you may end up with bad reviews, which may affect sales, either current or future. Once the bad reviews are added, they are on your permanent record, even if you choose to later have the book edited and republished.
The benefits of getting a copy edit done prior to publishing your books is that you show pride in your work, something that readers notice…or, even if they don’t specifically notice, they at least aren’t distracted from the story by preventable errors. Your reviews will all reflect the readers’ feelings about your story, not about the editing (or lack thereof).
Proofreading - Proofreading is really an extra layer of editing, best done just before hitting “publish” on your book. Whether or not this is strictly required kind of depends on how in-depth the copy edit level was and if you made a lot of changes after that. For example, if copy editing was done, and you didn’t have to add or change anything based on the feedback from that level, you may be able to get away with no proofreading.
However, of course, the risk is that, if you did do a substantial amount of editing, rewording, etc., following the copy edit, you may have introduced additional errors into the manuscript that a proofread would have caught if you’d had it done.
The benefits of getting this done are the cleanest possible manuscript you could have prior to publication. If your story is all shiny and polished, the benefit is happy readers, who can focus only on the great story you wrote!
Writers Submitting to Hybrid Publishers
These days, there are a lot of small-press publishers or hybrid-type publishers, who assist writers with getting their books out there. I’m not here to debate the validity of any of these publishing models or to offer advice about them. Do your own due diligence when it comes to researching these publishers prior to turning your book over to them or signing on the dotted line.
I just want writers to be aware of the levels of editing they may need to look into if they go this route. When making a decision about whether this is a good path for you, be sure you check on whose responsibility the editing of your book will be. Do they provide editors (free or at some cost to you)? Do they expect you to get your books edited yourself?
If the responsibility is on your plate, then your situation is the same as that of the self-publishing author. You’re responsible for all levels of editing, and the risks and benefits are the same.
In the end, it’s good to remember that all authors can benefit from editing. Even multi-published authors at the Big 5 New York publishers have editors. The need for editing has nothing to do with the skill of the writer and everything to do with how difficult it can be to catch errors when you’re too close to the book, and this applies to traditional or indie authors alike.
Work with me!
Whether preparing to self-publish or to start the submission process, I’m here to help! You can Request a Quote today. If I think we might be a good fit, I’ll provide a 3- to 5-page sample edit of your manuscript to show you what I can do for you!