“I don’t need an editor because I do my own editing.”
I often hear this comment from first time authors. It’s the voice of inexperience or an over inflated ego. Sometimes both. It also has a familiar ring to it, as I resemble this remark myself.
My very first book was a historic cookbook titled, Anna’s Kitchen. At the time I wrote it I too thought I didn’t need an editor. In fact, I was such a smart aleck that I thought I knew everything. Never mind the fact that I had never written a book in my entire life. As far as I was concerned, the spell checker in my word processing software was all I needed. So how did I do? Well, you may want to refer to my post titled, Just Add Two Tablespoons of Fate. Sure, I can laugh about it now, but it’s a splendid example of why all authors, especially new authors, must have an editor.
Why every author needs an editor
An editor is a fresh pair of eyes to go over your manuscript. They give it the added polish it needs to turn it into a great book. They’re not as much concerned about the content of your work as they are the structure. They look for things such as misspelled words, typos, and comma spliced sentences. They also look for dangling participles, incorrect homonyms, redundancy, and the dreaded passive voice. If you write fiction, they’ll look for inconsistencies in your story and character arcs. In other words, they fix all the gaffes that you, as a writer, may have overlooked. The reason why you’re not seeing them is because you’re too involved with your own work to see it objectively. This is normal. As human beings, we can’t be objective about ourselves. This is why it’s difficult for us to see our mistakes. It’s the same reason why doctors don’t treat themselves or members of their own families.
Some of you reading this may still be skeptical, or you may even think your writing skills are so superior that you simply don’t need an editor. If this is the case, then you’ll soon find out for yourselves that writing is a very humbling experience. There is nothing quite like having your readers point out all your errors for you, and then posting them in an Amazon review for the entire world to see. Once that happens, your credibility as an author is pretty much done, and you can kiss your writing career goodbye.
What do Danielle Steel, James Patterson, Mary Higgins Clark, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and Dean Koontz all have in common? They all have editors. So if these famous authors all have editors, then what makes you think that you don’t need one? Just asking.
Gayle Martin
Please be sure to check out part two of this three part series, Think You Don’t Need an Editor Part Two.