In this in-depth article we are going to dive deep into all the nuances, dos and don'ts, in terms of how to hire a professional book editor.

Writing, editing and publishing a book is one difficult feat to accomplish. It consumes a large amount of time as well as energy and other resources.

Before we get into how to hire a professional book editor, let's find out who is a professional book editor and what they are supposed to do in particular and how.

Who is a Professional Book Editor?

A book editor is a professional who evaluates the book page by page, word by word. They screen the book in depth to make sure it passes all the quality assurance tests. Book editors look for errors and rectify them afterwards. The quality assurance tests start from grammar check, spelling check, format check, fact check and so forth.

Precisely else, they make your book flawless before they reach its target audience.

At times an editor for books is the backbone of your book who adds the value your book is missing. To improve everything for you, an expert book editor will have you covered, and employing a professional may be the distinction between composing a decent book and composing a superb book.

Calling book editors superheroes without a cape won't do justice against the kind of work they do for the writing industry.

Professional book editing service is an art which makes any piece of writing remarkable, and beautiful in its own terms.

Types of Book Editing Services

In today's world, a number of people mistake a book editor with someone who just makes sure your book is perfect and nothing else. But allow us to burst this bubble of misconception right here.

Before you hire an editor, do a complete analysis on what kind of service your writing piece requires the most.

A book editor is a mastermind and a jack of all trades that turns any ordinary book into a bestseller and award-winning manuscript all the time. They pass the rough draft through a number of tests and screening process that ensures the quality of the content, storytelling and how the whole manuscript is presented includes the fact that how it all progressed throughout. This is not an easy task to do. That's why we always emphasize on hiring a professional book editor who can do it all for you.

There are different types of professional book editing formats such as,

– Developmental Editing

– Copy Editing

– Proofreading

1– Developmental Editing Services

Developmental editing is simply the kind of editing that is more focused on macro details. The whole phenomenon of developmental editing is to look at the bigger picture and not screen the book word by word. This type of editing is also known as content editing, story editing, macro editing and substantive editing. In this editing method, the editor ensures that the book is in its best possible format and sticks to the plot as well as no important elements are missing. Developmental editors are called developmental editors for a reason, as they can develop new twists and turns into your book or might cut unnecessary rambling of words. They at times add more chapters, and minus some, since they wish to make your book a steller and nothing else. This kind of editing takes some time, so keep that in measure to provide some extra time to your book editor.

2– Copy Editing

Copy editing revolves around enhancing the quality of content by improving the sentence structure, grammar, spellings, rectifying errors, different syntax and semantics, including formatting. This is a micro editing procedure where the editors walk through each line and make changes accordingly. This is a time-consuming type of editing, but worth all the hassle. Copy editing is done by following a certain set of protocols, either provided by the stakeholders or the generic ones.

The copy edit will deliver an original copy that contains countless sentence-level changes and remarks. The author will be supposed to take a gander at every one of these progressions and acknowledge or dismiss them as they see fit. When the copy edit has been finished, the original copy will almost be prepared for distribution. Editing and publish is one primary step when we talk about book editing services overall.

3– Proofreading

The final step towards the success of completing an award-winning book is proofreading. Book proofreading services includes a process of checking the accuracy the content holds. It can involve a number of tests and screening procedures that guarantees the content readability.

This is the last stop where the editors look for errors, mark them and rectify accordingly.

An edit will ordinarily occur after a duplicate alter and when the records have been changed over. It is entirely expected for independently published essayists to skirt the editing phase of the interaction. This is many times only a question of financial plan limitations.

Editing is tedious, and in this way, not a cheap cycle. It looks bad for journalists dealing with a little spending plan for an edit to be finished on a composition that has proactively been duplicate altered.

Notwithstanding, in the event that financial plan requirements permit, an edit is an essential move toward getting those last blunders before distribution.

How Long Does the Professional Book Editing Process Take?

The time is takes to alter a book will rely upon a few variables:

The length of the book.
The intricacy of the book.
The kind of book altering.
The responsibility of the supervisor.

Many people often worry about the time an editor might take to work on their book. If we keep a novel into consideration, it more or less consists of 70,000 or above words. Now one can imagine how much time an editor might need. It is not an easy job to pull off because you need to have an eye for details and beauty.

The complexity of a book is directly proportional to the time, the more complex it is going to be, the more time an editor will need to finish the task.

The sort of altering is likewise significant. Formative altering takes the longest measure of time, trailed by duplicate altering and afterward editing.

Great book editors are consistently occupied, and there's a decent opportunity your book will be added to a line of different titles.

This implies that a long, complex novel, altered by a bustling formative supervisor will take significantly longer to alter than a straightforward, short novel, altered by a duplicate manager.

As a guideline, an ordinary 60,000 word novel will require around four weeks for a formative manager to finish.

How to Professional Editors for Books

In order to hire a book editor, you need to prepare a checklist first. Which runs along the lines of where to look for book editors and how to hire them eventually.

Freelancing Sites

The process starts from browsing through multiple websites like fiverr, upwork, guru or any other freelancing website where individuals offer their book editing service, book proofreading services, and more against money. Freelancing platforms are the main hub of finding such smart people.

Previous Work or Portfolio

To gauge the excellence of an editor, always request their previous work before you make any big decisions. This will help you in making the right decisions more or less. One more approach to checking their exhibition is by perusing the books they have altered in their vocation. On the off chance that they keep your hands stuck to the book, you're most likely anticipating employing the right book editor.

Finalize a Book Editor

Once you shortlist the editor for your book, always make sure they set fit for the role they are hired for. Always map the content editing requirements with the service an editor provides in order to avoid all kinds of inconvenience.

Cost Estimation

If you find the right person to do the job, do not forget to talk all about the pricing and cost estimation, as it is very important. Once you have everything on paper, it's easier for both the parties involved to get the project done.

Set Deadline

Once you assign the project to the editor, always maintain a traceability matrix which is shared with all the stakeholders where one can keep an eye on the progress of the work. Setting deadlines is significantly important as it helps in completing the project and achieving the project milestones.

Mistakes to Avoid

You have the significance of editors and why you want to recruit them. You're employing editors, so your book is best ready to go into distributing. However, before you feel free to employ a proofreader, remember these missteps:

Not getting an agreement: Contracts can help against any miscommunications and false impressions. They could in fact frame the critical subtleties and cutoff times. Try not to make a preposterously enormous agreement, since it could make it difficult for a decent proofreader to work with you.

Never give your copyright to the editor: The composition is your protected innovation. The supervisor is recruited and paid to improve it, and not to possess it.

Regardless of whether they request an eminence on the deals, this is an enormous warning, and you ought to reject immediately. This isn't the mentality of an expert proofreader. After they have given you their administration, they turn out well for them, and you turn out well for you, except if you're happy with their work, and you couldn't imagine anything better than to employ them later for another book.

On the off chance that your supervisor will not offer a paid example later: this is a proofreader you ought to keep away from. An example alter is an extraordinary method for deciding how their final result will be. On the off chance that the proofreader will not work for it (despite the fact that you can haggle for paid work), then it's an immense warning.