Broken Record

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m going to say this one more time. And I’m going to say it because not enough of you are listening, whenever I say it. You’re still looking at me with those blank stares, like you don’t understand why I would ask this of you, when you already know that your work is amazing. That’s why I’m telling you again.

Get an Editor

See? Broken record. I just keep repeating myself. But I’m repeating because it’s an important fact, which some of you seem to be neglecting. And in a month of dos and don'ts, this is one I really want you to take to heart.

And here’s what you’re not seeing, whenever I tell you this:

I believe you, when you say that your work is awesome.

I believe you, when you say you don’t think you need an editor.

I believe you, when you say you think an editor would spoil your plans for this work.

I believe you, when you look me in the eye and tell me you think I’m wrong.

But I think you’re wrong, too. Because I’ve done it the other way, without an editor to my name. I’ve self-published a book, one that was copyedited by outsourced people in India who didn’t understand that sitting across from someone wasn’t the same as sitting across someone. I’ve cried my eyes out wondering how I was ever going to fix the mess that my so-called publisher had gotten me into.

And I’ve seen a lot of other good authors go through the same, when really, they didn’t need to.

I know it sounds daunting. It sounds like I’m asking you to go out and spend a ton of money on your work, when you don’t even know what the finished product will look like when it’s over. Some of you are afraid that it won’t look like your work anymore, that you won’t even recognize it.

But again, I think you’re wrong on that.

Not every good editor charges an arm and a leg. Not every publishing house will screw you over. There are good people out there, who only want to help authors. I happen to know several of them.

The thing is, your work literally (and I mean that in the literal sense of the word, not the figurative) cannot reach its full potential without editing.

Believe me when I say that you cannot catch every mistake that you make. And no, your editor won’t catch them all either, but you know what they will do? They’ll find those three plot holes you missed. They’ll fix that grammar error that you couldn’t figure out how to mend. They’ll make sure your characters stay in character. They’ll make your story what it wants to be, and what one person on their own could never make it be.

They’ll make it shine.

So, friends, listen to me. Please, listen to me. And understand what I’m saying, when I tell you that you need an editor.

[love]

{Rani Divine}