Why do you need an editor?
Whether you have written a business document, website text, marketing material, a non-fiction or fiction book, a short story or anything else that’s important to you, it’s vital to ensure that your writing is free of errors and easy to understand.
This is equally important to businesses and authors. Today’s world has an endless influx of new competitors for business, and the book market is equally flooded. Regardless of who you are and what you have written, if you want to stand out from the crowd, your text must be as perfect as possible.
An editor can assist you to perfect the writing on which you worked so hard. Below are just some ways how.
Take your writing to the next level
An editor can ensure that there are no typos, grammar, spelling, punctuation, tense or other errors in your writing, and will also help you to hone your language use and voice for better readability and understanding.
Be the lightning, not the lightning bug
An editor will ensure that you always use the correct word in the correct context, and that you use the best words that give the reader the exact visual and understanding that you desire.
Avoid typoglycaemia
Typoglycaemia is a fairly new term that refers to the ability to read jumbled text as long as the first and last letters of each word are in the correct place. I bet you can read the below text!
This means that (and especially because you know what you are trying to say when you write) it’s possible that you might miss typos (and other inconsistencies and plot holes) when self-editing your writing. Editors, however, have brains that are trained to see those errors jump out at them.
Even editors need an editor if they have written something! You can read more about typoglycaemia here.
Cut superfluous words and details
As they say, ‘less is more’. Never say something in more words than you have to, and never include words or information that add nothing of value to your writing. Superfluous words and info can interfere with your intended focus and with reader understanding, and have the potential to create a piece of writing that feels like nothing more than waffle if there is too much of it. An editor reading your work for the first time can rectify this.
Consistency
An editor can ensure that your use of tenses, voice and character point of view, etc. is consistent. Inconsistency can confuse readers or lose their interest. In the case of a fiction novel, this can be particularly confusing and jolt the reader right out of your story and back into the real world.
New insights on your work
Whether you have written a book, a business document or anything else, it’s helpful to have a fresh set of eyes on your work to help you polish it. Just like with superfluous words and info, overall, you know what you are trying to say with your writing. An editor seeing your work for the first time can point out any inconsistencies, anything that doesn’t make sense, areas where more or less information is needed and so on.
Sharp eyes
Basically, when you hire a good editor, you hire sharp eyes to help you perfect your writing in countless ways!
Tip
Most editors will charge you based on the type of edit you need (a simple copy-edit is a lot faster than a developmental or deep edit). This also means that the more errors there are in your writing, the more you will pay. I’ve thus published the Editors’ Bible to help authors hone their writing and cut out a lot of what an editor would cut – thus making your edit cheaper. Although the book is primarily aimed at fiction authors, the tips inside are also useful for any other type of writing.
Learn about my services in more detail here.
Contact me for a quote.