I was a traditionalist fighting for the printed book and having a difficult time with the idea of holding an electronic device instead of turning pages…but I can see now that there is room for both the printed book and the e-book today. The format is more determined by the information that you want to […]
I first met Sara Grant at her workshop on editing (a workshop I highly recommend) when, of course, I asked if she would be willing to provide a post for this blog. Being the lovely lady she is, she said yes. So here in a nutshell is her wisdom on the editing process.
Rough First Drafts and Rigorous Revision
You’ve finished the first draft of your novel.
Good for you. An author deserves to have an editor.
But, you ask, what does an editor really do? Why do their fees range so much?
There are different levels of editing – the most simple and inexpensive is copy editing – checking for simple grammar, punctuation and spelling. That is usually around $35/hour.
When you get up into the substantive and stylistic editing where you actually have to reconstruct sentences and paragraphs you are looking at higher cost. This type of editing can go up to as high as $80/hour.
Other factors that affect the cost of editing is the level of difficulty and size of the project.
An editor’s fees are based on word count, by the page, or a flat rate.
Keep in mind that when an editor does her work she is not passing over your manuscript just once – it will be several times – the first edited copy is returned to the author for her revision. She sends that revision back to the editor who proofs it line by line.
If further edits are required the editor returns the manuscript to the author until all revisions are proofed to the editor’s satisfaction. This could be several exchanges.
