In Praise of My Editor

An editor fulfills an important role for an independent author, providing an objective second pair of eyes on a manuscript that the writer cannot help getting too close to. And there are all sorts of editors available through a variety of sources. Some focus on content, some on copy-editing while others will take you all the way through the formatting process. Editors can be expensive, but consider them a business investment that will bring your book to the next level. An editor provides clarity and a new reader’s perspective on reading your book.

For my latest book, I hired Dyane Forde of Christian Creative Nexus primarily as that objective second pair of eyes. Dyane and I had a previous relationship as writers under the Breakwater Harbor Books cooperative imprint. I knew she would be professional, caring and not avoid dealing with my weaknesses.

Her turnaround time was quick – less than two weeks for a 100,000-word manuscript. I’m sure that might vary depending on how busy she is, but I was impressed because it was nearly a week shorter than we had agreed upon.

Dyane concentrated on content and copy-writing while also proof-reading the manuscript and she performed wonderfully. This was my 8th published book, the 4th in this series and there are issues with that. You don’t want to rewrite the entire series in this book, so that can make it difficult for an editor to orient themselves. I provided a synopsis of my prior books and she figured it out. Dyane flagged when she thought I needed to explain the back story a bit, she pointed out some pacing issues and a story line that I really had gotten sloppy with. And of course, that meant I had to go back to the manuscript and do some rewrite to make it better…which is the reason we hire an editor and I was thrilled to do it.

I instituted almost everything Dyane suggested and I’m glad I did. My book Day’s End comes out November 20 and is on pre-order currently, and the entire series is on price reduction until then.