“An editor’s job is to make you, the author, look good and save you from embarrassing mistakes.” — Unknown source Hiring an editor is like looking in a mirror before you leave the house, checking to make sure everything is where it should be and nothing is showing that shouldn’t be showing. — Marlene Cullen Editing is like a captain having a good crew to help steer the craft. — Marlene Cullen Let’s talk about editing. Or, as I like to think: Re-visioning. Some writers love to edit . . . making their writing better and better. Other writers loathe to edit . . . finding it tedious and nerve wracking. Some writers are in the middle, or elsewhere, on the continuum. The best scenario: Writers and editors work together as they dovetail their skills and expertise to come up with a product that is ready for publishing. It’s a…
Tag: Shirin Yim Leos
Do you need a developmental editor?
Guest blogger, dev-editor, and author Shirin Yim Leos, answers the question she’s most often asked: What is developmental editing, does it really make a difference, do I need it and how much—HOW MUCH?!?!—can I do for myself? What is Developmental Editing? It’s the big, high level, Is the book working? edit. Does it make a difference? Resoundingly yes. Ask any author with a career. Do I need it? No writer can accurately see their own work. It’s a fact, like refraction through water or distortion through atmosphere. How much does developmental editing cost? It varies, but here are some recently published rates in The Write Life. How to be your own Developmental Editor Can I do it for myself? Try to duplicate a dev editor’s distance. They come to your pages cold and you can replicate that: Put your writing away in a drawer for 3-6 months. I can hear…