While editors will have their preferred ways of editing, here are some things you might expect and some questions you might want to ask before entering into a contract with one.
Cost
For most editors, this is a difficult topic, especially if they work with graduate students who might have been hit hard financially during COVID. Some have a per page cost for “simple” and “complex” editing. Others will have a “per hour” cost instead, no matter how many pages were edited during that hour. Some will have different costs for doing stylistic tasks (formatting for a dissertation, for example) or for proofing references.
Good editors will want to ask you questions about your writing style, your manuscript (i.e., is this a first draft, a final polishing), comments from reviewers or your dissertation chair and reviewers about your writing. If you are seeking writing help as well as editing, they might ask about what I call, your writing rituals (i.e., how do you start to write every day, how well does that ritual actually get you into writing v. procrastination or editing, and so on). A good editor will often ask you a series of questions before estimating a cost for the project:
-Number of pages?
-Amount of references and style they need to be in?
-Do you want the editor to proof references against text and visa versa?
-Do you want stylistic/formatting changes made too?
-The editor will likely ask to see a sample chapter to understand how technical the topic and vocabulary are, how complex your writing style is, etc. That will help the editor to estimate time needed (if payment is per hour).
-The editor likely will send you an estimate (often in an email) or a contract. Whichever is sent, it should summarize any conversations you have had about cost, time to completion, and how it will be edited.
What Is the Editor’s Queue?
Some editors are booked for several weeks and you are entering their work queue. Does that fit with your time schedule? They might discuss their queue on their website (I do) but others don’t. On my website I give 14 days for returning most jobs, but in reality, I finish even dissertations in about 5 or fewer days. But there have been a few times where I have to finish one dissertation before starting another, etc. Again, I am a part-time editor where many others are full-time and so their queue will be busier. Personally I’m not a fan of paying to “jump the queue” but ask the editor if you feel you need to do that, okay?
How Does The Editor Actually Edit?
I strongly suggest requesting a digital meeting with prospective editors, primarily to get the answer to this question. This meeting ought to be free, in my opinion. Editors have their own styles and you need to be sure that the style of the one you hire meshes with your needs. Let’s talk about about how there can be mismatches.
I once had a client who did not want to see any of the edits that I made; the client just wanted me to make them. That made me very uncomfortable. In part, having my work be visible is part of how I demonstrate to the client why I billed what I did. We just weren’t a good fit and I encouraged the client to find a different editor.
I’m a “show your work” editor. For simple spelling and grammar edits, I will make the edit in the text, but do it in blue font. For more elaborate edits (for example, changing the order of a sentence or paragraph), I will also use blue font for the new textual version and use strikethrough for what I am suggesting should be removed. For comments to my client, such as “I’m only 1 reader, but I got very lost here — could you rewrite this?” or “This was very confusing. I’m lost but here’s my attempt at making sense: ….” I will use the “insert comment” function.
During our digital meeting I will pull up (anonymously) another client’s manuscript, edited, so that I can show all the ways that I edit to my prospective client. I think that is an important part of that meeting.
I have had a few clients reply to these comments with new text and then pay me to insert it into the text versus doing that themselves. I offer to coach them (for free, of course) how to do this themselves (I am very aware of my client’s finances) but for some, their time is more precious than their money.
Other editors will only use “insert comments” and never change the original text their client sent. Would that bother you? You would have to take time to go through line by line and add any changes they had suggested. You–the client–need to find one who fits with your way of writing.
Do You Want Communication While the Editor Is Working? And If So, To What Email Address?
I confess; I am in contact with my clients a fair amount as I work. If I find a re-occurring concern (for example, someone was talking about their survey of parents and about 60% of the time used “ages 0-12” and 40% used “ages 0-13” for classification of their children. As a sociologist, not having consistent categories worried me and I finally wrote the client. She was grateful; she told me to change all “0-13” to “0-12” in the entire document. This was something her chair had mentioned repeatedly but she’d forgotten to handle. Other emails are a “one and done” type–“Is your committee okay with ‘they’ representing a singular or plural noun”? I also send a 9 p.m. email to my client which summarizes what I have done that day and what I still have to do. For some possible clients, this amount of communication might be too much. I always share my communication style with prospective clients during our digital meeting so that they can have that information as they are making their decision.
If you think you need a professional editor, I hope that you are successful in your search for one. And I further hope that this post gives you ideas of what to ask prospective editors as you conduct your search. Good luck with bringing your writing project to fruition.
Please visit the Pedagogical Thoughts website to contact me about institutional or individual consulting, dissertation editing, or coaching about writing.
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