You know using an editor will give your manuscript that professional edge, that polish that sets it apart from the heap of shonky DIY books festering in the Amazon swamp. But how can you justify the expense? That sort of lolly would pay for a trip to the Gold Coast or a whole month���s groceries, right?

Not necessarily. It doesn���t have to cost the earth. Here���s how you can employ a professional editor without clearing out your savings account. (Note the key word there ��� professional editor, i.e. not your English teacher friend who���s the boss at grammar, or a fellow author. That may be incredibly cheap ��� free, even ��� but it won���t get you out of the swamp.)

For this to work, you need to employ an editor who charges by the hour, not by the word or page. That���s because a ���light edit��� can take only half as long as a ���heavy edit���. (I allow 30 mins per 1,000 words for a light edit, and 1 hour per 1,000 words for a heavy edit. Most of my clients fall somewhere in between.)

So how do you get your manuscript to the stage where it will need only a light edit?

1. Take a creative writing course, even if you���ve already written your book. In my experience, new authors make the same mistakes, every time: repetition, wordiness, changing point of view, wrongly punctuated dialogue, too much backstory, no immediate hook, etc. These are things you need to learn about, they don���t come naturally, even if you have bucketloads of talent. And grappling with these issues really bumps up the editor���s hours. If your manuscript includes none of the above, it���ll be knocked into shape in no time, and you will have money left for a show-stopping cover.

2. Do without ���development��� editing and go straight to copy editing. BUT! If you do, you���ll need some top-notch feedback instead. Some ideas:

��� Join a writing group ��� local (recommended, often includes cake) or online. Or use beta readers ��� people (usually other authors) who will give feedback on an early draft. If you join a writing group, make sure there are one or two experienced, published (preferably) writers ready and willing to give you honest feedback on your manuscript. Learn to distinguish between those who genuinely want to help you, and the smartypants show-offs who think it���s clever to point out every mistake. The latter can make newbie authors want to curl up and die, but kind, generous authors who think you have potential will be invaluable.

��� Ask friends and family for feedback. As you can imagine, this can be fraught. Choose carefully, and choose only people who love to read your genre. If you know they���ll find being honest a challenge, try giving them a list of questions ��� this might make it easier for them. For example: ���On a scale of 1-10 (1 being ���zzzzz���, 10 being ���still reading at 2am���) how did you find the pace of the book?���

��� If you���re a children���s author, ask your local school���s librarian if you can put a print-out of your manuscript in the school library with a feedback form for students to fill in.

3 Give your manuscript a rest ��� at least a month sitting quietly on your computer, unopened. Or even
better, print it off and put it away in a drawer for a while. (It���s amazing the things you notice once the
words appear on actual paper.) Best of all, leave it while you go away on holiday ��� there���s nothing like
time away to give you fresh perspective. When you come back to it again after several weeks, you���ll
be astonished at the things you notice. It could be whole swathes of superfluous description; a plot
hole the size of that crater in Arizona, or a character whose mannerisms drive you potty. Rewrite to
get rid.

4 Finally, do a really close edit. A few things to watch out for:

��� Is your dialogue punctuated correctly? It���s not difficult to check ��� grab the nearest novel to hand.
Ooh, that���s where you put the comma!

��� Have you been consistent, e.g. if you use the word ���okay��� a lot, have you always spelt it that way, or
are there Oks and OKs?

��� Take a scalpel to words that you don���t need. A test ��� which word don���t I need in the last
sentence? Yep ��� ���that���.

��� Are you repeating yourself? Have you used the same adjective twice in two sentences? Is a phrase
overused? (I recently had 46 instances of raised eyebrows in one, otherwise excellent manuscript.)

And now you have your sixth (seventh, tenth, fifteenth) draft and if you look back at your first draft you will blush. But I get so many of those first drafts for editing, and it can take me up to 70, 80, 90 hours to get them to publishable standard. The author pays a sizeable fee, which he or she is unlikely ever to recoup in sales. (By the way, I���m not unscrupulous ��� no, really! I do gently suggest most of these writers use an assessor, or do some self-editing before resubmitting, but some just want the manuscript off their desk and onto mine, especially if it���s non-fiction and they aren���t claiming to be a great writer.)

So here���s a brief recap on how to keep your editing costs down, plus a couple more tips:

1. Learn the craft of writing so you don���t make basic mistakes.

2. Give your manuscript time. Edit, re-edit, let it sit a while, edit again, before showing it to anyone.

3. Then get feedback from people who know what they���re doing ��� preferably a manuscript assessor, or join a critique group or use beta readers.

4. Learn how to edit your own work. Is your word count suitable for your target audience? In novels, watch out for repetition, head-hopping, timeline problems, plot holes. Check your dialogue is correctly punctuated. Are you using UK style, or US? Make sure this is consistent.

5. Look for an editor who charges by the hour, and ask for a sample edit. This will give both of you an idea of whether a light or heavy edit is needed. Make sure that if the editor goes over the estimated number of hours, you won���t be charged for those hours (i.e. the fee is capped).

6. Also, plan ahead. The best editors get booked up months in advance, and if you are happy to wait then they may offer you a ���thanks for waiting��� discount (I do!).

7. One more tip: join an organisation that gets you discounts on publishing services. In NZ, many editors offer discounted rates to members of the New Zealand Society of Authors (see link below).

Lists of recommended editors

Tip: when researching editors, look for those who have worked for publishing houses, preferably in-house, and then become freelance, rather than going straight from a publishing course to self-employed. And be wary of publishing and printing services that include editing ��� if you use one, check the editors��� (and designers���) professional credentials.

New Zealand: NZSA list of assessors and editors: http://authors.org.nz/list-of-assessors-and-editors/

International: Joanna Penn���s list of recommended editors (and some useful articles on editing): http://www.thecreativepenn.com/editors/

The best book editors and how to select them on Kindlepreneur: https://kindlepreneur.com/book-editors/