For an author, the decision to hire an editor to help make your book shine is a significant (and worthwhile) investment. And, as with any investment, savvy authors are looking to maximize their returns. One of the best ways to do that is with a little advance preparation. Before you reach out to an editor, here are four things to do to be sure your manuscript is in great shape—whether it’s a finished or partial draft—and your relationship with your editor is as fruitful as possible.
1. Determine Your Goals
What, specifically, are you hoping your editor will be able to help you with? Is your antagonist falling flat? Do you feel like the middle is sagging? Are you struggling with cause and effect? Or is a good grammar and punctuation polish all you need?
When you share your clear objectives with your editor from the very beginning, two good things happen. First, she can work with you to set up an editorial package that truly suits your needs. That way, you’re not paying for services you don’t want, and you’re not surprised at the end of the engagement to learn that services you did want were out of scope. Second, the editor can be sure her feedback addresses your most pressing questions. (A good editor won’t limit herself to those questions — she’ll also address other issues that arise — but she will take care to address your priorities first.)
2. Self-Edit
Yes, editing your book is your editor’s job, but the stronger the manuscript is, the deeper she’ll be able to go. So, before you ship your work off to the pro, fix whatever you know how to fix on your own. Is the draft littered with the kind of typos and mechanical errors that come from typing faster than you can think or thinking faster than you can type? Correct them so your editor will be able to see past them to your actual story. Is there a plot hole you’ve been meaning to fix? Fix it so your editor can focus on issues you haven’t seen or don’t know how to resolve on your own.
This exercise may also help with step one, as self-editing will help you see the weak points in your work and figure out what you need help with.
It may feel like cleaning the house before the cleaners come, but if you take the time to fix the easy and obvious issues, then you’ll free up your editor’s capacity to help you unlock the hard ones.
(By the way, it’s also a good idea to engage a few beta readers before you hire an editor.)
3. Clean Up Your Formatting
Please don’t send a manuscript that looks like this!
You may feel inspired by a kitschy font, a niche writing software, or funky colors, and that’s great. By all means, use them while you write. But all those quirks are likely distracting for your editor. Feel free to ask about her formatting preferences before you send your document over, but here are the defaults to fall back on unless your editor tells you otherwise:
File type: .doc or .docx. Your editor will most likely be working in Microsoft Word, so send her a Word file or one that can be converted easily. (And while you’re at it, please familiarize yourself with Track Changes!)
Font: Size 12, in something basic like Times New Roman or Georgia or Garamond. They may not be flashy, but they’re easy to read!
Margins: Normal. 1 inch or 1.5
Spacing: Double spaced is ideal, with either extra breaks between paragraphs or indented first lines, but not both. Use tabs, not spaces, to indent lines, and use the center button, not tabs or spaces, to center any text that needs to be centered. Use page breaks to start new chapters on their own pages, and for section breaks, rather than adding extra lines, which may look accidental, use a clear signifier like ***.
In short, keep your formatting as clean and simple as possible. Basic is great here, because it means the editor can focus on the writing itself, rather than trying to wrangle complex packaging.
4. Create a Style Guide
Most editors write and edit to either The Chicago Manual of Style or the Associated Press Stylebook. (I use Chicago unless a client has a very strong preference for AP.) But if you' feel strongly about nonstandard spellings (like the British “favourite” instead of the American “favorite”) or styles, let your editor know so she doesn’t unwittingly correct something you’ve done intentionally.
Your style sheet can also include the correct spellings of unusual character names and any details (like ages, eye color, etc.) that you want to be sure are consistent throughout the book.
It takes a little effort and time to prepare your manuscript for your editor, but the better shape it’s in at the beginning, the more she’ll be able to dig deep and tackle the issues that you really need help with at the macro and micro levels. That way, you maximize your ROI and come out of the engagement with powerful feedback and a much stronger manuscript. If you need a little more guidance on getting your manuscript ready to go, you can download my free checklist here!