As we venture into the new season of offering self-publishing editing services to people all over the world, with a mission to help those in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and Northern New Hampshire regions of the world, it has been brought our attention that people wonder what we do, how to hire us, and what benefits may come from having a book editor online in Vermont.
If anyone out there is searching for a book editor online, then you’ve come to the right place. Not only do we offer this service right here at Northeast Kingdom Press, but we are ready to share all of the details about what an editor is, why to hire one, and what the process may look like when you hire someone from our two-person team!
First, let me share that our main editor here is the co-creator of Northeast Kingdom Press, who does his own editing for a book publishing company that helped him launch his historical fiction series The Emperor’s American, and knows a thing or two about editing. He does a fantastic job editing our blog posts here and reviewing anything that our founder has to work on for ghostwriting services with bloggers and hopeful first-time authors.
What is an editor?
There may be some confusion about what an editor is. To better explain what an editor is, we must explain how our editor in chief helps authors:
- He fine-tunes the speech or note-taking style text into a legible book format.
- He can provide advice on whether a chapter is overkill in your book; for example, sometimes an entire chapter is redundant to your storyline, and he may advise deleting it.
- He can complete a final proof of a manuscript you’ve already hired an editor to review.
- He can find and replace all grammar issues, including typos, inaccurate references (as is the case with some historical fiction novels), and other pertinent details we often miss as writers.
The key to remember when working with an editor is that you have full control over the process. You are under no obligation to use all of what the editor advises. You always maintain creative control. Perhaps the editor thinks chapter five is unnecessary, but you are committed to having that within your book, well, keep it!
You pay us to provide a service, and how you handle the outcome of the service suggestions based on their professional guidelines is completely up to you. We won’t take offense. We are here to help guide you forward to develop a masterful book that maintains your voice and vision.
As you can see in our above examples, an editor may mean something different for each scenario. The problem is that there are multiple types of editors, just as there are multiple types of writers. I, Brandy, am a Ghostwriter for Bloggers and life stories, but I am also a freelance writer for blog websites and business websites. In each case, I will perform different levels of duties, but all include some level of freelance writing.
An editor may be someone who helps with the development of your story, proofreading, or copy editing. They may do everything for you, including the above bullet point list with notes on how to enhance the storyline. We offer three levels at this time of editing, which can be purchased right away. They included a basic level, a mid-level, and an advanced level. You can see all of book editor online in Vermont options on our services page, or contact us to request a free consultation to get a no-obligation service quote for your specific needs.
This difference between what an editor does may confuse first-time authors, which is why we try to explain it to you and work to take care of your needs. We can discuss your vision, your story, and more, to develop the perfect plan for your needs to get your book out to the world within a reasonable deadline.
In the interim, you may want to know what each type of editor is because you’ve searched online to find an editor, but you are now confused about what each of the terms might mean for that specific editing business. Here are some details to help those who are hiring an editor for the first time comprehend which term makes sense for their goals.
Developmental Editing
Max Perkins was the founder of development editing when he became the first editor on record to do more than just “fix some typos.” He founded many of the more well-known names in writing, like Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Developmental editing focuses on more of a collaboration between author and editor, as the editor will review the storyline, understand what the book is about, and help you morph the piece of writing into your full vision based on a flowing storyline, good grammar, and ability to remove some parts while editing other parts to your story when recommended to tell the story you wish to tell fully.
A developmental editor will help you understand what parts of the story should remain, while advising you on better word usage or flow of the chapters to ensure the story is being told from start to finish appropriately or more accurately based on your vision. Hiring a book editor in Vermont to do the developmental editing is a difficult process for writers, because you might feel as though the editor is chopping your story to pieces, but we promise that is not their mission, nor would they wish to destroy your work of art – they simply want it to be the best possible version based on what your audience would be drawn to, and take in from how you display the order of your book.
Substantive Editing
This is someone who will be hired to look at your final draft. They will proofread it and review it based on you having already done all the hard work of hiring an editor or two to review the manuscript. This option for editing is more like a final proofread of the manuscript after you feel that you’ve done all you can do to this piece of art.
Most of our clients hire us to do this after they’ve had 2-3 editors review the work and update their manuscript based on that feedback. They are now ready to have our editor-in-chief review what they feel is the final draft of the upcoming book release.
This editing option will focus on the whole picture from character to genre, theme, and point of view, as well as the structure of sentences, pacing, and depth of research on the topic (when applicable). Our editor tends to lean into this when he is reviewing manuscripts because he simply cannot help it! That said, it is a separate editing option for many editors online, so we want to make sure you comprehend what this step might include.
This process isn’t as extensive as the other options of editing; it is less collaborative and often is just you sharing your final manuscript with the editor. They will dive into the manuscript to read it and review it, which may take several weeks. During this time, you may not hear much from our editor, but we do try to communicate reasonable timelines, so you know we are doing our work during this stage of what feels like silence from our editor.
When the review is complete, you will receive a letter along with tips on how to improve your manuscript even further. Our editor also likes to give bonus kudos for parts of your manuscript he felt were rather impressive. We do feel at Northeast Kingdom Press that keeping a level of professionalism while encouraging your creative dreams is important, so we tend to give praise to help you see that edits may sound tedious, but they are never meant to discourage your beautiful work of art in the manuscript you’re developing to publish for the world.
Copy Editing
This is a form of editing where you will become aware of the habits you have in your manuscript writing. This could include the use of too many adverbs, hyphens, or other punctuation issues that many first-time authors struggle with.
A copy editor will focus on the finer points of your book. This includes word usage, accuracy of facts, repetition of words, and other grammar issues such as inconsistencies or spelling errors. Copy editing is going to proofread your copy for the basic editing that most first-time authors think of when they hire an editor.
This person will make edits and notes on how you can improve grammar, use new words to remove repetitive language, and help you fine-tune the manuscript so that it flows better. This type of editing is often done after someone has done a developmental edit, because a copy editor is the basic option for anyone who doesn’t want the storyline reviewed, and often comes at a lower cost.
This version of editing is just like an advanced spelling and grammar check from a human being who is trained in editing manuscripts. While we know there are many AI programs out there, including one of our favorites that does a basic check (Grammarly), there is something deeper and more reliable about hiring a copy editor to review your work from a human reader’s perspective.
Proofreading
Have you ever sent out an email or text message only to read it afterward and find typos? Well, that is when we typically do our best proofreading, but when it comes to becoming a self-published author, you must have an editor proofread that manuscript. This is a great option for those who want one final step before the book goes to publication.
They will read the manuscript and make sure that there aren’t any missed typos or basic grammar issues. This can often be done when you have the proof copy in your hand; they will make sure that the proof copy is indeed fixed with all of the issues noted in previous sessions of editorial review. A proofreader can make sure that your book doesn’t have chapter 2 starting halfway down a page, or that the paragraph breaks make sense and flow well for a future publication of your manuscript to the public.
Final Thoughts on What is an Editor
There are many other terms you might find online these days for editing, but the above options are your basic starting points to getting your manuscript polished and ready for the public to dive into. You can easily hire one editor to complete all of the above options, as we offer here at Northeast Kingdom Press, or hire an editor at the various stages of your book-writing process.
The key is to truly know what you are getting into and how you are going about the process to spend your money wisely. It is best that you don’t toss your cash out to every editor that pitches you. Reading this blog post about editors based on our perspective can help you be one step ahead of those first-time authors who didn’t take the time to learn the terminology before diving into hiring a book editor in Vermont.