Writing and Publishing: Finding an Editor Part 1

MY STORY

Well, I got my first super awesome review. It was posted on Amazon Canada for my book “The Recruit” in which is states is one of the best books in the genre (vampires) this reviewer has ever read. Since he is a top 500 Amazon reviewer I am just speechless, surprised and happy!

I still can’t believe my work is actually something people want to read (even if it’s just that person… well, it does have a few more reviews on Amazon. Three 5 star in Amazon and another 4 star in Amazon Canada… plus, a few reviews on Goodreads.

One of the things this awesome reviewer points out is how DESPERATELY I need an editor.

And its true. I agree. I know this. I am ashamed that my beautiful story that has taken me so long to polish enough to publish need an editor… and it needs it bad.

Now, the reason why I haven’t hired an editor is because they are EXPENSIVE. When I published, I had to stop working when my husband changed jobs. Then, I was able to go back to work, but when I published The Recruit, we were on a budget. Since the cheapest I could find an editor was about $800, I decided to do my best by trying to find errors by reading the book several times myself.

A few friends tried to do it, but it’s hard work and they just let me know that, as much as it hurt to let me down, it wasn’t for them.

So, I published in February 2017 as best as I could.

GRAMMARLY


The Recruit did have another revision in 2018. When prepping part two (Werewolf Phenomenon) for publishing, I discovered Grammarly. Grammarly helped me find a bunch on error on Werewolf Phenomenon and when I was done, I tried it on The Recruit.

It was scary how many errors it found. SCARY.

After combing it with Grammarly, I published the improved edition. Except… I know this still isn’t enough. I know I need an editor. Unfortunately, they are still as expensive.

So, my plan was to try out a few editors to see how they worked and what they could do for me. I decided to start with my short stories.

EDITORS
My book A Few Drops of Fantasy (which is my collection of dark fantasy stories) seemed like the best way to start on what I should have done ages ago. I wasn’t as smart then, I suppose… Oh, and I didn’t have a budget. My budget now is a little bigger. Not GREAT, but bigger.

I am a teacher and I once created a TeachersPayTeachers shop a while back (2012). The store brings a few income every year. Before, when I stopped working, this income went to our joint account to pay bills, now that I’m working again, my account has become my spending author account.

For now, I am focusing on a good proofread only. Not a developmental edit. I don’t think my pockets or my soul are ready for that.

This is how I began looking for an editor.

AN AVID READER
An Avid Reader is an editor I found through the Facebook group 20to50K. This is a great book I will need to write a blog post about. For now, I will say it’s the greatest fountain of resources and motivation I have found about being a self-published author. It is through this group that I found several editors.

My favorite, who I will talk once I can afford her, is way to expensive for my budget right now. But, perhaps one day I will be able to pay for her wonderful services (like, for The Recruit. Wouldn’t that be awesome!)

Instead, I tried two. The first one I would like to talk about is “An Avid Reader”. You can find her website here. If you look at her website you can see her pricing and how she explains her favorite genre is fantasy. I had just the short story for her to work on: Why Can’t I Be Here?

I have gotten my proofread file today and have taken a look at it.

First of all, I am glad to say my errors are mostly commas, periods and quotes.

Second of all, I love that she makes comments on why she is suggesting these changes.

I would most definitely use her again. Although, Why Can’t I Be Here? is my most fantasy oriented of my short stories. The lightest of the dark fantasy stories in the collection.

Now that I have my professionally edited version, I am ready for my August 31st release date. All I need now is a cover!

cheers!