Online Community for Authors

If your goal is to get published or to build a business around your book by self-publishing, hiring a professional editor is a critical step. Here's the Fast & Furious way to get your editing done.

First of all, you want to keep friendships and emotion out of the process because the last thing you want is your editor being "nice" to you. You want an editor to be brutal and honest. Remember, you are paying the editor to help you sell books. You are better off having your editor tell you what's wrong with your book than the category manager at Barnes & Noble or an agent or a publisher.

A good way to select the right editor is to send the first chapter of your book to three editors and have them provide you a sample of their work and a bid to do your entire manuscript. If you don't like any of the first three, send your chapter to another three editors. Don't settle for mediocrity. The editing cost of your book will most likely exceed the printing cost so be selective.

Finding editors to work with is easier than you might think. You can find some choices in our Partners section right here at Authors On The Net or you might want to visit the sites below:

• First Editing
• Double Check
• The EFA
• Biz Reef
• ELance
• Editors.ca

Another good resource is our author forums. Lilllie Ammann, a member from the beginning, has a great thread on editing. You can also visit Lillie's blog where she discusses editing by clicking here: Lillie Ammann