Freelance Editors for Manuscript consultation

[scheherazade]

Where would be a good place to look for a freelance editor for a substantive manuscript edit? Is there any good marketplace or listing, other than just doing a Google search?

[Feathers]

Just a thought...you may want to go to the beta-reader section, around the Share Your Work, I think. Lots of people are willing to read and critique your work free. Some of them have lots of editing experience, even if they're not official editors. It maybe not be what you wanted, but it's an alternative.

Smile,
-Feathers

[James D. Macdonald]

Google search?

No.

Ask around among your pro writer and pro (as in "employed by a publishing house") editor friends to see who's real.

Off the top of my head:

Josepha Sherman
Nancy Hanger
ekuki bes shahar
Terry McGarry
Laura Anne Gilman

Or ask them who they'd recommend.

But in general buying editing is wasting money, unless you're looking for lessons on how to write your next novel. Edited slush is still slush.

[IceCreamEmpress]

I'll send you a PM with the contact info for an excellent freelance editor. She's based in the metro New York area; she worked at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for years before going out on her own, and has worked with manuscripts that have been published by all the big NY houses over the past decade.

[Gillhoughly]

Try finding a few beta readers and use the SYW forum before spending bucks on an editor.

You'll find books on self-editing in the library's 808 section. For free!

I found with my first MS that just because I stuck "The End" on the last page after so much hard work that it wasn't at all ready for the market. Had I hired an editor to work on that draft it would have been like asking painters to come in and do a house before the drywall was in place on the bare frame!

If it's rooting out typos and fixing grammar, then that's stuff you really need to learn for yourself. There's a NYT bestselling writer I've edited, and I can't stand her books because she was asleep all through 5th grade English. It's physically painful to me to see such sloppiness in a MS, when it's so easily fixed.

One of my pals is dyslexic, but always turns in a clean page, thanks to spell-check and a friend who proofs the work. I like that she takes pride in her job and doesn't make excuses!

If it's evaluative feedback you need, then it's betas & SYW time!

I still send my stuff to a trusted friend for a read- through so she can tell me what needs fixing. Nothing like a second set of eyes for spotting obvious clinkers. In turn, I read her stuff. We keep each other sharp!

Good luck!

[scheherazade]

It's actually for a well-heeled colleague who is willing to invest the money to get some insider advice. She's already workshopped with at least a half-dozen other writers, so I suspect a beta reader will not offer what she's looking for. I'll look into the editors suggested above and keep searching.

My publishing connections are limited to students in publishing programs and published writing teachers who would scoff at the idea of paying for an editor... hence why I wanted to see if anyone here could suggest an editor. :) But I'll keep looking. Thanks!

[Gillhoughly]

Insider advice.

Such as....? http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif

[scheherazade]

Insider advice.

Such as....? http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif

Like market-oriented edits to make, probably someone to help her with her query letter, etc.