Novel Editing, Plotting Help, Writers Resources

Brenda Hill

Is Editing Worth The Price?


Some writers think editing is a luxury they can't afford. Editing is expensive--there's no doubt about it.

But think about it for a moment. Can you honestly say you have no errors in your manuscript? If you can, you don't need me. But if you can't, do you want to risk a rejection based simply on typos or errors that could have been corrected?

Editors are essential to producing a professional manuscript. I've had extensive writing lessons, written newspaper articles, taught novel writing and founded a manuscript editing service. When I completed my own edits on my manuscript for the thousandth time, I gave my creation to another editor, very smug in the belief it was virtually error-free. Thank goodness I did; she found more errors and typos than I thought possible or would want to admit.

Most of us cannot see all of our own mistakes, especially when we know every step of the story and have read each sentence over and over. Often, when something is omitted--an explanation, a phrase, a word--our brain helps us by filling it in while we are reading, whether it's a word or even a simple phrase essential to understanding the scene.

And that's a mistake professional writers can't afford to do. 

A reader, if enjoying the story, will forgive one or possibly two typos. But they are noticed. If there are more, the mood is shattered and trust in the author is lost.

Even though we may be perfectionists in our writing, we also are human and we make mistakes. I have a strong enough ego that I want my book to be published as error free as possible. I want my readers to lose themselves in my story and anything that jars them from that fictional world, such as typos/errors, or a plot structure that doesn't make sense, needs to be corrected. The reader may have purchased our first book, but will they purchase the next?  Will they recommend our books to their family and friends?

That's why we need editors. Even best-selling authors often give acknowledgments to their editors. We all need an objective eye. After all, once our book is published, our baby is out there for everyone to see.

Let's make sure the diaper is clean.


While attending a Midwest Writer's Festival, I overheard an unpublished author parrot how easy it was to write her novel. 

"I just wrote what I saw in my head," she said. "It was like a movie and all I had to do was get it down." 

I say, congratulations. Then I felt like pushing her off a cliff, because for me, writing was and is grueling work.  Hard, frustrating, yet rewarding work. 

Telling the story is difficult enough.  How to get it down so it reads coherently, yet holds enough interest so the reader will not put your book down and do something more interesting like ironing clothes, takes knowing the craft of writing and applying certain techniques in the correct places.

I can help you.


What do you make an hour in your profession?  $20?  $40, or perhaps more?  How long did it take you to write your masterpiece?

Let's say for example, you are dedicated to your writing so you work two hours per day before or after your regular job.  At six days per week, with one day off to spend with your family, that's twelve hours.  And, let's suppose that your novel has thirty chapters, ten pages each, and you can write a chapter a week.  That averages to three hundred sixty hours for your novel.  That does not count the endless correcting and revising which can easily add another hundred hours for a grand total of four hundred sixty hours.  Now, let's suppose you make $30 per hour.  It cost you $13,800.00 to write that book. 

HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY TO INCREASE THE CHANCES OF HAVING IT PUBLISHED?  $1000.00?  $2000.00 or MORE?