This is hands down the #1 place to spend your money.
When I was nearing the end of writing my first novel I questioned using an editor and what services were worth spending the money on. I received quotes from a few different editing firms, and I’m not going to lie, choked on my coffee when reading them. I truly had no idea how much a good editor was going to cost me.
There are 2 typical types of edits you can have done for your book:
Comprehensive Edit: this is where an editor reads your manuscript and focuses on the storyline, making sure you have a cohesive story that makes sense for the reader. They may also include some Line Editing, but don’t expect all spelling and grammatical errors to be caught.
Line Edit: when an editor reads through for a line edit they are really focusing on the grammatical and spelling errors, but they may still call out issues with your storyline.
Initially I decided I would pay for a Line Edit. I figured this would be sufficient considering at that point I had written and rewritten my first novel at least 6 times. In my mind, the story itself was pretty solid. After discussing it with anyone who would listen I was convinced to invest in both a Comprehensive Edit and the Line Edit.
The Comprehensive Edit was completed first, allowing me time to make adjustments and clean up my writing before submitting it for a second Line Edit. I honestly didn’t know what to expect and feared my book would come back sounding like another author had rewritten my work. This wasn’t the case and I’m incredibly glad I spent the time and money to go through the editing process.
First of all, my editor pointed out inconsistencies and things that just didn’t make sense…things that were in my head that I never got onto the page. But more importantly, in my mind, were the callouts to repeated phrases and words littered throughout my novel that I had no idea were there. One of my more egregious instances was using the worked “looked” 8 times on the same page.
My book is definitely more polished after going through the editing process, and now I would never release a book without going through both the Comprehensive Edit and Line Edit. It might hurt your wallet now, but it will pay off in readership down the road. Grammatical issues and typos take reader out of the story, keeping them engaged is priority #1.