13 Reasons Why You Should Get Your Book Edited

C. J. Cherryh once said “It is perfectly okay to write garbage — as long as you edit brilliantly.” Today, we’ve enlisted 13 reasons why you should get your book edited, either by yourself or consider hiring professional editor after completing your book.

Ridding your copy of grammatical errors

One of the major and understated jobs of a professional writer is to edit grammatical errors in the syntax, formation and structure of sentences. As a writer, you probably write passionately and in the heat of the moment, don’t look too closely at its grammar. But a professional editor will fish out all grammatical errors and prevent your reader from being put off by them.

The Editor can view your book objectively

Perhaps the most important reason you should get an editor for your novel is that he/she will provide a fresh and objective perspective to your story. You’ve written the novel, so you’re emotionally involved with it and can’t see it the way an editor can. Your editor is your first reader, and will view your book like a reader, and hence provide valuable feedback.

Editorial suggestions are helpful due to expertise

Editors have editor hundreds of books in their career – they have an eye for detail and an understanding of the book world. Hence their suggestions about what will work in the story and what won’t are quite valuable. They will cut out any unnecessary content that will bore your reader and ask you to capitalize on content that readers will love.

Improves readability of your book

Editing improves the readability of the book greatly. It rids the book of any errors that may slow down the reader or make him want to stop. This includes the plot, character development, flow and even specific scenes. Editors will introduce minor changes that can have a great impact on the readability and appeal of the book.

Editors can add a marketing perspective

Not a lot of writers have a marketing perspective – they write for its own sake without caring too much about how it can be marketed. Here is where the editor comes in. Authoring a book, is after all a business, and creativity has to be marketed for it to reach people. Editors will help you make the book more accessible to readers. Drawing on your target audience, an editor will suggest edits that cater to your specific audience, enabling your book to become a bestseller.

Editors give constructive criticism

Only writers know how hard it is to find someone who gives constructive criticism. Wellwishers sometimes don’t understand the art of writing, and those who do aren’t wellwishers. But an editor is someone who is getting paid to make your book as perfect as possible, and hence will provide valuable feedback. Editorial criticism can sometimes be harsh, but it is always necessary.

Copy edits enhance overall clarity of the book

Copy edits refer to broad edits after the substantive edits and line edits. There are checks for any mechanical errors such as use of jargons, incorrect punctuations, capitalization and spelling errors. Moreover, they try to bridge the gap between the author’s intent and reader’s understanding, making the book more clear and transparent.

Your readers will get an enhanced reading experience

When all edits are in place, your book will read more seamlessly, more dexterously. And this is what writers strive for, isn’t it? My enhancing the flow of the book, this will allow your readers to withdraw from reality and become enchanted with the universe you have created for them.

 Allows fact checking from a third person perspective

Writers can sometimes get carried away with their writing, but readers are critical. Even though your book may demand or even elicit a suspension of logic, it still needs to be rooted in reality. Even fantasy books need to coincide with the logical realities of life, and editors will prevent you from making informational mistakes.

 Professional editors are more experienced than alpha and beta readers

The reason editors have a job is that they do it well. They’re usually experiences, having read lots and lots of manuscripts. Hence, in addition to a reader and booklover’s perspective, they also bring to the table their experience and consequent expertise in the field. They’ve been in the business and so they know its nuances, they know what works and what doesn’t. Thus, it makes sense to hire them over alpha and beta readers.

 Editors can improve the flow of the book

While writing a book, it is hard to view it as a whole rather than a series of chunks. But the editor can look at it wholly, which means he/she can identify where the flow of the book is sluggish and where it is too fast. They can suggest you to delete the scenes which break the flow, such as flashbacks and to add scenes to prolong the suspense and build up stakes.

 Makes your book seem professional

As aforementioned, editors have a lot of expertise and so taking their advice will improve the quality of your book. The difference between a non published writer and a published author is the quality of editing. It’s important to note that not every book you see on the Crossword bookshelf began that way – it has probably been through a rigorous process of editing

 Makes your book more perfect than you could have imagined

Editing will take your book to a whole new level. It will make the plot more coherent and clear, flesh out your characters and make your themes more impactful. It’s worthwhile to invest in an editor for this exact reason – it will take you to heights that you couldn’t even have imagined.

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