So You’re Thinking of Hiring an Outside Editor…
Think before you Venmo
As one of my side hustles, I have a business called “The Query Doula” where I help writers prepare their manuscript openings and query letters for the agent query process. Most of the writers I’ve worked with come to me after having paid big bucks to an outside editor to consult on their full manuscript. And yet, when I start reading their material, I see glaring issues that will turn literary agents off. So what gives? Are these writers hiring the wrong editors? Is the “outside editor” a cottage industry taking baby writers for a ride?
Let me be clear. There are excellent freelance editors out there doing a kick-ass job who take excellent care of their client writers. But lots of writers don’t find them. The majority of people I’ve worked with end up hiring a freelance editor who was recommended to them by a friend of a friend of a colleague who published in The Academic Review of Centipedes that one time. Just because someone calls themselves a freelance editor does not mean they should be yours. By the same token, just because someone recommends an editor to you doesn’t mean that you should blindly hire them. Some things to keep in mind when you’re considering handing over your manuscript baby to an outside human:
