Being Cautious About Editors

There is nothing like getting hit by woe from every angle while diving deeper into research rabbit holes. In short, a lot has happened to me in the past few months. I should be able to post now since most of it has cleared up.

On that note, the topic for today is being cautious about editors. This post comes because of a developmental editing class I took, one from the Editorial Freelance Association (EFA), an American institution, and the state of gaining education and credentials for freelancers.

To start this off, let me provide why I went through the EFA in the first place. There are no laws governing what requirements a freelance editor needs in the United States that I am aware of (besides the tax stuff, but that’s beyond the scope here). No credentials or degrees, such as a Master of Fine Arts (MFA), are needed. You just need to say you are an editor and that’s that. In turn, this has caused issues for independent writers hiring editors who claim to be something they are not. On the one hand, this has had a positive result with writers desiring credentials from the editors they hire. On the other, as an editor, getting said credentials can be costly, time-consuming, or both. A university might cost thousands upon thousands of dollars and the classes might be on a tight schedule that isn’t very flexible, whereas an organization, such as the EFA, might have a self-paced schedule and be vastly less expensive. I, like many, don’t have the kind of disposable income for an MFA or for a university certificate—let alone the time to dedicate in a single hour or so long block, so going through an organization, such as the EFA, helps supplement the credentials. Afterward, it’s all skill and reputation. Sink or swim time.

Now, if you are like me, you’ve already got questions about what standards an organization like the EFA has to ensure quality in its students. Well, from conversions I had with other students who are just starting off or have been in the field for a while, and from a talk with the education coordinator, I would say not very much.

To sum up my experience with the class, the teacher didn’t know much about fiction, her advice was to know a little bit more than the writer, which she pointed out the writer probably didn’t know anything at all which meant we could fake it until we made it. The oversight of the class by the organization seemed lacking, and there were some other issues, but I will have to bring them up in a different post. All in all, it was a bad experience to make me, an editor, not trust other editors.

I don’t want this post to be seen as gloom and doom. It’s not. If anything, I, an editor, am bringing up a point of concern for anyone looking for an editor, and the experience I had with my classes might not be the same for those from other institutes or organizations. If anything, think of this post as a version of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s Writer Beware blog. Buyer beware.

So, you might be asking how does of the above affect you on a fan site about magical talking ponies. Well, very little if you are just happy to have something published. But if you are looking to improve the quality of your story, and perhaps your skills, this affects you more than you realize. The quality of the editors here can be from artisan to WTF. Some will have gone out of their way to understand what they need to do and others will just be winging it. Or worse, that editor turns out to be a ghostwriter and rewriters your story. That was one of my first experiences here years ago. It is important to understand that just because someone claims to be an editor, shuffles some words around, fixes a few misspelled words, doesn’t make them one. There are different types of editors focusing on specific areas, but that is beyond the scope of this blog. I’ll delve into that next time.

Now, let’s look at some ways you can weed out good editors from the bad, including those who aren’t editors.

First and foremost, educate yourself in writing fiction and editing fiction. There are a lot of resources online. It’s hard not to find them, but you do need to be mindful and read widely. People have very different ideas as to the craft of fiction and editing (as there are different editors and such—like proofreaders and typesetters, both of which are not editors). Additionally, use that info to edit other writers’ stories. You don’t have to do it professionally or all the time, just edit enough to understand the process and everything involved. You’ll get an appreciation of what your editor will be going through and what to expect from them.

Another tactic is sample edits. You can ask a prospective editor to edit a small portion of your story—a thousand to five thousand words from the middle of your story—and see how the editor does. The only issue is that an editor might refuse this, and for good reason. The time it takes to do a sample edit is the time they could be making money. Yes, paying for edits. Editing takes a lot of work, especially when the writer knows little to nothing, and you must explain each step without being insulting.

A third option is to see previous sample edits of other writers’ works. Though this may help in getting an idea, the issue is that the samples are of other people’s stories, not yours. Your concern is how an editor will tackle your story, not someone else’s. Plus, on a site like this, there is no stopping an author from getting a new edit of their story while still crediting an old editor.

An editor’s reputation or asking other writers as to their experience with editors is an option. Just remember, just because someone has a good reputation or works well with other writers doesn’t mean he or she will work well with you.

These aren’t the only ways to weed out bad editors, but it is a starting point, and if you are concerned about the quality of your story, you should find one.

On a side note, it has been requested that I share some of my cooking recipes. I think I can make that happen. In any case, until next time, keep your pencil sharp and your mind sharper!