My Experience to Help You Find the Right Editor

With Getting By, I knew a crucial step I would have to fulfill before publishing a book: Editing my manuscript. Even though I had finished it a bit before, it was in December 2019 that I began searching for a book editor because it was the right time to hire one financially. But I didn’t know where to start, which meant research. It was a YouTube video where I learned about and was directed to visit the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), a national professional organization of editorial freelancers. Finally, my editing process could begin in earnest. Here is my experience with finding an editor for my young adult fiction using the site.

Finding & Hiring A Book Editor for your Young Adult Fiction

Using the EFA’s directory, I could find potential freelance editors to hire from their extensive list. Since I would be publishing a book that was a young adult fiction story, I specifically searched for editors who edited books for that genre. Then I compiled a list of editors I would consider hiring after completing thorough background research for each of them.

If you plan to go this route, consider what I researched. For each editor, I reviewed the types of editing they performed and what books they edited, and I also reviewed their resumes, websites, testimonials, and years of experience.

Thankfully, you can get much of this information from the EFA website, saving you time from web searching each person individually. Using my best judgment, I reached out to an editor that stuck out to me and eventually received a response by early January 2020.

We connected over the phone, and I asked further questions to learn more about the editor and the editing process for publishing a book before deciding to hire them (which I eventually did.)

The Editing Process: A Waiting Game

I had to wait about three weeks for my editor to review my manuscript. By late January, they had performed a developmental edit on my story. With that complete, I spent an entire month making revisions that would strengthen my novel, using my editor’s constructive feedback as guidance.

I sent the newly completed version their way, and, finally, my editor could perform a copy edit and then proofread my manuscript. From start to finish, upon hiring my editor, the entire editing process for my manuscript took about ten weeks.

Once my editor had finished proofreading my story in April, I was ready to begin the next phase of publishing a book (though little did I know I’d need to undergo another round of editing with my indie publisher!)

Overall, I was satisfied with my editor’s work. From the EFA website to working with an editor, the editing process for my manuscript went quite smoothly and efficiently. My biggest takeaway is that I recommend ensuring you’ll be able to work well with the person.

You’ll want to develop clear expectations for communication so that you understand their notes and can work as efficiently as possible together. Then you have the best shot of putting your best work forward for publishing a book. If you have thoughts or questions on the editing process, please reach out to me at jsims@jairesims.com and connect on social media.