Where can I find an editor?

I am currently writing a book and need to find someone to edit it. Do you have any suggestions? Should I attempt to edit it myself or hire a professional? I have an extensive English background; however, I know I’m not 100% perfect when it comes to grammar.

I would appreciate any information you could provide. Thank you!

Debby O.

CLICK HERE FOR FREELANCE EDITORS WE RECOMMEND.

If you hire one of these editors you will need to pay them directly. We are only referring you to them. We do not hire them for you.

WARNING: There is no licensing agency for editors and there are many online now who are NOT professional editors. We receive complaints almost daily from authors who hired an editor they found online, and then found even more errors in their “edited” book. (This even happens with editors who work for some POD publishers!) References can be easily manufactured so you should only hire an editor who’s done a good job for an author or publisher you know.

NOTE: Many POD publishers now claim ownership of edited manuscripts (what they call the production files) even though authors paid THEM to edit their books. We call this a “forced marriage” because it makes it almost impossible for an author to move to another publisher someday, even if they are unhappy with their current publisher. We strongly recommend NOT paying a publisher to edit your manuscript. Freelance editors don’t try to claim ownership of an author’s files.

ATTN: Freelance Editors
You can submit an application to be considered for our list RIGHT HERE.

Should I pay an agent?

Hi Angela,
I have a question. A literary agent is interested in representing my books, but charges a fee. Is this a normal practice? They have a listing on editors and predators as a bad agency. Thank you for whatever information you can provide.

Sincerely,
Bill

You should never pay an agent a fee (reputable ones don’t charge a fee) and editors and preditors is a good service. And, I would never trust my manuscript with someone who had a bad listing on Editors and Preditors. Good pblishers know which agents have bad reputations and won’t touch the books they represent. And, if an agent is charging authors a fee, what’s their incentive to get a book to market? If they con enough authors into paying their fee, they’ll have a pretty fat purse.

Will selling my essays as a column hurt future book possibility?
I hate to bug you like this, but you really are the only person in the world who seems to have answers to some of the thornier questions we blossoming freelancers sometimes face! I have a teensy weensy question: I have written a book (a comic look at life in France), but now have a magazine which would like to spin this into a monthly column. But if I run this as a monthly column, will I still be able to run as a book, or will I have blown it?

Your fan till the end of time,
Heidi

If the magazine is buying all rights (or non-exclusive rights – meaning they can keep running the pieces or sell them to another), yes, this could hurt you in the future.

On the other hand, if you have a popular column (and haven’t sold all rights), and then publish a book of columns, perhaps the mag will allow you to advertise that to readers in your byline. In fact you should go ahead and negotiate in your pending contract that they will allow you to advertise your books in the column.