What follows is one of my Rules for Authors.
These rules are things that all real authors should make a part of their mentality and are words to live by. Trust me…
After more than twenty-five years in this crazy business, I have learned these things well and they do make a difference!
No. 2 – Never pay to have your book edited.
See also Rules 1, 3, and 4 as they are closely related to this Rule.
As outlined in Rule Number 1, editing is a part of the cost of doing business, but that cost belongs to the publisher, NOT the author. The biggest reason is Rule Number 1 itself, that money flows TO the author, but there are other more subtle reasons.
The biggest of these has to do with the attitude and approach to the editing task.
A contracted editor working for (and being paid by) the writer makes their money by getting writers to come to them to edit their work. A huge percentage of that income is from repeat business where a writer keeps coming back to have books edited. There is also the word-of-mouth advertising where a writer tells their friends how great John Doe edits their books. This all means that the editor has a vested interest in getting the writers to like them.
As a group, writers have pretty big and fragile egos. We sweat blood, laugh, cry, pull our hair out in clumps, fall in love with our characters, learn to hate some other characters, and in general see our stories as our children. Just like a momma bear, we will defend our stories to the death. If someone attacks our story, we will come to hate that person. In business, we will look for someone who treats us—and our stories—better and likes them just the way we write them.
See the problem here?
The contracted editor will tend to tell us what we want to hear. This may or may not be intentional, but the tendency is to say what the writer wants to hear so we like the editor and will come back to them and tell our friends how great they are.
In other words, for a contracted editor, they have no interest in if the book sells or not. Their income is based on how much the writer likes them. The contracted editor must have the writers like them in order to make a living.
Now let’s look at an editor that works for the publisher…
The publisher’s editors are paid by the publisher. They might be paid on salary (or hourly), or they might be paid per book that they edit. Some publishers even pay a royalty to their editors. It varies, but the bottom line is that the publisher pays the editor, not the writer.
This boils down to the fact that the editor (and publisher) doesn’t care if the writer likes the editor or not. The editor’s job is to massage the story into something that will sell. If they fail to do so, they won’t work for the publisher for very long.
Both of these editors are motivated by money, but the source of the money is the difference…
Contracted editors only make money if the writers like them.
Publisher’s editors only make money if the story sells.
See the difference?
Keep Loving!
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