Self-publishing authors are caught in a strange place—you need good editing for your book to be competitive enough to sell, but professional editing is hella expensive. And most self-publishers aren’t swimming in cash. Let’s talk about how to prioritize your editing options for the most benefit.
know your book
The kind of edit you need most can depend heavily on the kind of book you wrote. Genre is part of this. Stories with heavy worldbuilding (sci-fi, fantasy), complex plots (mystery, psychological thrillers), or extensive theme building (literary) are high priority for a developmental edit, since those big picture elements are more intense than usual. Line editing is especially valuable for stories where the vibes are important (romance, cozy mystery, horror, gothic stories), the narrative voice is a highlight feature (first person, quirky, artistic), or there’s special language considerations for your intended readership (YA, kid lit). Copyediting is for everything—don’t skip this.
You might also consider how you wrote the book. If you “pantsed” your way through the plot, get a developmental edit. If you’re wordy, get a line edit. Again, no matter what you wrote, get a copyedit.
If you’re really unsure what level edit would benefit you the most, it could be worthwhile to invest in a manuscript evaluation, where an editor reads your draft, gives you their broad feedback, and recommends some next steps. It could save you from investing the rest of you editing budget in the wrong place.
know yourself
It can also be helpful to get some perspective on your place in the vast market that is published books, or even fiction books, or even fiction books of your particular genre. Is this your first time publishing? First time writing a novel? Did you try to find an agent and no one picked up your work? These aren’t bad things or signs of impending doom, but they can help you figure out who to choose as your editor.
Speaking very generally, the more experienced an editor is, the more skilled they will be, and the more expensive. Being skilled means they can do a deeper kind of edit, beyond the basics, moving from correctness and convention into true artistry.
But the base writing quality needs to be ready for that. If you’re a fairly new writer—meaning your style is still developing—then you probably want to focus on the core aspects of craft. It may not be worth your while to pay big bucks for a highly skilled editor to meet you at the same level that an average editor will. So if you’re new to authoring, consider looking for newer editors, who tend to work at cheaper rates.
On the other hand, if you feel pretty okay about your base writing quality, investing a little more in a masterful editor could give your writing an extra edge in the book market.
You should also think about your strengths and weaknesses. And by “think” I mean get outside feedback from people who are not your friends or family, rage against it if you must, vent to your grandmother, curse the degradation of society’s ability to appreciate art with substance, then tamp down your ego, and sit with the feedback. When you’re ready, lay out your manuscript and the feedback side by side and compare. If you see a trend in what people are saying—“the plot loses me here,” “the antagonist doesn’t seem all that threatening,” “the whole thing feels kind of slow”—pay attention. This is where you need the extra help.
before you pay anyone—getting free feedback
On the topic of feedback, get as much of it as you can. Take chapters to your writing group. Get beta readers. Let your bookish sister read it. Swap drafts with a writer friend. And read books on self-editing, on writing craft, on plot structure. This is all free (or at least low-cost) and means you can get more value out of your editor’s work when the time comes. If you haven’t milked the life out of these free sources, then signing a three-thousand-dollar editing contract probably isn’t your best business move.
“my mom/friend edited this, I just need a quick copyedit.”
Is your friend an editor? Is your mom prepared to forget, for four weeks, that she carried you in her body? When it comes to editing your book—that is, getting it ready for the merciless process of publishing and selling—“good with English” and “reads a lot” don’t count. The most well-intentioned, totally-in-love-with-your-book people will inevitably cause damage without the knowledge and mental discipline that comes with real training. You wouldn’t ask your next-door neighbor to remove your gall bladder because they read a lot of pop medical, so do yourself a favor and resist the urge to ask a friend to edit your work because they once aced AP English Lit.
my editor says I need to go back and get another type of edit first. are they trying to upsell me?!
Let me tell you as an editor who communicates often with other editors: Needing to break the “other edit first” news to writers happens all the time, and can generally be boiled down to a couple reasons. First, we genuinely do care about how your book turns out. Good editing means a better chance at good sales means all your time and effort and money pays off, which is our whole goal (and, ya know, not bad for our reputation either). Second, as I once heard a colleague put it, “You can’t frost a half-baked cake.” Line editing a manuscript that badly needs developmental work gets very tricky very quickly, and the result won’t be good anyway. Same for copyediting something that needs a line edit.
Or they could be trying to upsell you. Editors are people too, and some of them suck, so let’s talk about how to weigh this “go back a step” feedback, if and when you get it.
The biggest thing to look for here is clear reasons. Ideally, your editor should offer them up along with the suggestion, but if they don’t, or you want more details, ask. If they tell you your story could use a developmental edit before copying, they should give you an idea of what issues they’re noticing (ex. slow pacing, character A’s arc feels underdeveloped, stakes don’t match the payoff). They may not outline every detail for you (that would be work they should get paid for), but you should have a sense of what you’d be walking into.
If you aren’t sure what kinds of editing there are or what they mean, check out this article for a quick overview.
Your editor may or may not offer the service they’re recommending. If they don’t, you can ask for referrals from their network. The publishing world is fairly small, and editors tend to gather and get to know each other, so referrals can be a good way to get in touch with someone qualified and trustworthy with a lot less fuss. If your editor does offer the service they suggest you get, and they have availability, many will offer a bundle price for doing both edits with them.
You can also get a second opinion from other editors. Most line editors will do sample edits, so you could see what level of work could be done here and who might be a good fit. Developmental editors are more likely to look at a portion of your work and offer a consultation or “discovery call” to talk about what they could help you with. And if you really want some in-depth feedback and are willing to pay, nothing beats a full manuscript evaluation.
Ultimately the decision is up to you. Your editor may or may not want to move ahead with the planned edit if you decide against the unplanned one; that’s their prerogative, but don’t feel pressured into working with someone if you don’t feel comfortable.
Most of the time, if your editor recommends something, it’s probably because they have a good reason, so you should at least check into it, but as always, do your due diligence before handing someone your money.
using AI to edit
This has become a hot-button topic in the writing and editing worlds, for obvious reasons. Ethical concerns aside, we have to take a look at generative AI as a free or low-cost alternative to hiring a human being, because it is an option, and writers are using it. And in short, I don’t recommend it.
Full disclosure, I’m not anti-AI per se. I think it could be an absolutely frikin’ amazing tool if we figure out the application, training, and infrastructure of it. (I, for one, would love to have a Star Trek-esque computer in my home some day). But for now, I think we have some major ethical concerns to deal with, and are on track to create more harm than good with generative AI.
I don’t say this because I myself am a book editor and want writers to give me their money. I say it because it genuinely sucks. For you, the writer. An AI program doesn’t understand your story. It doesn’t get your intention, so it can’t help you execute it better in a way that really makes a difference.
On the contrary, what happens when writers run their books through an AI program to “clean it up” is that their voice gets stripped away. It makes changes you didn’t account for. It flattens your creative work into a sterilized average of alot of other people’s works, works that weren’t even doing the same thing as yours anyway.
And then some of those same writers take the AI-edited text to a human editor to undo the AI’s damage, to “rehumanize” the text, which is a way harder job (aka more expensive) than just editing it would have been in the first place. “Rehumanizing” effectively amounts to some level of ghost writing, and it won’t sound quite like you because you didn’t quite write it.
budget early
In a perfect world, you started saving as soon as you decide to get serious about writing this story. If you didn’t, just acknowledge that the world is imperfect and hold on to that tip for next time.
Many writers don’t realize how expensive professional editing is. It’s a specialized trade that takes time, industry knowledge, market awareness, and a lot of training. An average-length novel can cost anywhere from $1,500 - $3,000 USD for one type of edit. Developmental editing runs the most expensive, followed by line, followed by copy. For some real numbers, check out the Editorial Freelancers Association’s chart on average editorial rates (and a handy estimator tool). And if you find someone offering to edit your book for a hundred dollars, run; they aren’t legit.
Unless you plan to put up a few hundred bucks and several hours to learn how to copyedit (which you can, and might consider if you plan to self-publish several books), you should almost always plan for at least a copyedit. To really be marketable, I’d strongly recommend also budgeting for either a developmental or line edit. This is by no means a one-size-fits-all strategy, but it ensures that both the content and the professional appearance of your book will be addressed in some fashion.
In short, the idea here is to identify a) the weakest points of your story so you can focus on shoring them up, and b) the points most important to your genre or style or whatever is most signature about the way readers will experience the book so you can make sure they're rock solid. And to get free input. Get all the free input.
Happy writing!
