Camy Tang has an excellent post on her blog (storysensei.blogspot) about *when* to hire a freelance editor.

I seem to have hit a nerve. I am not saying that editing is not a good thing. Every author must decide for himself or herself if the benefits of pre-submittal editing outweigh the costs. In general, the earlier editing takes place in the publishing process the more cost prohibitive it is.

While money is not our only consideration, it is a very important consideration. If money were not a consideration, I would print 6.6 billion copies of each of my book and ship it to every household around the world. There are many benefits of doing that too, but that doesn’t mean it is going to happen.

If we keep it real, most authors can expect to succeed only if they produce the best manuscript they can and let the publisher pay for editing.

Thanks for taking the time. 🙂

You are correct that great manuscripts from great writers will always rise to the top of the consideration pile. What if your writing is almost there – but not quite? A talented editor’s touch could bump it into contention.

You still might get the rejection letter (as will some of those great writers who didn’t use a freelancer). If so, was the money a complete waste? The answer depends on the writer. Did you learn something from the editor’s notes and edits? Did you discover things about your writing that can help you make the next manuscript better? If so, no matter the outcome, it was money well spent.

A couple other thoughts:

*A publisher isn’t going to sign a contract for a book that they don’t think will sell enough to earn out the advance. They certainly don’t look at a book written by someone who used the services of a freelancer and say, “well, this author needed help, so let’s just let the book die.” If they thought that, they wouldn’t sign you in the first place.

*If you’ve written a book that the reader loves, he or she won’t know or care if you wrote every word yourself or required heavy in-house editing…or had the help of a skilled editor even before you submitted it for consideration. They simply want to enjoy your book.

As for ADVICE, you’d probably tell them to double check their spelling on anything they put out there for others to read!

That’s what I get for trying to read AND comment during a short break while at my day job!

This is good advice for everyone… when you come across something like this that makes you question someone’s validity, don’t make assumptions either way. Do some research. A quick Google of Renni’s name would have told you all you needed to know!

Thanks for the helpful information. 🙂

If someone was interested in becoming a freelance copy editor or proofreader, what advise would you give them? Do publishers look at resumes? Or are most freelancers hired out of relationship with in-house editors?

Then said I needed some editing, and offered to do it for between $800 and $1200. I choked back the shock and assumed it was a fraudulent offer she probably gave all the writers there.

Later though a couple of other writers I told this to looked at me in surprise and said they had not been told anything like that when she reviewed their fiction, rather than offer to copy edit their work, she told go home and work on it some more. They were both published non-fiction writers as well.

So my question is, are companies like this legit? And does having such work done before submissions enhance the chance of getting picked up by a publisher / agent?