Is Developmental Editing Really Worth It? | Advice From a 6-Figure Author Who Hired One

do you need to work with a developmental editor in order to land a literary agent and get a traditional book deal and why should you pay an editor if you get an editor for free after you get your book deal where do you find an editor how do you choose one how much do they cost when should you work with one these are questions I get all of the time so today I'm going to answer all of them and tell you more about my experience working with my editor and if we haven't met already hi I'm Lauren I'm a young adult author and Mom based in Brooklyn my debut young adult novel we ship it came out last June with Harper Collins and I absolutely love sharing advice and free Resources with writers to help you get your story out into the world so first before I go into anything I just want to say no one needs to work with an editor plenty of writers have become published authors without spending a penny on editing or anything else and it's a huge responsibility that I have making videos and giving advice to writers from all over the world with all different backgrounds and I never want anyone to feel like they are at a disservice if they can't afford to bring on an editor you absolutely do not need to work with one at the same time I think it's disservice to writers to not talk openly about money and when it can be helpful to bring on an editor if you can afford to work with one I feel like whenever we talk about money it's seen as a taboo but I think it's really important to put the information out there openly and honestly and for me I did bring in an editor because I was working in a completely different career path working on my startups and writing was new to me so I didn't have some fancy writing background I didn't spend like $660,000 on an MFA and I wanted to make this my career so I saw it as a really worthwhile investment just like investing in coding boot camp to become an engineer or getting an advanced degree to become a teacher this is a real career and job and I wanted to invest in my education to give myself the very best chance of making this a financial viability as a career path and at the end of the day it worked out I invested a few thousand dollar into working with two amazing editors over the course of a few years as a book coach helping me with outlining brainstorming developmental editing and then also some line edits and I ended up getting eight offers from literary agents and a six-figure two book deal so for me this really paid off and I also just think this helped me get that book deal a lot faster like could I have done this without working with an editor sure but it might have taken many more years and so in the end that would have cost me more money because that would have been a lot more years that I would spend writing and not making a penny off of my writing that being said an editor I always put this out there is no guarantee you're going to get a literary agent or a book deal an editor is an investment in your education they help you love up so if you are starting at a level four that editor can help you get to a level five but you need to be at a level 10 out of 10 in this really really competitive industry in order to even stand a shot with agents or at getting a traditional book deal so if you're out of four the editor probably isn't going to get you to that 10 anytime soon but it's a really great way to improve by working with a professional and just learning all the things that you don't know about yourself as a writer and also about your story so if you don't have the budget right now to work with an editor that is completely okay there are so many ways to grow and improve as a writer but you really want to make sure that you're getting feedback on your writing and learning and growing as a writer so check out the description below for my free toolkit on my favorite craft books that I think every fiction writer should read and also on ways to connect with critique partners that is a fantastic way to improve as a writer get feedback and get your story to the next Next Level all right so the big question why should you pay an editor if you're going to get an editor for free once you get a book deal so this comes down to understanding what developmental editors do versus what editors do once you have a book deal now this depends on what publisher you're with and if you're a lead title or not lead title but in general the kind of editing that you are getting once you have that book deal is proof reading and they're like going through word for word they're doing some line edits too but this is on a really technical basis they're generally not like completely rearranging your book or making any big edits they want your book 99% done like this is a great story it's commercial it's edited it's a competitive industry so they want a book like that could basically be on the shelves and they're going through and for my book it was like Celeste Pizza they were doing like very impressive super thorough like do we capitalize the c or is it lowercase um they had this whole list of every single term I used in the book and it was like Gilmore Girls Celeste Pizza I don't know it was it was a funny list but it was really really really nitpicky right those aren't the sorts of edits that you need to be doing on your own before you pitch you want the bigger picture edits you want to make sure you have a commercial story a really really great book to even stand a chance with agents and editors so first I want to talk about what editors actually do so there are many different types of editing there's line editing copy editing proof reading Dev velmental editing editorial assessments the list goes on so the developmental editor is coming in and doing more big picture edits um how's your plot structure are you hitting the right plot beats for the story and for your genre how's your character development do things make sense in the story are there any plot holes and how do we fix them do all the resolutions for the a story and the B story make sense are they satisfying for the reader is this a commercially viable book and if not what changes should we make make so bigger picture things like that that occasionally they'll help you with after you have that book deal but usually you need to resolve yourself either through working with an editor or through self-editing and working with critique Partners before you're going to get an agent or editor interested in your book so for me the main editor that I worked with Jennifer was awesome and there were so many things that she helped me with even just outside of those big picture edits so once I was done writing my first book and I'd gotten my agents I thought I was all done that's another video on that um and I sent Jennifer an email being like it's time for book number two and one of the very best things that Jennifer helped me with was sort of like helping me come back down to earth and she was like Lauren this isn't book two you haven't sold book one you got an agent but you haven't sold it and that was very helpful advice because I was sort of going in like I'm agented book two just will flow out and she was like no you have to really sit and think just as hard about book two maybe even harder than book one and so in just a few days she helped me brainstorm it she actually without even realizing it inspired me because we're both Broadway fans and she'd sent me uh something Broadway related was going on during the pandemic and I watched it and that led to me just sitting like all night listening to rent and then I just had the idea for we ship it and then she helped me flesh that out just through like a few emails and a phone call and that was the book that led to my sixf figure book deal so in addition to helping me with outlining and brainstorming what was probably the most helpful aspect of working with Jennifer was that she helped me to not give up so I have other videos on this but she just wrote me this letter that I hold so dearly that I have like printed out and I read all the time and I shared with tons of writers when I was at my lowest point I thought my writing was complete garbage I would never get an agent or a book deal and I told her I was giving up up and she emailed me back just the most amazing letter that that really helped me not give up and it was only a few months later that I ended up getting an agent and I would have quit like a few feet away from the finish line but I just didn't know where it was and it is really really difficult being a writer right like this is such a hard job and our writing is so sensitive and vulnerable and so partnering with the right editor can just be so life-changing you know they can help not just educate you but give you the confidence to keep going so I have shared that story a lot and one of the top questions I get from writers is where do you even find an editor and I actually didn't know what to tell writers so in my very early days on Tik Tok I was just giving everyone Jennifer's info and she's very kind but like most editors can only work with one or two maybe three or four writers a month uh so she was quickly booked up and I didn't know what to do so I did what I tend to which is I go overboard and I set up an entire agency of the most fantastic editors and people and I've started matching writers with editors over the last month it's been super super rewarding it's such a rockstar team of editors who have experience as editors at big five Publications published authors and just like really good people like that's what I screen for a lot of people might have the technical skills but you also really have to have the people skills to know how to handle such delicate work right A lot of times editors are the first people laying eyes on on a story that has lived in someone for years so I really really scream through a ton of people to find just the most amazing humans to join my team that said there are many ways to find editors outside of my agency so make sure to do your research and I also get asked all the time how much does it cost to work with an editor so that's sort of like asking how much does it cost to buy a home you know from a little to a lot I guess a home is is always a lot to even more a lot um when it comes to working with an editor they are generally reading through your whole book and writing an editorial letter and that takes many many hours and they are professionals so that comes out to let's say for a 60,000 word book ballpark minimum usually around $1,000 now there's always going to be outliers and sometimes like newer editors to the field uh who will do it for less but if you're thinking about working with a true professional who has edited tons and tons of books they come up with their quotes on a uh perw basis so it'll go up from there but 60,000 words I would say it would be hard to find an editor for under a thousand but also it depends on the level of edit you getting so an editorial assessment is generally one read through and then an editorial report that the editor writes up after so that is going to be less of an investment than a full developmental edit usually the editor is reading your book at least twice and also also writing some inline comments as they read in addition to their report okay so next readers ask me how do I decide which Editor to work with and to hand my work over to so I always recommend looking at at least a few different options definitely getting on a call with the editor and talking with them this is a really important relationship so go with your gut and see how you feel after one or two conversations and then also look at what books they've edited in the past you know definitely try to work with an edor who has real experience with your genre and understands the tropes or the plot points that you need to hit um someone could be a top editor let's say with romance they might not be the right editor let's say if you're working on a memoir all right next writers ask when should they bring in an editor like right when they're starting or when they've taken the book as far as they've gotten and the answer is an editor can be helpful at any time if you have a smaller budget I always say you're going to get the most out of bringing in editor when you've taken your book as far as you can get it so work with critique Partners work with beta readers do multiple rounds of edits make it the very very best book you can make it it's so good you probably think it's ready for agents maybe it is maybe you want to query a few and see but it is really competitive so nine times out of 10 an editor will help it get to that next level but you are going to get the most out of your investment if you've taken it as far as you can now let's say you're super busy maybe you are a full-time parent or a full-time professional you you saved up the money to invest but you just don't have the time and maybe you also need the accountability so at that point it might make sense to bring in an editor who's working as a book coach so that's what I did with Jennifer I wanted to have deadlines to meet I wanted someone I could just talk to anytime I had a new idea it probably annoyed the heck out of her but she was great um and so you know you can work with someone on a monthly basis who reviews sections at a time and this may in the long run add up to more but I think it also makes your journey a lot more streamlined because you're sort of writing in the right direction and you don't go on a tangent that or or just start working on a book that that might not be commercial at all and then you spend years and years working on it only to work with an editor who's like oo actually I know that these types of books don't sell so it can definitely be beneficial to bring someone in earlier but you of course don't need to do that and if you have a small budget I would recommend just working with a developmental editor on the very final draft or like as far as you can take it where you yourself don't know what edits to make so I hope this helps to give you more of an understanding of what developmental editors actually do and whether you work with one or not best of luck on getting your story out into the world

Channel: Lauren Kay Writes

Views: 1,552

Keywords: developmental editing, developmental editor, how to get a book deal, literary agent, how to edit a book

Id: YyWkzKtNr1M

Length: 13min 48sec (828 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 25 2024