The Costly Mistake of Publishing an Unedited Book

I have not had guest posts on this blog, but I’m realizing that I should.  I’m still new at self-publishing myself, so I have a lot to learn.  I’ve had bestsellers, but I haven’t made the NYT list yet.   Today, we have a wonderful guest blogger, the owner/editor of her own highly successful editing firm.  You’ll want to pay attention to what Shayla Eaton has to say here.  I think she’s writing to me…

Imagine working for years on your book.

You’ve stayed up late every night. You’ve crawled out of bed before the sun rose just so you could get in another chapter. Your family thinks you’re nuts, and you have to agree.

But this is your baby. It’s your book, after all.

You’ve finally finished writing it, and you’ve gone through several rewrites, catching inconsistencies and adding in better descriptions along the way.

You’ve told people about your book, and you’re ready to get it on shelves and screens. So you go to hire an editor and find out that it could cost you, let’s say, $1,000 for a 50,000-word nonfiction manuscript.

“That’s outrageous!” you’d cry. “I was thinking, maybe a couple hundred bucks—tops.” Now, you know that this editor is a professional. You know he’s edited more books than you’ve read in your life, but he’s too expensive.

So you find someone who will edit your book for a fraction of the cost. We’re talking cheap. You’re feeling great now! You get the book edited and save on your budget.

You push the publish button on Amazon, pat yourself on the back, and wait for the money to roll it.

And then the Amazon reviews trickle in: “Was this even edited? Ugh! He’s supposed to be the authority on this subject, and he can’t even spell? I’d give it zero stars if I could.”

“But,” you’d say, “I had it edited!”

I tell people that I perform two types of copyedits: one is a first-time copyedit for an unpublished book, and the second is a reedit for an already-published book, because someone cheated his client.

Remember the adage, “You get what you pay for”? Well, it’s especially true in the editing world. If you want quality, then you need a high-quality editor. Nonfiction books are meant to make you a credible source—you are supposed to be the authority on a particular subject. Yet the moment you publish a book with misspellings and grammar errors, you lose your credibility and you gain some harsh but deserving Amazon reviews.

If someone is going to give you a low rating for a book, it should never, ever be for a poor editing job. It is your responsibility as an author to ensure quality every single time.

Saving money to hire a low-quality editor actually costs you more money. How so? Because now that no one will buy your poorly edited book, you have to hire a professional anyway. So that’s two editing jobs when you could’ve paid for one.

Find out what a professional editor charges for your book (you will probably need to give him your word count or let him review the book). Ask multiple editors and write down the costs.

Once you have an idea of the average cost, try these options:

Try a Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign
Save up the old-fashioned way; whether that’s putting cash in a jar or creating a savings account just for your book
Ask the editor(s) about payment plans; I use the 17 Hats app for my invoices, which allows me to create a payment plan for my clients

Your book is your baby. Don’t murder it just because you don’t want to give it the best care it deserves.

Budget for a professional editor. Your readers will thank you for it.

Shayla is a connoisseur of the writing and editing process, having edited over two hundred books and countless articles, blogs, social media posts, and web copy. Starting out in a small publishing firm as a copywriter after college, she quickly worked her way up to copy editor and into marketing, where she began to hone her skills on the inner workings of the publishing process. She took this experience and began her own business with one goal: providing authors with honest feedback and superior work in writing, editing, and marketing. She is the author of The Curiouser Crusade, an e-book to help writers finish their novels in six months. She loves coffee and is an admirer of all things creative and bookish. www.CuriouserEditing.com