“I Can’t Afford an Editor!”
Editing costs money, but what drives people away most is the mindset that this essential service is an expense instead of an investment. Businesses will hire a professional writer when there is an important document — lawyers for contracts, grant writers, there are many niches — but beyond a few specific products like web pages or book manuscripts, talk of getting an editor will get you blank looks. Editing is almost always dismissed as too expensive.
Why would you pay money to polish a short bit of copy? Why add expenses when you already sweat about the time you’ve invested? The bottom line is that an editor benefits all your future work — but only if you prepare for it.
You take best advantage of an editor by paying attention and asking good questions, adopting a student role. They act a bit like tutors, ferreting out weak areas while bringing clarity to your ideas. They help you overcome gaps, bridging your expertise and your audience’s awareness. You should especially keep an eye out for an editor whose work will teach solutions to your bad habits, making their fee an investment in your skills. I even make custom exercises for some of my clients to help them improve!
Little things can make a big difference in your presentation. Still, it is not always worth it to hire an editor. Nobody hires an editor to go over a single social media filler post, informational handout, email, or memo. The most important thing is to never skip editing in your process.
We’ve all felt the pain of a client asking for clarification when a word is missing, or wincing when we find we’ve flipped two letters or let autocorrect work its devilry upon us. Here’s a quick primer on a tool that is becoming my favorite when I can’t justify having an editor look over my pieces: Hemingway.
The first thing to know is that the automatic highlights are pretty good. Copy your text and paste it into the main space and it will highlight the basic problem areas automatically: red, yellow, and pink help you smooth out overly-complex areas with blue and green focused on helping you use strong verbs so that your meaning is clear and easy to read.
With these two areas under control, you can see an algorithmic evaluation of a readability grade, which will approximate how large of an audience you are able to reach. If you’re building your skills, this is a decent metric until you hit their optimized target of Grade 9. If your audience is more capable than that, this tool falls off and you’ll need to look elsewhere. Just underneath that you can see some vital statistics if you’re curious: Reading time, characters, words, etc.
If you are looking for a quick and easy way to catch basic errors you are in the habit of making, such as passive voice, this tool is handy. If you are eager to get your essentials polished up, this is fantastic. If you want to get better beyond the generics, look for an editor. If you wait until you need one, you might pick one that doesn’t fit your style or isn’t as skilled as they advertise.
Editing is an investment in your future, and you can’t afford not to make time for editing yourself if you want to succeed. Invest up front. Look at the giants of writing: Even the best writers continue working with editors they have built solid relationships with. Having the extra pair of eyes aimed at improving your skill is just as valid here as it would be hiring a vocal coach or taking a class at a college, except it can meet you in the middle of the action instead of taking time away from your work and it is customary to hire an editor for focused, specific points instead of as a general aide. You are worth it.
