What Does A Book Editor Do?

Crafting a book requires a lot of time and energy. But before your story ever sees the light of day, you will need some outside help to refine and polish your work.

The majority of novice writers believe they are done writing once they have finished the first draft of their work.

Unluckily, this is not so. To truth be told, the great idea is not to begin writing till you have worked it over, what you will need to write.

These are key themes/ structure of the content chapters and as well as main elements of every chapter.

When you finish it, then you can begin writing your first draft. And remember, there will be a lot of drafts before you are finished.

At this point work of a book editor starts, they polish your story and make it accessible and readable for the readers.

Also, the bestselling and prolific authors work with a professional book editor to create their story better.

In this guide, we talk about what is the role of a book editor in detail. And discusses different types of book editors.

What is a Book Editor?

Now you must be thinking about what is a book editor and what they do. The job of an editor is to assist you in enhancing your book and create a high-quality completed result.

However, various types of book editors focus on various sections of the book.

There are three primary kinds of editors: developmental editors, copy editors, and proofreaders.

We'll go into additional depth about each of the three categories below.

1. Development Book Editor

A development book mostly focuses on the story on a larger scale. They focus on critique, structure, plot, and global style issues.

Further, they work on the wider aspect of the books rather than specific details. These types of editors mostly look at the bigger problems instead of fixing the language sentence by one.

2. Copy Editor

While this kind of book editor edits the text at the next level. These book editing services mostly focus on ensuring sound logical, grammatical precision and style consistency.

Moreover, their jobs are not to focus on the plot holes or confusing character motivations.

As they do not handle these kinds of issues.

3. Proofreader

A good proofreader analyses the manuscript on a purely powered level. These proofreaders ensure that the words are spelt right, the formatting is consistent, and the punctuation is used properly.

Likewise, proofreaders do not provide any creative feedback; their job is only to correct errors.

How to Select a Good Book Editor?

Finding and selecting a good book editor for your book, especially if your first book, it will take a lot of time.

To find professional book editors, always find one who has experience in your genre, request referrals and examine their specialty, such as development and copy so on.

Also, every time ask them to give you samples of at least 10 pages to 15 pages to examine their skills.

Finally, check out what software they use and their social media presence.

Steps to Seeking a Good Book Editor

• Look for an experienced Editor-Once searching for a book editor, one of the key things you need to examine is their experience. Request their examples of work; a lot of experienced editors have worked for traditional publisher houses. So, you need to figure out how many years of expertise they have working for a traditional house. Review their work, and after that, obtain references. If they have a best seller name under their name is a great sign.
• Do they specialise in your genre? Now, find a book editor who has experience in your genre. If you are writing a mystery book, then you do not want to find an editor whose expertise is in self-help books. While a fiction editor is a better choice compared to a non-fiction editor if your story is based on fiction. Once you hire an editor, you can also ask a question in detail about what do book editors do.
• Do they offer a sample edit? Not all editors provide sample edits, and some will charge for them, which is clear given the time it takes out of their working day. A sample edit is simply another tool in your arsenal. Do you appreciate what they did with your extract? Are you pleased with how they are communicating? Do their explanations make sense?
• What software are they using? Some authors utilise specialised software applications to create their manuscripts, such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Though many individuals are familiar with numerous applications, be sure that the book editor can use the same one as you, so you can follow the changes they make.
• Do they have the social media presence- Finally, you need to ask a book editor before hiring, examine their social media presence, such as LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. You need to ask yourself these questions. Is your possible editor working on any social media platforms? Do you enjoy their posts? Do they have a face? Is there a voice? Are they an actual person? A professional editor will never share an author's work; therefore, if your editor appears to be posting bits for review, you should avoid them.

What is the Cost of Hiring a Book Editor?

An editor's salary mostly depends on a lot of factors, such as their experience, the size of the firm, and the kind of book they publish. And as well as geographic location. Always read the book editor job description carefully before hiring.

Here are the salaries of different kinds of book editors.

• Developmental editors can cost between $1,000 and $8,000.
• Copy editors charge between $300 and $1,200.
• Proofreaders usually cost between $200 and $1,000.