Looking for an Editor for Your Book? Don’t Make These 7 Mistakes

Avoid paying for the wrong service, comparing quotes that cover different work, or discovering too late that your book needed more help.

You can pay an editor, receive exactly the service you bought, and still have a book with serious problems. If the structure isn’t working, correcting punctuation won’t fix it. If your quote covers one editing pass, you may discover that reviewing your revisions costs extra.

Finding the right editor starts with understanding what your book needs and what you’re hiring someone to do. These seven mistakes can leave you spending money without solving the problem that brought you to an editor in the first place.

Mistake 1 — Expecting an Editor to Read Your Book Before You Hire Them

Research the types of editing before contacting an editor, and arrive with an initial idea of what you need. You don’t have to make the final decision yourself, but you should understand the differences well enough to explain your concerns.

Services can overlap, and editors may describe their packages differently. Ask what they will actually review. The Editorial Freelancers Association’s service definitions explain these distinctions.

Asking someone to read your manuscript and tell you which direction to take is asking them to do professional work. Reading a book and assessing its structure, writing, and readiness takes hours. Expect to pay for a manuscript assessment or editorial report when that is the guidance you need.

Ask what an initial inquiry or sample review includes. Don’t assume it includes a free evaluation of your whole book.

If you’re still choosing your publishing route, read Should You Self-Publish or Seek a Publisher?. Preparing to approach an agent and preparing a self-published book for production may call for different next steps.

Mistake 2 — Paying to Polish Pages You’re About to Rewrite

Before booking detailed sentence-level editing, read your draft for structure and content.

For fiction or memoir, look for confusing timelines, unclear motivations, repetitive scenes, and an ending that needs more groundwork.

For nonfiction, ask whether the chapters deliver what the introduction promises. Identify missing examples, repeated arguments, and explanations a reader would struggle to follow.

For workbooks and guided journals, complete the exercises yourself. Are the instructions clear? Does the reader know what to do with their answers?

Fix what you can and list what you cannot. You don’t have to make the manuscript perfect before getting help. If you know a chapter isn’t working but cannot figure out why, developmental support may be your next step.

Don’t hand your manuscript to AI for a wholesale rewrite before sending it to an editor. You risk losing the intent, voice, and distinctive choices that made the writing yours, then spending time rewriting it again to recover them. Keep your original draft and work through revisions deliberately.

Use the “Editing & Revision” section of 100 Self-Publishing Tips for Aspiring Authors for additional reminders.

Mistake 3 — Choosing an Editor Without Checking Their Fit

An editor’s experience should be relevant to the work you need. Ask about projects in your genre, subject, or intended audience, and how they approach the problems you’ve identified.

Pay attention to communication, too. Can they explain their recommendations? Do they understand what you want readers to experience? Are they comfortable discussing choices you want to preserve?

Ask whether a sample edit is available, what it costs, and what it demonstrates. A short sample can help you assess sentence-level work and communication, but it cannot demonstrate a developmental review of an entire book. The EFA’s hiring guide discusses that limitation.

Look for someone who can explain how their approach serves your book. An editor who challenges a passage thoughtfully may be more helpful than one who simply tells you everything looks great.

Mistake 4 — Sending a Sample That Hides the Real Assignment

Follow the editor’s instructions for sample length and selection. If they leave the choice to you, provide a representative passage rather than only the chapter you’ve polished most heavily.

Tell them about material the sample does not show, such as footnotes, technical discussion, tables, illustrations, or exercises. Identify unfinished sections and give an accurate word count.

Explain important voice choices. Informal grammar in dialogue or specialist terminology may be intentional. Your editor needs that context.

Use this brief to prepare your inquiry:

Write “unsure” where you need a recommendation. The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading’s guidance also explains how to brief an editor.

Mistake 5 — Comparing Prices Without Comparing the Work

A lower quote may cover less work. A higher quote may include services you don’t need. Price alone won’t tell you which offer fits.

Before booking, establish:

• Scope: What will the editor review, and what is excluded?
• Deliverables: Will you receive tracked changes, comments, an editorial letter, a style sheet, or a combination?
• Revision rounds: Will they review your revisions, or does the fee cover only the manuscript you first submit?
• Follow-up: Can you ask questions afterward, and for how long?
• Cost: Is the quote fixed or estimated? What could change it, and how will additional work be approved?
• Next stage: What work will remain afterward?

Ask directly about formatting, fact-checking, permissions research, and final proofreading if your book needs them. Don’t assume they are included because a package is called “editing.”

Mistake 6 — Sending Conflicting Files or Changing the Manuscript Mid-Edit

Identify one current master version and keep a backup. Give it a clear filename with the book title and version date.

Keep the manuscript formatting simple and follow the editor’s submission requirements. Consistent headings and readable text are enough for this stage. The finished interior layout comes after the text has been edited and revised. Designing pages now can mean paying to redo them when the text changes.

Ask which file type the editor prefers. Mark missing material and review existing comments and tracked changes so unresolved questions are clear.

Once editing starts, agree on how to handle further changes. Quietly rewriting a separate copy creates two versions that someone will have to reconcile. It also makes it harder to tell which passages have been reviewed.

Keep a separate list of new ideas until you and the editor agree on where they belong.

Mistake 7 — Treating the Editor’s Delivery Date as Your Publication Date

Receiving an edited manuscript gives you work to consider. You may need to answer questions, revise sections, check facts, or discuss recommendations before the text is ready for production.

Allow time for that work. Depending on the service you booked, the book may still need further editing, layout, and proofreading.

Discuss your expectations, voice, and boundaries before the work begins. Then give the editor room to do the job you hired them to do. Questioning every change as it happens or directing each sentence can get in the way of that work.

Read their explanations and consider the purpose of their recommendations before rejecting them. Ask focused questions when something changes your meaning or conflicts with the agreed scope. You remain responsible for your book, and you hired an expert to help improve it.

Ask the editor what they expect you to do when the manuscript comes back. Agree on when you will respond and whether they will review the resulting changes.

A schedule that leaves no room for revision can pressure you to publish with issues you finally understand but haven’t had time to fix.

Before You Book an Editor

Check that you can answer these questions:

• What problem am I hiring this editor to help solve?
• Have I explained my audience, goals, manuscript stage, and concerns?
• Does their experience and approach fit my book?
• Do I understand exactly what the quote includes?
• Have we agreed on the file, schedule, revision process, and payment terms?
• Do I know what work will remain afterward?

The aim is to find someone whose skills match your manuscript’s needs and whose approach helps you make the book better. A clear brief and a clear agreement give that relationship a stronger start.

Our mission at Wildebeest Publishing Co. is to help people publish their stories, whether they work with us or not. Explore our free publishing resources for your next step, and seek professional support when you want help applying the guidance.