We’ve shared lots of advice on hiring an editor, including when you know it’s time and how to find the right one. In a post on Nail Your Novel, Roz Morris shares an email with a writer who worked with two editors – one who thought their work was ready to publish and the other who thought it needed drastic rewrites.
Which editor was right? It’s hard to say, Morris says. On the one hand, the book might be good enough to publish from the reader’s perspective. On the other, because the writer had no luck placing the book with a publisher, the second editor could have been offering advice on how to make the book more attractive to a publisher. While we might wish that publishers want to publish books readers will like, we know that they consider other factors, such as emerging trends, fading trends, and whether the author is the right “kind” of person who can sell books.
So, which editor should the writer choose? If the writer is happy with the first editor’s advice and the resulting book, Morris says they should stick with them. However, if the writer is ready to take their writing to the next level and wants a more demanding critique, they might consider working with the second.
