6 Ways to Save Money on a Professional Edit
If you’ve ever looked into working with a professional editor, then you know prices can vary and can sometimes be higher than you expect. Or perhaps, they may extend beyond what you feel comfortable spending on an unsold manuscript. I’m not here to argue the merits of a strong professional edit, nor am I here to defend pricing. Instead, I’m here to share some tricks that might make a seemingly-impossible endeavor of securing a professional edit possible.
Ask for a sample edit. Editors often charge fees by the word. So a 50,000-word manuscript is going to be less expensive to have edited than a 75,000-word manuscript. One way to save is to ask an editor for a sample edit. Most editors offer a short sample edit free of charge. At roughly 250 words a page, even a sample of a few pages might save you $30 or more. If you decide to move forward and hire the editor for more pages, you can opt to exclude those pages from the contract since they’ve already been reviewed, though most writers don’t. They often want the editor to see the changes they’ve made and review them. But it isn’t necessarily a requirement.
Ask if the editor offers discounts or has sales. As an editor myself, I try to offer discounts throughout the year. Events like National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) or dates near major Twitter pitch events are perfect opportunities for editors to help writers polish drafted novels. If the editor isn’t advertising a sale or discount at the moment, it never hurts to ask. If they review a sample of your writing and are excited about the project, they may be willing to work with you on pricing or payment plans.
Trim the fat. Again, since many editors charge by the word, every single word that might be cut saves you money. There are many blog posts about words we can trim in our drafts. One of them is Diana Urban’s post 43 Words You Should Cut From Your Writing Immediately. Words like just, and really, and then. Dialogue tags where the speaker is implied or can be deduced easily… the possibilities for trimming things are endless. And yes, one word at a time can be tedious. But when you add all those words together, the money saved can add up.
Tap into beta readers and critique partners before you hire an editor. Time is money, so entering into a relationship with beta readers and other writers for critique swaps will still have a cost. But trading pages with a trusted writing friend can help you make changes to your manuscript before it lands in an editor’s hands. This will often mean a lower word count because you may cut scenes that aren’t moving the plot forward, or repetitive lines that reiterate something that’s already been said, or things like excessive description. As a professional editor, I’m the first to say I should not be your first stop after you’ve finished a draft.
Ask if the editor can work with you in smaller batches. Oftentimes, critical issues with a manuscript emerge in even the first twenty pages. Getting feedback on your opening can be very eye-opening. Once you have that feedback in hand, you can revise and get a better sense of trouble brewing ahead in your manuscript. The edits may reveal that your book needs to go in an entirely different direction, and in that case, why waste money on the full manuscript edit if it’s only going to be a series of massive cuts? Additionally, many edits repeat going forward. Writers who struggle with how to write strong scenes will oftentimes struggle for the full manuscript. If you get support on an issue for a batch of writing, you can oftentimes go through the rest of the manuscript and apply what you’ve learned.
Ask for a referral. Editors’ rates can vary by experience and a number of other factors. But that experience doesn’t always mean that a certain editor will return a stronger edit than an editor who hasn’t been doing edits very long. If you ask for a sample edit, it’s the perfect chance to get a sense of who an editor is, the types of things they hone in on, and whether you will have a good working relationship. But if you fall in love with an editor who falls beyond your budget, chances are they know another editor who does quality work for lower rates. Ask for a referral. And with that referral, you should still ask for a sample edit from that editor. As costly as edits are, it’s important you know what you’re getting for your money.
And as many of us here at Angelella Editorial believe, you should insist on a sample edit, even if it’s not for the sake of saving pennies. The type of support and keen eye an editor can bring to your story in just a few pages may have you seeing exactly how valuable a professional edit can be.
