What To Look For In An Editing Company Offering Editorial Services

Hiring an editor to check your written work is a sound investment, especially if you aspire to be a successful book author. You need someone who has the knack for spotting errors and inconsistencies in your manuscript, so you will not encounter any trouble when your work is sent to the publishing house; more so if it has already been published. If your published work has a lot of glaring errors, then you are likely to lose your target readers. As a result, all your effort and money spent in completing your book will be in vain. Therefore, the importance of editorial services offered by an editing company can never be underestimated.

Looking for editing services to improve your written work? Consider the following qualities to make sure you pick the best editor that can help you create a more professional and error-free masterpiece.

1. Experience – How much experience does the editor has in terms of writing, editing, and proofreading? Find out if a certain editor has enough experience in the genre you are writing about. Research about his previous jobs or projects he was involved with. If your work is a science fiction, then consider someone with more than two years of experience in writing, editing, and proofreading stories of the same genre. Ask for samples—you can request for an edited and raw copy and compare them against each other to assess the abilities of the editor.

2. Credentials – Check if the editor has a lot of qualifications tucked under his belt. Take note of the trainings and courses the editor has attended—these will show you how much effort the editor has exerted to improve his editing skills.

3. Types of services offered to clients – An editing company may be the one of the best in the industry, but its services may not suit your needs. Look for an editorial service provider that offers what you exactly need for your manuscript. The following are the most common services offered by different editing companies and freelance editors:

• Proofreading – This involves checking a written material for typographical and grammatical errors. You may want to have all your errors automatically corrected or have them simply listed or highlighted so that you do the changes on your own.

• Publishing assistance – The main goal of this service is to get your book published. An editing company or freelance editor can help you by giving suggestions, making a proposal for your book, finding a publishing agent, and looking for the best publisher.

• Ghostwriting – Of all the services, this involves the most work, and of course, money. If you are not confident yet about your writing ability or have no time to write a novel, you can pitch in your story idea or outline. Then a ghost writer will do the entire writing job for you. You will still have the sole credit for the book.

4. How long the revisions or corrections will take – Of course, you want an editorial service provider that can complete the job at the soonest time possible. This will save you on costs, especially if will pay at an hourly rate.

5. Cost of the editorial services – Are the services reasonably priced? Determine how much is charged for everything before you choose an editor for your manuscript.