Beaver Coats and Guns

Find An Editor For Your Book

I wrote and published the first edition of Beaver Coats and Guns without the help of a professional editor. The main reason was cost.

Initially, the feedback I got was positive. General readers told me they liked the story. Then a friend gave it to an assistant to a radio host who interviews authors. He agreed it was a good story. However, he said in many places the writing was amateurish. Another friend gently told me he found it hard to read in many places. He asked why I hadn’t had it edited. He’s an architect and builder, and said, “I never do my own drawings. I hire professionals. You want your book to be the best it can be don’t you?” That’s when I decided I needed to hire an editor.

The first place I looked was Joanna Penn’s website, The Creative Penn. Joanna is a prolific writer who offers resources and advice to aspiring writers. On her website you’ll find links to editors. To begin with I chose New York Book Editors. They turned out to be over my budget. I also tried The Editorial Freelancers Association. However, I couldn’t search for editors specializing in historical fiction.

I then turned to Editors Canada. I searched their database for editors who work on historical fiction and also do the kind of editing I wanted, which was Stylistic editing. I didn’t feel I needed copy editing to check my grammar, punctuation and spelling.

I found ten who fit my requirements. I emailed them all. I told them I wanted a sample edit first. The editor I selected did a sample edit. I liked it and we signed a contract.

She has now completed the edit of the book and is doing a final read through. She expects to deliver the edited manuscript by the end of next week. In a future post I will let you know how it turns out. I’ll also provide a before and after sample and reveal her name.

Introduction

At this point I’ve written my book and submitted it to an editor. I’m also having three maps illustrated. The posts for this blog begin at this stage of readying my book for publication. When the editing and illustrations are finished, I'll add posts describing the next steps.

If you have written a book - or are thinking of writing one - I hope this blog helps you achieve your goals.