May 28, 2019 by Sarra Cannon
Welcome back to my blog, where we are discussing the ins and outs of how to edit your novel. Today is Part 2 of a 6-part series on editing your novel, and our topic for this post is the different types of editors for your novel.
We’ll also be discussing how much (on average) these different types of editors will cost, tips for how to hire an editor, and where to find good editors.
Over the next week or two, these are the editing topics we will be discussing:
Part 1: Self-Edits
Part 2: Types of Professional Edits (And Associated Costs)
Part 3: Beta Readers
Part 4: My Recommended Books On Editing
Part 5: How To Know When Your Edits Are Complete
Part 6: How I Organize My Edits
I have created a free 12-page editing guide to go along with this series. Download it now to use as you follow along.
In today’s video, we’ll discuss the three main types of editors you may use as you prepare your novel for publication.
Developmental Editors, Line Editors / Copy Editors, and Proofreaders.
Watch today’s video to find out what each type of edit entails and about how much each edit will cost.
I realized as I was editing today’s video that there are some major issues I failed to address. Namely, that you really don’t want to go spending thousands of dollars on editors in the very beginning of a self-publishing career.
The more you have to invest up front on each individual book, the longer it will take you to recover your investment, and in fact, spending a lot of money upfront might prohibit you from continuing to publish in the future.
So, what do you do? Is there a way to self-publish on a budget?
The short answer is yes. However, since I didn’t plan this topic into my video series on editing, I don’t have time to go into it extensively in today’s video or blog.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to self-publish a quality book on a tight budget, please take a moment to leave a comment below. If there is enough interest, I will plan a future series in the coming weeks or months where we can go deeper into ways to save money and still produce a quality book.
Thanks so much for watching, and I’ll see you the next video, where we’ll discuss Beta Readers for your novel.
Part 1: Self-Edits
Part 2: Types of Professional Edits (And Associated Costs)
Part 3: Beta Readers
Part 4: My Recommended Books On Editing
Part 5: How To Know When Your Edits Are Complete
Part 6: How I Organize My Edits
I have been self-publishing my books since 2010, and in that time, I've sold well over half a million copies of my books. I'm not a superstar or a huge bestseller, but I have built an amazing career that brings me great joy. Here at Heart Breathings, I hope to help you find that same level of success. Let's do this.
Sarra,
I hope you are having a productive move. How you are balancing it all just boggles my mind. Seriously. I know I couldn’t put out a video series when I was packing…so just let me say up front, you are amazing. Second. Yes, I would love to have a video about how to publish on a budget. I am trying to do that now. And, this editing series is timely…I’m doing my final edits on my first and second book, and hopefully a magnet for my newsletter…or soon to be newsletter. It’s also good for my blog…up and coming blog that is.. thank you for doing this. Have a wonderful day.
Thank you for your sweet words, Tricia! I have my good days and bad days, I’ll tell you that! Today was a really tired day. Just hit my third trimester, so I think more “tired” days are ahead for me. Just taking it one step at a time! Congrats on getting so far on your first books! So exciting!
An emphatic YES on the publishing-on-a-budget videos! I’ve self-published four books (pretty much on zero budget) but have since de-listed them all in a fit of existential despair over having NOT spent thousands (that i can’t justify) on all of the things you’re Supposed To Do (if you’re going to publish Properly)…and have thus stalled in my writing career because it’s become a vicious circle of Why Bother If I Can’t Do It Properly and But I Love To Write. 🙂
Happily, thanks to a lot of inner work and, recently, YOU and your amazingly generous and inspiring videos, I’m back on track, determined to do it my way, on my terms. But I think that there are probably a LOT of people like me out there who are put off from pursuing a writing career for just those reasons of being daunted by the enormous cost of it all.
Thank you, so very much, for all that you do! xo
Thank you Melanie! I completely understand the concerns. It feels like such a catch-22! Hopefully I can create a video or series that will really help!
Also BIG YES for Great Book on a Tight budget series, please!