What is an Editor?

As I’m trying to build up my client list for my freelance business Write Now I’m coming across a lot of confusion in regards to what editing is. At first it catches me off guard; what do you mean you don’t know what an editor is? But the more I think about it, the more I understand. So today I want to clear up some confusion.
The snarky answer is an editor edits. But the term “editor” is thrown around a lot and encompasses several different areas of editing. There’s audio editing. Sound editing (which is different from “audio editing”). Film editing. Journalistic editors.  But with story/book/manuscript editing, that’s a whole different animal.
In short, all of these types of editing have similarities. They all take an original work, fiction or non, and help make it better. They remove the parts the audience doesn’t need. They improve the flow of the story, or reword it (scene or text or track list), and they make the project as a whole stronger. And just like with film or music or sound or even news articles an editor take an author’s story and makes it better.
This always puts the first-time writers into a weird situation. They either think that an editor isn’t necessary because, hey, I’m such a good writer and this book is going to be amazing! I don’t need anyone to edit for me! Or they think that they don’t need to do any editing at all, and that it’s 100% the editor’s job to do so.
First off, you do need to put your work through at least two rounds of your own editing. This does two things: finds the “dumb” mistakes (missing words, missing periods, misspellings, etc.) and allows you to see what mistakes you as a writer consistently make which helps you be more aware of them in the future.
A lot of new writers feel that writers write and editors edit. Shipping off an unedited copy of your work to an editor is going to do two things: enrage them and have them charge you more for the additional amount of work they need to do. The expectation of a good editor is that you’ve already, at minimum, proofread your piece. If they are handed a project that is nigh unreadable they are going to drop you.
So what specifically does an editor do? That’s really up to what you need and their skills. There’s three sort of “main” types of editing, although different kinds exist as well. There’s developmental editing, where the editor advises on how the story/book should be changed, often with rewrites. Line editing, which is what most people think of with editing, which is proofreading and fixing grammar, mechanical, and spelling errors. And finally copyediting reviews the project for incorrect information, consistency with word choice and hyphens, etc., and also makes sure that your characters and story are consistent chapter to chapter (did the main character have red hair in chapter 4 but now in chapter 10 has blonde hair that we never saw her dye?).
Editing is a huge undertaking and is often intimidating for the writer. You’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears (so many tears) into your story and now you’re shipping it off to an editor like it’s summer camp. That’s why when choosing an editor you need to make sure that they respect you as a writer and that they will treat your project as if it were their own.
As a writer myself I understand how important your story is to you. And when I edit, I edit as if it were my own writing. I take your story seriously and make sure it becomes as strong as possible. I am currently accepting submissions for editing stories and manuscripts. For more information please visit my site Write Now. I offer prompt quality service you can trust!