Trying to find a good editor

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

Why is it so hard to find a good editor? One that doesn't want to charge me the cost of a car in order to get my manuscript in order. I mean, I'm not completely broke, I do have a few means, but I can't afford to pay someone $5000 just to do one read over my manuscript! So, my question to you all, how did you find your editor? And are you happy with the work they've done for you?

[Virginia]

My editor is fantastic, freelance, and reasonably priced. What genre do you write and how long is your manuscript? I can get in touch with her and see if she would be willing to work with you and get a quote.

[Josephine]

I accidentally came across mine while looking for a beta reader. He did a fantastic job and he was very thorough. I had already enlisted someone else to look over my second book before the first one (silly me I know) but I will without a doubt be asking him to look over my third book once I have it finished.

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

I'm a fantasy writer, though this next project is a horror story. Looking to shape up to about 35-40000 words long. I'm not even joking when I say the last quote I had was $2000 to edit this one. If that's the going rate for a good editor, then I need to start selling books and fast!
Plus I'm trying to find one for the continuation of my series. While I have the first three books self published, would be nice to have the next ones looked at professionally.

[Virginia]

I'll let her know. I'm not sure if she works with horror, though. And, for a longer work (around 100K words) 2000 would be pretty standard. For 40K words though that does seem excessive, although I suppose it would depend what condition the work is in to start with. I'll ask my editor if she's got any availability, and if she's interested in horror, and let you know.

[Cobus]

I've found that the Editor aspect for Myself is as Difficult!
Not only that, as English is only my Second Language, I tend to make more mistakes than what I want to...

I hate it when and Editor choose to change things when they Don't even Tell you what they're thinking of doing...

HENCE, looking for another Editor would would look at Fantasy, Adventure, YA, Magic - at almost 90,000 words.

Any Ideas, Thoughts, Suggestions?

THX so much for anyone's Time!

:- )

[Ann, Supreme Overlord]

Well all, although I use family members for my editing, I do offer editing services. My background is in English Education. That being said, I am by no means a certified editor or anything. But I'm fairly good at editing work that is not my own. Feel free to message me if you'd like to work something out.

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

....and you're an editor? Holy crap Ann! I have all the time in the world and I wouldn't know how to begin to fit all you juggle in x D Still, I might be getting in contact with you then. I'm proud of the books I wrote and believe they were the best I could make them with my means, but another set of eyes on a manuscript is never bad.

[A.]

I found a great editor for the book I just finished. Her rates are reasonable and she's great to work with. I'd be happy to pass her information along.

[Ann, Supreme Overlord]

Let me know! I like keeping busy and I enjoy editing OTHER people's work, just not revising my own :)

Riley wrote: "....and you're an editor? Holy crap Ann! I have all the time in the world and I wouldn't know how to begin to fit all you juggle in x D Still, I might be getting in contact with you then. I'm proud..."

[Cobus]

Hi Ann, Tony;

At this point I'll look at the Samples of Editing done by Anyone who would give me their Time in helping me.

THX so much,
KNOWING that not Every possible Editor out there might fit and thus, any help is Great!

Have an Awesome one!

[[deleted user]]

A.
I would love the contact info for your editor

[Thomas]

I happened upon my editor while browsing Google for articles on editors. I was reading an article and the article recommended an editing service and so I went and looked them up. It turned out to be a stroke of really good luck.

$2000 is completely unreasonable for that size. The one that I used to edit over 100k words was less than half that quote you got.

I was very happy with the work they did for me.

[Rohvannyn]

Wow. These prices are nuts! My editor only charges $500 or so for a 100k book depending on how much needs to be fixed. AND she lets me know what needs to be changed instead of just changing it without telling me. (If anyone needs her, feel free to PM me or shoot me an author question)

[[deleted user]]

My email address is dj@djjouett.com. Please provide the contact info for your editor. Thanks. DJ

[G.G.]

I hope Riley did find an editor by now since this post date is 2015.

[Roughseasinthemed]

I'm an editor so I'll comment from the other side.

It really depends what they do for the money, and what their qualifications, skills and experience are (eg, an English student at university does not make an editor). If you look at both American and British recommended hourly rates, that does put a 100k word novel in the thousands bracket.

I have to be honest, I think that is unrealistic. I think anything approaching $1000 is unrealistic. People won't pay it or can't pay it.

But, you need to know exactly what you are getting. Big picture editing? Detail on grammar and word use? Basic proofreading? And, how many reads? One, two or more.

People often change editors until they find one they are comfortable with at a price that suits. Always ask for a FREE sample edit too.

[G.G.]

Just to remind people that Riley's question was not Give me the name of your editor or a contact to a good editor. His question was HOW DID YOU FIND YOURS and ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE JOB.

Thank you.