There are no doubt a handful of writers who can successfully edit their own books. There are without a doubt a great many writers who think they can successfully edit their own books and therein is a major difference. I’ve had several editors over the years and quite some time ago when the Washington Independent Writers group was in their peak years, I attended my first writers’ conference. One of the speakers was very clear on that point and said that as an unpublished writer you had to budget around $1,000 for a good editor. You could hear the murmurs and see eyebrows raised and heads being nodded in other parts of the large room. The individual was correct, but aside from being willing to pay for a service (and yes, you can pay less, although not very much), there has to be a certain workable chemistry between an author and editor. The bottom line is that the editor is going to do more than move your commas around – he or she will read passages that you painstakingly created and say, “I don’t get this,” or “why is this character doing this?”, and your initial reaction is probably to splutter. Then you step back and realize that perhaps you didn’t craft the scene in the best way and that the proposed revision does have more impact. Or you did get careless and changed a character’s eyes from blue to green in a much later chapter (hey, it happens). Or maybe two names so closely resemble each other that it’s confusing to the reader. These are the skills that a good editor brings. On the other hand, an editor does have to strike that balance of liking your work and being willing to risk your momentary irritation to make it stronger. Of the editors that I have had, only one just wasn’t a good match. In general, I take 85-90% of an editor’s recommendations. It has stung a few times to do so, but there is one overriding point to make and that is, the reader doesn’t know what was changed – the reader sees only the end product.
A case in point, in one of my novels, I had a character that I felt strongly about and the editor did not. Her view was that I needed to either develop the character more or delete her. My “cryptic description” wasn’t sufficient, and when I carefully read her rationale, I could understand her perspective and I did indeed enhance the character. The flip side to that coin though is that not all editors are created equal by any means and if it doesn’t work, that’s just how it plays out sometimes. Irritation between author and editor is common – anger is not a good element. By the way, as with any work relationship, can a spouse/other relative/good friend perform this function? Yes, but proceed with caution the first time. Think of it as learning to drive from that same person – sometimes it’s better to have an outsider, even if it’s going to cost you more money.
