There are four distinct types of editing that are required to turn your nonfiction book into a highly competitive product in the marketplace. Your aim is to level the playing field with professional publishers by taking advantage of the same editing treatment they give to their best titles.

The 4 Types of Nonfiction Editing

For your self-published nonfiction book to aspire to the bestseller list, having great content isn’t enough – your content also needs to be subjected to the thorough editing afforded to top traditionally published nonfiction books.

For your nonfiction book to succeed it needs to connect deeply with your target audience, it needs to be clear, it needs to be factually accurate and it needs to be free errors and typos.

The following four types of editors specialize in each of these areas:

Type 1: Developmental Editors

Developmental editors perform the highest level of nonfiction editing as they take a bird’s eye view of your manuscript. Their job is to assess your book structure for fit with your main idea or thesis.

Based on knowledge of your target audience, they’ll also check that your flow of ideas satisfies the audience’s needs in the best possible way.

If your nonfiction book has great content but it’s written in a way that doesn’t resonate with your audience, it simply won’t be successful.

This type of editor is the best proxy for your audience and will give you advice on what works for them as well as what doesn’t work. They’ll help you notice things that you might not be able to notice on your own.

As the author you’re just too close to your writing to have an unbiased opinion. Your developmental editor will help you gain perspective so you can make the necessary changes to better connect with your audience.

Developmental editors will give you feedback in two different passes – going from an overall view to detailed suggestions.

1) The Editor’s Letter

First, your developmental editor will read your manuscript once or twice, putting themselves in the shoes of a reader from your target audience, and then share with you their thoughts about your biggest structural issues.

For example, they may recommend that you change the order of some of your chapters, or even write a new one if they feel it’s necessary to improve the overall flow.

They may also recommend that you eliminate some sections that they feel are either redundant or simply outside the scope of your thesis.

Your job then is to take this information and implement it in your manuscript before they’re ready for the second editing pass.

2) Page-by-Page Commenting

Once they receive your revised manuscript, they’ll re-read it while making notes on the margins of each page. These will be high-level notes related to the structure of your ideas without focusing on low-level editing tasks such as spelling, grammar or punctuation.

Their job in this second pass is to let you know paragraph by paragraph if your information appears to be out of place, or if you’re covering too many ideas in a single paragraph, causing confusion to your readers.

They’ll also suggest swapping sections within a chapter, or perhaps moving a section to a different chapter if it belongs there better.

Once your higher-level edits are completed, it’s time to go one level deeper into the mechanics of the text.

Type 2: Content Editors

Content editors don’t work on your content’s structure but on the content itself. Instead of focusing on your flow of ideas, they’ll focus on how those ideas are executed.

Their goal is to ensure that your author’s voice, the quality and style of your content is consistent throughout your manuscript.

More specifically, they’ll focus on readability, clarity and word choice, among other things. For example, they’ll be looking out for:

• Run-on sentences
• Word repetition
• Sentence length
• Misuse of words
• Poor style (amateurish writing)
• Excessive use of adjectives and adverbs
• Use of language that isn’t a good fit for your audience
• Confusing text

In addition, content editors will help you place your graphic elements, such as tables, charges, images, photographs, etc., in the optimal place in relation to the text in your manuscript to best support your ideas.

Once your content editing pass is completed, it’s time to take your manuscript to the deepest level of editing: language rules.

Type 3: Copy Editors

Your copyeditor is trained to zero in on one thing and one thing only: to ensure that you follow the proper rules of grammar, syntax, punctuation, capitalization, hyphenation, and style.

They know the accepted rules of style in the English language (which are quite numerous and can be complex) like the palm of their hands.

Most copyeditors either follow the Chicago Manual of Style or the Associated Press Stylebook, and competent copyeditors usually know both equally well. They know the differences and when to use one stylebook vs. the other.

The main focus at this level of editing is language accuracy. Here are some examples of the problem areas that they’ll be looking out for:

• Grammar rules
• Syntax rules
• Capitalization rules
• Punctuation rules
• Hyphenation rules
• Spelling
• Incorrect use of numerals
• Accuracy of quoted facts or data
• Accuracy of internal and external references

Type 4: Proofreaders

Once your developmental, content and copyediting passes are completed, there’s one final editing pass to ensure the highest possible level of quality before going to print: proofreading.

This final stage is the “sieve that catches all the impurities” before your book is published – a fine-tooth-comb pass of your entire manuscript to catch any straggling typos or other errors that were missed out on all previous passes.

Professional proofreaders are trained to read manuscripts at the word level without becoming involved in the writing. To do their job right, they have to remain at arm’s length from your content.

This allows them to catch things that you missed even after reading your manuscript numerous times. They’ll catch the typos that spellcheck doesn’t, misplaced punctuation signs, mislabeled images, misnumbered headings, etc.

Proofreaders are the last line of defense before you publish your book, before any copies are printed and before it’s widely distributed.

Before your book is made available publicly, you want to ensure that it’s free of typos, factual errors, omissions and inaccuracies.

For example, proofreaders will be on the lookout for:

• Spelling, syntax, grammatical, punctuation and hyphenation errors
• Formatting inconsistencies (e.g. misnumbered images or tables)
• Caption errors
• Misnumbered lists
• Inaccurate facts and figures
• Misplaced or incorrect graphical elements

Once your proofreading pass is completed and all errors have been corrected, this is when your manuscript is “frozen” with no more changes allowed. At this point, your manuscript is ready to be laid out and sent to the printing house.

Editing Rates

Below are the market rates that you should expect to pay for each of the four editing stages:

1) Developmental Editing

Developmental editors typically charge by the word or by the hour, depending on the complexity of your nonfiction book.

For example, text-based manuscripts will mainly be quoted by the word, with most rates falling between 8-12 cents per word.

Highly complex, scientific or academic books with a lot of specialized information, facts and figures will draw a per-hour rate for research work in addition to the per-word rate quoted above, typically around $60/hr.

2) Content Editing

Content editing rates are usually charged per 1,000 words. Typical rates for standard text-based manuscripts (non-specialized, non-scientific and non-academic) are in the $40-$50 range per 1,000 words.

Rates for complex text (specialized, scientific or academic) fall in the range of $50-$70 per 1,000 words.

3) Copy Editing

For books with standard text, copyeditors will charge between $30 and $40 per 1,000 words. For complex text this range goes up to $40-$60.

4) Proofreading

For books with standard text, proofreaders will charge between $25-$35 per 1,000 words. For complex text this range goes up to $35-$45.

Wrapping Up

Even though these multiple editing passes will increase your overall publishing costs, keep in mind that you’re not just publishing a book: you’re creating a professionally legacy.

Due to the ubiquity of low-cost global book distribution channels, your nonfiction book will be available for the world to see the minute it’s published.

A product that’s well put together will stand out from the crowd (note: most self-published nonfiction books are poorly edited) and open new markets for your business or your career.

This investment in your editing staff is an investment in your reputation, your credibility, and ultimately your future growth.

Next Steps

Once your nonfiction book is properly edited, you’ll need to start thinking about book layout and design. Here’s an article to prepare you for what comes next: “10 Nonfiction Book Layout Tips That Will Glue Your Audience to the Page.”

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

The 10 Must-Have Writing Skills for Nonfiction Authors

The 7 Key Rules for Writers of Outstanding Nonfiction Books

Learn 10 Powerful Writing Habits to Fast Track Your Nonfiction Book

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

If you need an editor for your nonfiction book and you’re a first-time author, before you can make a hiring decision you need to become familiar with the different editing stages that are necessary for your book.

In this article I’ll briefly describe the four stages of nonfiction editing and then I’ll show you the typical rates editors charge for each stage.

Nonfiction Book Editing is Multi-layered

There are four distinct stages of nonfiction editing: 1- Developmental Editing, 2- Content Editing, 3- Copyediting and 4- Proofreading.

1) Developmental editing takes care of the overall structure of your book to make sure that it’s optimized to deliver your message to your target audience.

The aim of this stage is to develop a deep understanding of your audience so that your book can be written from their perspective.

First-time nonfiction authors tend to write books from their personal perspective. Experienced nonfiction authors write books from their audience’s perspective. A developmental editor will help you make this transition effectively.

2) Content editing goes down a level into message delivery. It takes care of your paragraphs and chapters to ensure that your flow of ideas is clear at all times. It has more to do with readability than structure.

Content editors will want to make sure that your sentences make sense and aren’t too long or tedious. They’ll want to make sure that your chapters are structured correctly and that each paragraph carries a single idea.

3) Copyeditors, on the other hand, will want to make sure that your language is accurate and that your book doesn’t have spelling, punctuation and grammar errors. They’ll check that your syntax is correct and that your book follows the proper rules of capitalization.

In short, copyeditors will want to ensure that your book abides by commonly accepted rules of style in the publishing industry.

4) Proofreaders will take care of your final stage of editing, namely, to get as close to 100% accuracy as possible before your book is published, printed and widely distributed.

They’ll catch the typos that were missed in prior stages, ensure that your book’s format is consistent throughout and do the final fact checking for figures, dates, numbers, places, formulas, etc.

What Editing Rates Should I Expect from Each Stage?

Now that you have a basic understanding of the role of each type of editor, let’s look at their typical rates:

1) Developmental Editing

Developmental editors can have two separate charges, depending on the nature of your book.

A per-word or per-page rate for the textual component of your book, and a per-hour rate for books that are research-intensive (e.g. highly academic, scientific or specialized).

Per-word rates range from 8 cents to12 cents depending on the level of difficulty of your text (or $20-$30 per page). Per-hour rates are typically around $60/hour for non-editing research activity.

2) Content Editing

Content editors charge a much lower rate than developmental editors, which is typically based on dollars per 1,000 words.

For books with standard text – that is, non-specialized, non-scientific or non-academic text – the content editing rates will range between $40 and $50 per 1,000 words.

For difficult text (specialized, scientific or academic) the range goes up to $50-$70 per 1,000 words.

3) Copy Editing

As you progress through the editing stages, your costs will continue to decrease, since each stage builds on the previous one.

For books with standard text, copyeditors will charge between $30 and $40 per 1,000 words. For difficult text the rate range goes up to $40-$60.

4) Proofreading

Proofreaders have the lowest rates of all editing stages. For standard text, the range is $25-$35 per 1,000 words. For difficult text the range goes up to $35-$45 per 1,000 words.

Next Steps

When doing your hiring, make sure that you don’t skip any editing stages in order to lower your costs. The high-quality expectation for nonfiction books in the market demands that you engage in all four stages.

When it comes to cost, keep in mind that the quality of your book will relate directly to your credibility and your professional reputation, and those are areas where cutting corners is not desirable.

On the flip side, consider that a high-quality book will result in more business later on, since your book will act as powerful tool to promote your professional services. In the end, your editing investment will be returned to you multiple times.

Good luck!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to Find The Best Content Editor For Your Nonfiction Book

How to Properly Vet an Editing Company

Developmental Editing: Why All Nonfiction Books Need It

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Before you find a nonfiction book editor for your manuscript, you need to become familiar with the four stages of editing. Each stage is well defined and takes care of a unique set of requirements.

Why Are So Many Editing Stages Required?

The reason is that the nonfiction genre demands precision, accuracy, credibility and trust. This type of books exists to educate, inform, persuade, influence and train, therefore it’s imperative your manuscript be thoroughly checked for correctness.

In fact, your professional reputation will hinge on your book because, like it or not, the book will be an extension of who you are and how you’ll be perceived by others.

Nonfiction vs. Fiction Editing

Unlike fiction, where you could write several novels and short stories as part of your personal development as a writer before coming up with your personal masterpiece, for nonfiction, you are simply not going to get a second chance to make a first impression.

For example, nonfiction books can’t afford to have incorrect dates, they can’t afford to have inaccurate statistics that are easy to check, and they can’t afford to have bad grammar or spelling mistakes.

Ultimately, you can’t afford to do any less than your best in order to produce a top-quality product.

Your first nonfiction book will establish you as an expert; so you need to get the right professional help to ensure that your product shines.

In this article I’ll explain what each one of the four nonfiction-editing stages is and why they’re all needed. I’ll then give you some tips about what to look out for when you begin interviewing candidates.

What Type of Editor Do I Need?

The four editing stages must be executed in a specific sequence. Each stage will take care of a different aspect of your nonfiction book and it’ll build on the previous stage.

These stages go from the general to the specific, starting with a 30,000-foot view of your book in stage one and ending at the ground level in stage four, by checking every word in your manuscript with a fine-tooth comb.

Stage 1: Developmental Editing

The first quality check you’ll need on your book is your overall structure. Does it best support your main thesis? Does it produce a clear path for your reader to follow? Does it establish an optimal flow of ideas?

Developmental editing takes care of how your book is put together at a high level. There’s no point in getting into the details of your content if the overall structure is inadequate or confusing.

It also takes care of the viewpoint. Most authors, especially first-time authors, tend to write books from their personal viewpoint, which typically produces a sub-standard product.

A developmental editor will help you gain perspective so that you can reorient yourself to take the viewpoint of your readers instead, which is the only viewpoint that truly matters. If you don’t get this part right, then readers will find it very difficult to embrace your book.

Stage 2: Content Editing

Once the high-level work is done, you’ll go one level deeper. The content editor will pick up from where the developmental editor left off and move down to your text. Their job is to ensure that your message is written with clarity for your target audience.

For example, they’ll take care of your chapter flow and will also make sure that all chapters have the right structure (at its most basic, a beginning that introduces the main idea, a middle that expands on it, and an end that summarizes it).

They’ll take care of sentence construction, paragraph construction, flow of ideas throughout a chapter, chapter order and placement of visual elements such as graphs, tables and images so that they serve your text in the best possible way.

Stage 3: Copyediting

The next stage is copyediting – one level deeper than content editing. Copyeditors are not concerned with idea flow or paragraph clarity: they’re concerned with the accuracy of each individual word.

They will catch spelling, punctuation, grammatical, syntax, capitalization and hyphenation errors. They’ll correct any fact in your book that is inaccurate, from wrong dates to wrong places to wrong names.

They’ll flag any potential legal infringement issues, check for major formatting inconsistencies, check for proper word usage and check for any type of anomalies in your text.

Their main job is to establish both language accuracy and factual accuracy.

If developmental editing has to do with your ability to connect with your audience, and content editing has to do with how you communicate with them, copyediting has to do with you as the subject matter expert.

The copyeditor’s job is to make sure that your book’s content is correct and its facts are accurate. This is the stage that’s most directly linked to safeguarding your professional reputation.

Stage 4: Proofreading

The last editing stage gets to the deepest level of detail. Now your manuscript is final, with no more changes to be implemented. Yet, before your book goes to the printer you’ll have to make 100% sure that there are no embarrassing errors contained in it.

This is the job of the proofreader. They’ll go through your book with a fine-tooth comb, checking for any typos that might have been missed in all prior stages, formatting inconsistencies, incorrect references, caption errors and general fact-checking.

This is the final filter before your book’s content switches into a state of permanence as it gets published, printed and widely distributed. Although it’s possible to fix mistakes post publishing, this comes at a high financial and reputational cost.

How to Filter Out Bad Candidates

It’s now time to begin your search for the ideal editorial candidates. Sometimes, you’ll find that a single editor may be able to carry out multiple stages of editing. Other times you’ll find dedicated editors that specialize in a single stage.

Having said that, beware of those who claim they can do it all. Each editing stage requires very specific skilled knowledge and it would take a superhuman to do all of it with a high level of proficiency.

So, keep that in mind when you begin your search, and be on the lookout for the following five problem areas.

Problem Area 1– Editor Has a Thin Resume (Don’t Hire a Newbie)

It’s not easy to advise that you refrain from hiring a newbie, because we should try not to close the doors to new talent.

However, in the particular case of nonfiction, where your reputation as a credible expert relies on the editorial quality of your book, you can’t really afford to take a chance on anything but an experienced editor.

You need to hire someone who’s done this type of work many times before. For example, if you’re hiring a copyeditor they’ll need to have advanced command of popular style manuals.

Make sure your candidates have no less than 5-7 years of experience in their respective fields.

Problem Area 2– Editor Wants to Charge For a Sample Edit

It’s a given that a professional editor will agree to provide you with a sample edit from your own manuscript at no charge. Depending on the type of editor you’re hiring, this could be anywhere from 1-3 pages of text.

Professional editing doesn’t come cheap, and there’s no other real way to assess fit than with an actual sample. If a candidate asks you to pay for a sample edit, then take a pass. That’s a sign of inexperience.

Problem Area 3– Editor Unwilling to Provide Author References

Another sign of inexperience is the refusal to provide you with author references – usually excused on the basis of protecting their privacy.

Nonfiction authors are by definition public figures, so the privacy argument is really a front to mask the fact that perhaps they don’t have any nonfiction experience (your book will be the first) or simply that they’re afraid of what clients will say.

In either case, take a pass and move on down your list of candidates.

Problem Area 4– Editor Is Unwilling to Show You a Sample Contract

Contracts are a necessity for highly paid services, especially when the work will be performed over a period of time. A proper contract will protect both you and the editor.

Having said that, editing contracts are drawn by the editor’s lawyers not yours, so you’ll have to ensure that the fine print contains enough protections for you and doesn’t bind you to clauses that may backfire later.

The best prevention is to ask for a sample copy of the editor’s contract so that you can read it ahead of time and have it reviewed by your lawyer before you sign it.

It’s not uncommon to have clauses that make you uncomfortable amended or removed, depending of the case. After all, a good editor will want your business and will make every effort to do the necessary adjustments provided they’re reasonable.

If an editor doesn’t want to provide you with a sample copy of the agreement in advance of hiring their services, that’s a sign or either inexperience or some hidden agenda that might rear its ugly head after signing.

Problem Area 5– Bad Rapport

Finally, make sure that you have good rapport with your ideal candidate. There’s nothing worse than having to walk on eggshells when you’re dealing with anyone in a creative contractual relationship, especially someone who’s being paid to do such a key job as editing.

The author-editor creative relationship is very intimate, and you want to ensure that you’re dealing with someone you’re 100% comfortable working with.

Listen to your hunches. Good relationships are effortless. If you feel any type of resistance or “weird” energy, then it’s better to take a pass.

Next Steps

For many first-time authors the job of the editor isn’t well understood – especially with so many book genres having such different requirements.

My hope with this article is to demystify the craft so that you have a clear idea of the specific editorial requirements for nonfiction books so that you can move ahead in your search with confidence.

All the best!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to Properly Vet an Editing Company

Write Your Own Book and Become an Expert: 11 Reasons Why You Should

7 Time-Saving Steps to Publish a Book For Your Business

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Before talking about developmental editing rates, let’s discuss the importance of nonfiction developmental editing for your book.

If you’re writing a nonfiction title to improve your business or your career or, in other words, to generate new leads, to increase exposure and to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, then your book will need to solve a key problem for your target audience.

Now, in order for problem-solving nonfiction to sell, you’ll have to first develop in-depth knowledge about your readers and the problem you’re solving.

Specifically, you’ll have to:

• Know your target audience intimately – their goals, aspirations, hopes, needs, challenges and fears
• Know how to connect with them at a deep level
• Know exactly the problem they’re trying to solve and how it feels to experience it
• Know the level of pain that this problem creates for them
• Know how to solve this problem (i.e. your unique solution)

A developmental editor will help you craft your manuscript in a way that addresses all of the above outcomes.

An experienced nonfiction developmental editor will:

• Understand the expectations of nonfiction readers when they buy a book
• Understand how to keep readers excited with anticipation
• Understand what makes readers engage and what makes them disengage
• Understand how to use the written word to establish a deep connection with readers
• Understand how to get readers to take action on your solution, increasing the chances of follow-on business

What Do Nonfiction Developmental Editors Do?

The main focus for nonfiction developmental editors is to create the right structure for your book. Before they get into the details, they’ll take a birds-eye view of your book project to ensure that your main thesis is clearly articulated.

If the structure of your manuscript isn’t clear, it’ll cause confusion in your readers, making your book less effective.

Since as the author you’re by nature too close to your own writing, a developmental editor will help you gain perspective by showing you how to switch from your view to your audience’s.

They’ll help you see your writing from the standpoint of your target audience and identify what parts of your manuscript work for them and what parts don’t so that you can take the necessary corrective action.

For example, it could be that some sections of your book are too technical or academic for the level of sophistication of your audience and a less abstract and more grounded type of writing style is necessary to deliver your message.

Or it could be that you’re trying to deliver multiple ideas at the same time, making your solution too overwhelming for your readers to process. Your developmental editor will help you distill your ideas to the core set that will produce the best outcome.

This is the type of high-level editing that must be performed before you undertake any type of grammar, syntax or spelling corrections.

Developmental Editing Rates

Now that you have an understanding of the role of nonfiction developmental editors, let’s bring the discussion to how they operate. Different editors will quote their service fees in different ways, depending on the nature of your book.

For example, text-heavy manuscripts will likely be billed by the word, since this is where most of the work effort will be directed to. Some editors may also charge you by the page in this circumstance.

Image, data or science-heavy manuscripts are more likely to attract a combination of payment by the word and also by the hour, to take into account the necessary research time spent by the editor to learn, interpret and craft specialized information in a way that best serves the thesis of your book.

Paying by the Word

At its most basic, developmental editors will charge you according to your manuscript’s word-count. Typically, most editors will charge based on separate tiers, at their discretion:

• Standard text: 8 cents per word (non-specialized)
• Difficult text: 12 cents per word (highly specialized)

Nonfiction topics that are more scientific or instructional in nature (e.g. a manual of best practices for Forex day-traders) will demand the higher per-word fee.

Paying by the Page

Some editors may charge you by the page instead. They’ll typically base their calculations on a standard 250 words per page, allowing for some graphic elements and other white space around the text.

Here are some common quotes:

• Standard text: $20/page (non-specialized)
• Difficult text: $30/page (highly specialized)

Paying by the Hour

For complex nonfiction books with a high level of visual data representation and specialized scientific information, developmental editors will add an hourly fee to cover their time spent researching the subject matter.

A typical fee will be around $60 per research (non-editing) hour

Cost of Manuscript Evaluation

The ideal time to engage the services of a developmental editor is early on in your thesis formation process, before you begin writing your manuscript. This will ensure that the most optimal book structure can be defined before you begin writing in earnest.

However, if your manuscript is already complete, then many developmental editors will suggest that you first pay for a manuscript evaluation, where they create a list of key changes to implement first.

The goal is to spend a little bit of money up-front to save a lot of money (and frustration) later on. In essence, the editor will tell you which wholesale changes that you should make in your manuscript before a formal submission.

You can then go back to the drawing board and take all the time you need to bring your manuscript into structural compliance without triggering editorial fees.

Once you’re done with the main structural changes contained in the editorial evaluation, you can then begin the formal developmental editing process.

A typical manuscript evaluation will cost $499 up to a maximum word-count of 100,000 words. Larger manuscripts will be billed on a case-by-case basis.

Next Steps

Developmental editing is the first editing stage required to create a top-quality nonfiction book. If you’d like to learn more about subsequent editing stages, you may want to read my articles on content editing, copyediting and proofreading.

Good luck!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

Developmental Editing: Why All Nonfiction Books Need It

How to Properly Vet an Editing Company

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Copy editing services are essential for nonfiction books. As the expression says, “the devil is in the details,” and copy editors make sure that all the details in your book are accurate and error free, which is paramount to your credibility.

What Do Copy Editors Do?

Before focusing on how to find the best copy editing service for your book, let’s briefly outline the important tasks that copy editors must accomplish in order to ensure that your nonfiction book is factually and linguistically accurate:

1. Correcting spelling errors (e.g. using “too” when what was meant is “two”).
2. Correcting punctuation errors (e.g. using “I wanted to leave early, however I was forced to change my plans” instead of “I wanted to leave early; however, I was forced to change my plans”).
3. Correcting grammatical errors (e.g. using “He wanted to quickly finish the job before dark” instead of “He wanted to finish the job quickly before dark”).
4. Correcting syntax errors (e.g. using “The kids and me came first” instead of “The kids and I came first”).
5. Correcting capitalization errors (e.g. using “The Top Of The Mountain” instead of “The Top of the Mountain”).
6. Correcting hyphenation errors (e.g. using “Public-speaking events” instead of “Public speaking events”).
7. Identifying factually inaccurate statements (e.g. stating “Over 370,000 people die in road crashes each year in the U.S.” instead of “Over 37,000 people die in road crashes each year in the U.S.”).
8. Checking for proper wording (are there any casual or slang terms that are inappropriate for the target audience? are there any acronyms or abbreviations that need to be explained?).
9. Suggesting additional headings (are there too many paragraphs without a visual break?).
10. Flagging potential legal issues (e.g. libelous statements, copyright or trademark infringement, etc.).
11. Identifying anomalies (e.g. misattributed quotes, names of people or places that contain errors).
12. Checking for inconsistencies (e.g. enclosing a phrase with double quotes on one side and single quotes on the other).

Why Are Copy Editors Essential for Nonfiction Books?

Accuracy is a non-negotiable in a genre that is meant to inform and educate.

You can’t have factual errors in a book that represents your knowledge and documents your expertise. Your copy editor will be your best ally to ensure that your reputation and credibility are on solid ground.

Tips to Find the Best Copy Editing Service

Tip 1: Check Their Qualifications

Ask to see the resume of the editor that will be assigned to your book. You want to see a minimum of between 5 and 7 years of experience.

Copyediting is very knowledge-intensive and you want to ensure that the training timeframe of the editor is substantial (for example, they have to possess instant recall of the many intricacies contained in extensive style manuals).

Tip 2: Inspect Titles They’ve Edited in the Past

Ask for titles that they’ve edited before, so that you can get copies and read them. You’ll know that a book is professionally copy edited because you’ll quickly get a sense of its attention to detail.

Tip 3: Ask for a Free Copy-Editing Sample of Your Manuscript

The ultimate test is to give them a section from your manuscript to copy edit (2-3 pages). Ask them if they can produce a free sample – professional copy editors will more than likely agree to this request.

Tip 4: Check for References

If the above tips check out and you get a good feeling about the service, ask for 2 or 3 references that you can talk to or email with. Then ask the references about their overall experience and what the working relationship was like.

Tip 5: Ask for Their Terms & Fees

Finally, ask them to see a sample copy editing contract including their terms and fees. Read all of the contract clauses in detail, especially the termination clause. Make sure they have a realistic, non-onerous path to exiting the relationship should that need arise.

Next Steps

Now, you have a good foundation of what copy editors do and how valuable their contribution is to the nonfiction genre. Hopefully, this article will give you confidence when you interview services and help you on your search to find the best candidate.

Good luck!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

Developmental Editing: Why All Nonfiction Books Need It

How to Find The Best Content Editor For Your Nonfiction Book

Proofreading Rates for Nonfiction Books

How to Properly Vet an Editing Company

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Before you begin your search for book editors near you, it would be useful to clarify the different stages of editing that will come into play in your nonfiction book.

There’s a lot of confusion in self-publishing circles about the different roles that editors play, and this confusion gets compounded by the fact that sometimes the same editor may perform multiple roles.

So, to clear the air, I’ll describe below what the different editing stages are and why each one is necessary in order to create a high-quality nonfiction nook.

What Are the Different Types of Editors?

There are four distinct editing stages required to produce a top-notch nonfiction book, beginning with the 30,000-foot view of your overall book structure and ending on the ground dealing with the minutiae of checking for missing punctuation marks.

Each stage will play a critical role in the transformation of your writing from a first draft manuscript to a premium quality book that will be consistently reviewed with praise and thoroughly enjoyed by your readers.

Here are the four editing stages in order or priority:

1- Developmental Editing

The first type of editing that your nonfiction book will require is developmental editing.

In this stage your editor will look at the overall book structure (the 30,000-foot view) in order to assess if it’s adequate to support your main thesis.

Then, they’ll determine whether your flow of ideas, thoughts and concepts is laid out in the best possible way to address the needs of your target audience.

They’ll show you what works from the standpoint of your readers and then they’ll show you what doesn’t work and give you suggestions to fix it.

As the author, you’re simply too close to your book to be able to have an unbiased opinion, and the developmental editor will help you gain the necessary perspective so that you can “see the forest for the trees” and make objective decisions.

Don’t look at the developmental editor so much as a critic but as a coach who will lay out the overall strategy you need to follow for your book to achieve its potential.

There are two mechanisms that they’ll use to share their thoughts with you:

The Developmental Editor’s Letter

The developmental editor’s letter will tackle the biggest structural issues in the book and make suggestions so that you can take the necessary corrective action.

This action might entail re-writing certain chapters, swapping them around, writing new ones and even eliminating unnecessary sections of the book that don’t support your thesis and don’t add any value to your readers.

Once you’ve completed this major initial revision, your manuscript will have a much more solid foundation, strong enough to begin the second phase of developmental editing: page-by-page commenting.

Page-By-Page Comments

Here, your developmental editor will go through every page of your manuscript and write notes in the margin using the track-changes feature in your word processor.

These notes won’t be related to spelling, grammar and punctuation errors but to the actual content of the text.

For instance, they may point out that a particular sentence is out of place and should be moved elsewhere, of that a paragraph contains too many ideas and should be broken up.

Once your developmental editor’s job is done, it’s time to begin the next editorial stage for your book.

2- Content Editing

If developmental editing is about structure, content editing is about mechanics.

Now that the flow of ideas in your book is well established, it’s time to move on to the execution of those ideas. Your content editor will switch focus to readability, making suggestions to improve the clarity of your message.

For example, they’ll identify run-on sentences, misuse of words, overuse of words, repetition of words in close proximity, poor writing style, and so on.

They’ll also suggest the best placement for images, charts, diagrams, etc. in relation to your text in order to best support your ideas.

Once the content editing stage is completed, it’s time to perform copy editing.

3- Copy Editing

The copy editor won’t focus on book structure or mechanics, but instead on language accuracy. Their main goal is to ensure that there are no spelling, punctuation, grammatical or syntax errors.

As part of the copy-editing pass, they’ll also look for consistency in the use of capitalization rules, the correct use of hyphens, the correct use of numerals, etc.

If necessary, they will identify any factually inaccurate statements that need to be corrected by the author and point out inconsistencies in your text, for example if you’re referring to the same journal article in two parts of your book, but quoting two different journal issues.

In short, copy editors specialize in the application of accepted rules of style in the English language in order to create consistency for readers (for example, the vast majority of copy editors in the U.S. follow the Chicago Manual of Style or the Associated Press Style book).

4- Proofreading

The final editing stage, applied when there are no more changes to be made in the manuscript, is proofreading. This is the stage implemented when your book is complete and ready to go to print.

Before committing your hard work to the permanency of printing, publishing and distribution, you need to make sure that all the T’s in your manuscript are crossed and all the I’s are dotted.

In other words, you want to be certain that your nonfiction book is devoid of errors, omissions, typos and inaccuracies.

This is precisely the job of the proofreader. They’ll make sure that your book is free from:

• Punctuation, spelling, grammatical and syntax errors
• Formatting inconsistencies
• Incorrect references
• Inaccurate facts and figures
• Erroneous captions

Unlike most of us, proofreaders have the uncanny ability to laser focus on the language without getting distracted by the art.

In other words, the reason we don’t see as many typos as they do (at least the not-so-obvious ones) is that since we’re so focused on the narrative of the story, our brains will happily skip these minor speed bumps for the sake of our reading enjoyment.

Once the proofreading stage is completed, your book is ready to go to the printer!

Next Steps

Sometimes different editors will specialize in each stage, occasionally you may find a super-editor that can do it all, and sometimes you’ll find editors that are experienced in two of the stages.

So, be prepared to hire multiple editors, keeping in mind that the total editing cost may not change that much with fewer editors because all stages still need to be implemented for your nonfiction book to be the best that it can.

Good luck in your search!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to Grow Your Business Writing a Nonfiction Book

Learn 10 Powerful Writing Habits to Fast Track Your Nonfiction Book

How to Find the Perfect Writing Coach for Your Nonfiction Book

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Your book will be an extension of your professional credibility and your reputation, so you want to make sure that you hire top-notch editing staff to help you make your book the best that it can be.

I’ve written this article to help you go through the process of vetting candidate editing companies and make sure that you find the best possible match for your book project.

10 Vetting Questions to Ask

To ensure you get the best fit for your working style and your personality, I’ve compiled the following ten vetting questions to ask your candidates.

Question 1: What Are the Qualifications of Your Nonfiction Editors?

In this time of low-cost Internet self-promotion, anybody can claim that they have an editing company. Beautiful websites are easy to come by and their lower fees will be very tempting.

But since your professional reputation and your credibility will be directly linked to the quality of your book, it’s imperative that the editing company you hire employs experienced editors.

Ask for a list of qualifications of the editor or editors on staff that specialize in nonfiction and ensure that they have no less than 5-7 years of experience in the field or longer.

Question 2: What Titles Has Your Company Edited? Can I See Samples?

Next, ask to see samples of their work. Not just a few pages, but nonfiction book titles that are out in the market so that you can get them.

Ideally, you’ll want books in your niche, but if that’s not available, then any type of problem-solving nonfiction book will do. Begin by looking at the first few pages on Amazon using their Look Inside feature.

You’ll be able to read up to the book’s first chapter, or at least the book’s introduction. If you’re impressed by the editing quality and are considering hiring the company, buy a copy of the book and read it.

Makes notes about what you liked most about the writing. Was the book a page-turner? Was it compelling? Did it connect with you right away? Was the message laid out effectively? Did it prompt you to take action?

Question 3: How Do You Work with Authors?

Now, you need to find out how the company works with their clients and you want to make sure that they can adapt to your needs. For example, some authors prefer to rely on email communications. They need time to think things through before they communicate their ideas.

Some others need the immediacy of a phone conversation to trigger ideas in a brainstorming style. Some prefer to see a face in front of them so they feel more comfortable using video-calling apps.

The editing company should be able to adapt to you and not the other way around. In contrast, freelance editors can be much more restrictive and may demand a single mode of communication, which can be limiting for many authors.

Editing companies are more expensive because they have higher overheads, but they’re also much more flexible to work with.

Question 4: What Level of Editing Will My Manuscript Require?

As part of your outreach process, the editing company will ask you submit your manuscript draft so they can assess it. Experienced outfits can do this very quickly. Their goal is to find out what levels of editing your work will need.

At a minimum, you’ll need one or more copy-editing passes to correct spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. But more likely than not, you’ll first need a developmental editor to go through your manuscript.

Their job is to ensure that your ideas flow well, that the language is clear and that your book is structured in the best possible way to deliver your message to your target audience.

The final level of editing you’ll require is proofreading, to ensure that all T’s are crossed and all I’s dotted. The proofreading pass is the fine-tooth comb that not only catches typos but also verifies all your facts, figures and references for accuracy.

Question 5: What’s the Editing Timeline?

Editing companies work concurrently with a large number of authors, so you want to establish how long it’ll take them to fully edit your nonfiction book based on their current commitments.

You want to make sure that their timeline aligns with your plans, and you also want to set clear expectations from the beginning to ensure that there are no surprises later on.

Question 6: Do You Provide A Sample Edit at No Charge?

Next, make sure to ask for a sample edit of your manuscript. This could range from a couple of paragraphs to up to a page, or approximately 250 words.

This sample edit will give you a good idea of the general quality of their work, and also allow you to assess if they understand your niche and your target audience.

Question 7: What Are Your Fees and Terms?

Now it’s time to ask for editing fees and their payment terms.

You want full transparency on the issue of money, because requirements can change throughout the project and you want to make sure that the editing company is very clear on how they handle deviations from the original plan.

This is no different from contractors doing renovations on your home. Often times the change fees on home projects can as much as double your original estimate, and you want to make sure that you fully understand how they handle these situations so they can be managed appropriately.

Here’s a tip that’ll save you money: whenever you get feedback from your editor, revise your manuscript multiple times and don’t hand it back immediately after a single revision. Every time your manuscript goes back and forth, your costs increase.

Question 8: Can I See a Sample Editorial Contract?

Next, you need to ask them to give you a sample of their editorial contract. Established firms should have no problem fulfilling this request. You just want to make sure that you read all the fine print ahead of time.

Specifically, look out for the wording of the termination clause to ensure that you have a way out if things don’t go the way you expected.

Reputable companies will provide clients with clear ways to end your contract if you’re not satisfied with the work (provided they get paid for all the work performed prior to the termination) because they’ll want all client relationships to remain amiable.

Question 9: Can I Get 2 or 3 Nonfiction Author References?

As with any contract work, you’ll want two or three references from nonfiction authors that you can talk to. You want them to relate their full experience, from initial contact to the finished product.

You also want to read copies of their books in full or at least in part to ensure their comments match the end result, since you don’t get to pick who you talk to.

Question 10: How’s Your Rapport?

Finally, there are the non-tangibles. How’s your overall rapport with the staff of the editing company? Writing a book is a very personal affair and it requires that you become vulnerable in front of your editor.

You want to make sure that you feel very comfortable with them and that your relationship doesn’t trigger any defense mechanisms. Creative relationships require respect and compassion, especially on the part of the editor, so make sure you listen to your hunches before you make a hiring decision.

Next Steps

You now have a good foundation for vetting editing companies. The editor-author relationship is a very special one and it requires that you invest some extra time in the vetting process to ensure you both have a great fit.

Good luck in your search!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

Developmental Editing: Why All Nonfiction Books Need It

How to Find The Best Content Editor For Your Nonfiction Book

Proofreading Rates for Nonfiction Books

How to Write a Compelling Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Nonfiction Authors

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Before we get into the subject of proofreading rates for nonfiction books, it’s important that I explain the full range of work that professional proofreaders do and the critical role that they play for your book.

Sometimes we think that as authors we don’t need a proofreader, especially after working with an editor. After all, once we produce the final edited manuscript the book should be as good as it’s going to get.

In fact, after re-reading it several times and not having caught any more typos everything should be good to go… But the reality is that it’s hardly ever good to go at this stage, and here’s why.

Our brains are capable of processing missing information and filling in the blanks based on pre-established patterns in order to provide our lives with continuity.

So, for example, if you’ve read the phrase “There are other fish in the sea” a hundred times before, then chances are that if you’re reading a book at a good clip and you come up with “Their are other fish in the sea” your brain may not even register the typo.

The difference between a professional proofreader and the rest of us is that they’re trained not to get caught up in the “story” and remain focused on the mechanics of the words instead.

It’s like the director of a TV talk show, who’s calling the cues of melancholic music and different camera angles when the show’s participant breaks down into tears (along with a big part of the studio audience).

They can’t afford to get involved in the story, otherwise the quality of the show will be sub-standard – it’s no different with proofreading.

What Specific Tasks Do Nonfiction Proofreaders Perform?

Technically, proofreading is the final editorial stage for your nonfiction book before it goes into print.

When your manuscript is complete, with no further changes whatsoever, then it’s time to proofread it line-by-line with a fine-tooth comb.

What you want your proofreader to do is to get it as close to perfect as possible in relation to:

• Punctuation, spelling and grammatical errors (e.g. typos that were missed in all prior editing passes, like “there” instead of “their” or “its” instead of “it’s”).
• Formatting inconsistencies (e.g. your numbered lists are all numeric except for two or three that use letters instead).
• Incorrect internal references (e.g. in chapter 5 you reference a section in chapter 9, but in a previous editing pass chapter 9 became chapter 11; or you refer in one page to reference #31 at the end of the book, but there are only 30 listed).
• Incorrect external references (e.g. some titles of journal articles in your list of external references don’t match the title of the actual articles, or contain typos in your book)
• General fact-checking (e.g. you make mention in your book about an event that happened in 1952 when in reality the event took place in 1957. If you don’t corroborate facts and figures during proofreading, then your readers will do it for you and they’ll often let you know about it embarrassingly, usually via social media or reader reviews).
• Caption errors (e.g. three graphs and two images in your book have the wrong information in their caption.)

Typical Proofreading Rates by Word Count

Now that you know what a professional proofreader will do for you, let’s look at their rates.

The most common way for proofreaders to charge authors is by word count. Quite simply, they’ll multiply the number of words in your manuscript by a cost per word, or possibly the cost per 1,000 words.

Common professional proofreading rates can be expected to be between $25 and $35 per thousand words. So, for a 50,000-word manuscript (about a 200-page book) the proofreading cost will range between $1,250 and $1,750 depending on the experience of the proofreader.

If you see “freelance” rates per thousand words on the Internet that are much lower than $25 (say $5 or $10), then you likely won’t be dealing with experienced nonfiction proofreaders with many years of experience in the craft.

In addition to checking their credentials and their experience always ask for titles of books that they’ve proofread and check them out on Amazon using their Look Inside feature.

Now, if your book is full of facts, figures and research that need to be corroborated, the cost will naturally be higher.

In this case, you’ll likely be quoted by the hour in addition to word count.

Typical Proofreading Rates by The Hour

For research-intensive titles, proofreaders will do an initial scan of your book to get an idea of the effort required to fact-check it. This may require a significant time investment on the part of the proofreader.

Your cost per word won’t change, but you’ll be quoted an additional hourly rate to account for the time that the proofreader will have to spend finding and corroborating facts, figures and other information.

Qualified nonfiction proofreaders will charge hourly rates ranging from $55-$95 depending of the complexity of the text and the associated fact-checking, as they may need assistants.

By-the-hour proofreading is critical if your book is academic or scientific in nature, because as an expert in your field, every single fact and figure will be expected to be accurate.

Your professional reputation will be affected by the quality and accuracy of the information in your book. Don’t cut corners here, even if it increases your proofreading bill significantly.

On the other hand, if the facts and figures in your book are completely accurate, this will cement your status as an expert, dramatically increasing demand for your services, increasing demand by the media and increasing your public-speaking fees, among many other benefits.

Next Steps

Once your final manuscript is proofread, your book’s body will be print-ready. The next step will be to proofread your book cover (a typo of any kind on your book cover will kill your book sales and your reviews!).

The good news is that book covers don’t have a lot of text to proofread, so you can easily afford to check them many times over (preferably by different people, after your proofreader is done).

Other book sections to proofread are the front matter sections and the remaining back matter sections not already referenced (e.g. acknowledgments page, preface, foreword, glossary of terms, etc.).

Don’t skimp on these sections. Many people will read parts of your front or back matter before they begin reading the body of the book, and if they find a typo there, they’ll assume that the entire book is full of them.

All the best!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

The 7 Most Effective Book Promotion Ideas For Nonfiction Authors

Learn How to Market a Nonfiction Book to Get Solid Results

How to Find The Best Book Marketing Services For Nonfiction

How to Promote Your Nonfiction Book to Rank High on Amazon

Write an Effective Nonfiction Book Marketing Plan in 5 Simple Steps

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Hiring an experienced content editor for your nonfiction book is an important step in your self-publishing process.

As an expert in your field, your book will be judged alongside the books of other experts, especially published authors who already enjoy a high level of recognition. Therefore, at a minimum your book needs to be content edited in order to compete.

Now, top-notch content editors don’t necessarily come cheap, so to make sure you’re aware of the value that you’ll receive, I’ll outline below what it is exactly that they’ll do for your book, as well as share the most important questions to ask them when you’re shopping around.

What Will a Content Editor Do for My Book?

1. At the most basic, they’ll correct spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors in order to create a clean version of your manuscript.
2. Then, they’ll check your manuscript for readability and style, and make suggestions to improve clarity. They’ll do so by rewriting those phrases that are clunky and hard to read, adjust paragraphs that are unclear, shorten run-on sentences and so on, using the “track changes” feature in the word processor so you can see the before and after versions.
3. Depending on the manuscript, they may suggest that you rearrange your chapters to improve the flow of ideas throughout the book.
4. If they offer this proofreading feature as part of their services, they may also check any references you make to external sources for correctness and confirm the accuracy of any dates, places and facts quoted in your manuscript.
5. Finally, they’ll suggest the right placement for any illustrations, images, tables, or any other type of graphical element in relation with the text and the flow of ideas.

What Should I Ask Potential Candidates?

Question 1– First and foremost you should ask them if they have experience with nonfiction books. Nonfiction content editors require a specialized skill that editors for other genres may not have.

Questions 2 – Next, ask them how long they’ve been a content editor. As much as it’s a wonderful thing to support young talent, in your particular case you’ll need to err on the side of experience. You’ll want someone with no less than 5-7 years of experience editing nonfiction books.

The reason is that nonfiction books are intimately linked to your professional reputation. If your book is perceived to be amateurish in any way – especially the way it’s edited – it’ll have a negative effect on your credibility.

It’s assumed that when an expert publishes a book (and as a nonfiction writer, you’ll be deemed to be an expert upon publication) their book will be expertly written. You can’t risk cutting corners for the sake of getting a lower fee from a less experienced content editor.

Question 3 – Now it’s time to inspect the goods. Ask them for titles of nonfiction books they’ve edited and buy a copy online. Get at least two titles in this fashion. Read them and then compare them to bestselling books in your niche you’ve read in the past.

If the editor’s work isn’t in the same league, then you should move on down your list.

Question 4 – If your candidate passes the first three questions with flying colors, then ask them for two client references that you can talk to or at the very least email with. If they’re reluctant to provide you with references on the basis of privacy, then move on.

Authors are by nature public figures and it should be straightforward to get in touch with them – that’s part of how they do business. If you feel a roadblock coming, it’ll more than likely be about the editor than about the author’s privacy.

Question 5 – The next question is about timelines. Ask your content editor for the time frame they’ll require to edit your book based on their current commitments, so you can set your expectations accordingly – busy editors may require more time but the wait is usually worth it.

Question 6 – Finally, ask them what their fees and terms of payment are, and also ask them to provide you with a sample contract so you can check it out in advance. They should be okay with this request, unless they have something to hide.

Next Steps

As a nonfiction writer, you’ll need a top-notch content editor to be able to produce a book that can compete with bestsellers in your niche.

Fortunately, finding out who’s the best content editor for your book is quite simple. It all comes down to the quality of previous work that they’ve edited. If those books are great reads, then you’ll be in good hands.

Check to see if the editor’s name is mentioned in the acknowledgments. When authors are delighted with the work of their editor they’ll sing their praises, and this will be the ultimate proof you’re dealing with real talent.

Best of luck on your search!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

Learn How to Write Nonfiction: 12 Tips From The Pros

How to Format a Manuscript Like A Pro

7 Simple Steps to Writing a Powerful Nonfiction Book

Learn the Best Book Structure to Maximize Nonfiction Sales

Planning a Nonfiction Book? Use these 7 Pro Steps to Succeed

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

Developmental editing is important for all book genres, but it’s of critical importance for nonfiction titles. This is the type of editing that’ll make your book connect with your target audience in the most effective way.

As an author, your perspective is biased since it’s difficult to keep from becoming your own reader. Therefore, you might fail to realize whether something that works for you will also work for members of your audience.

This is the area where developmental editors shine. They’ll help you engage with your target audience while also bringing out your author voice.

In short, they’ll help you find success as a nonfiction author through a combination of audience connection, authentic writing, and compelling message delivery.

I’ll explain below what it is exactly that developmental editors will do for you.

What is Developmental Editing?

Whenever you think about editing, things like spelling, grammar and punctuation will probably come to mind first. This is the type of work that editors are typically known for. The text in a published book always has to be squeaky clean.

This is a role played by the copy editor, sometimes referred to as line editor. But while proper text makes for a clean book, it doesn’t necessarily make for a well-written one.

If your flow of ideas is confusing, if the arc of your book gets interrupted by sentences or paragraphs that seem to be out of place, if the reasoning in parts of your book is either too simplistic or too complex, then that’s where developmental editing comes in.

Basically, developmental editors take a 30,000 foot view of your book. For them it’s not as much about how you chose your words as it’s about the structure of your book and your overall message flow.

The truth is that as the author of your book you’re automatically too close to it to be fully objective.

A developmental editor will help you gain perspective and show your what works, as well as what doesn’t work, from the standpoint of the reader. Then they’ll make suggestions on what needs to be done so that you can fix the problems.

This feedback is provided through the following two mechanisms:

1- The Developmental Editor’s Letter

The developmental editor will first analyze your entire manuscript and write a letter where they’ll share their overall view of your book, and then go into more detail about what’s not working so that you can take corrective action.

Sometimes they’ll suggest that you swap the order of chapters, sometimes they’ll suggest that you create a new chapter between two existing ones and sometimes they’ll suggest dropping a section entirely, if it doesn’t serve the book.

The goal of the editor’s letter is to give you actionable information about your book’s structure so that you can go back to the drafting board and re-work your manuscript to bring it into compliance with their suggestions.

This process may need more than a single iteration in order to fulfill the spirit of the letter.

2- Editorial Commenting

The developmental editor will read the manuscript and write notes on the margins (making use of the “track-changes” feature in your work processor).

These editorial comments will contain specific feedback about the page’s content and won’t go down to the word-editing level.

For example, they may suggest that you break a paragraph into two or that you add a sentence with new ideas if they feel that this addition is needed to make your message clearer.

Or they may suggest that you move some sentences to the end of the chapter if they’re bringing up conclusive thoughts too early.

What they won’t do at this stage is to focus on piecemeal corrections to grammar, spelling and punctuation; that’s the job of the copy editor after developmental editing is completed.

There’s no point in focusing on copy editing when your book is in such a high level of flux, where many sections may soon disappear and many new ones be added.

Why Is Developmental Editing So Critical for Nonfiction Books?

Developmental editing is critical for nonfiction books because it’s the type of editing that focuses the most on your target audience and their needs.

As the author, it’s easy for you to be captivated by your passion in your subject matter and therefore lose perspective on how your message will resonate with your audience.

Perhaps your messaging is too elevated for your audience’s current level of understanding. A developmental editor will make recommendations on how to break your message down into bite-sized chunks your audience can easily digest.

Also, they’ll make sure that your book is always attuned to WIIFM (“what’s in it for me”). Your best solution for your audience’s problems will fall on deaf ears if it’s not worded in a way that makes them care for it.

As authors we get so engrossed with our solution and its potential to fix our audience’s problem that we often become overly technical or academic.

A developmental editor will help you find your authentic voice so that you can remain passionate about your subject matter while at the same time helping you serve your reader in a way that’s meaningful to them.

Where Do I Begin?

It depends on what stage you’re in your manuscript.

If you’re in the idea formation stage, you’ll want to engage your developmental editor at this point in order to help you flesh out your main thesis.

They’ll become a great asset early on by ensuring that you’re standing on solid ground and that your book is structured to carry your message to your readers in the most effective way.

If you’ve already completed your first draft by the time you read this article, then before you engage a developmental editor you’ll first need to execute an intermediate step, as shown below.

The Manuscript Evaluation

The manuscript evaluation is a shorter version of the editor’s letter. It’s a summary of the findings the developmental editor encounters when reading your draft manuscript.

This evaluation will give you their general overview of your book from the standpoint of your readers and they’ll also use it to assess your manuscript for overall strengths and weaknesses.

Then the developmental editor will recommend the initial major corrective actions to take, so you can implement these changes at your end without incurring extra billable time too early in the process.

Often times, authors will go back to work for a few weeks before the manuscript is ready for a full-on developmental editing pass.

Next Steps

Completing the developmental editing stage in your book project is a big task. It can be an emotional process, because you’ll have to learn to “kill your darlings.”

This is a phrase coined by Stephen King in his famous memoir for writers, meaning that if you fall in love with a section in your book that doesn’t fit the narrative, you’ll have to be able to put your ego aside and send it to the cutting-room floor if it doesn’t serve your book.

The developmental editing stage is also time consuming; this is not something that you can rush through. It requires your complete dedication to the ultimate goal of producing the best possible nonfiction work that you’re capable of.

But, this is also the most critical editorial stage for your book, because it’ll make the difference between a personal achievement that’ll be fully embraced by your audience and reviewers and a mediocre book that, while full of great ideas, is unable to communicate effectively.

When all is said and done, you’ll experience a deep sense of joy in knowing that your book will be truly of service to your audience in a way you never anticipated.

I wish you all the best on your editorial journey!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

Learn How to Write Nonfiction: 12 Tips From The Pros

How to Format a Manuscript Like A Pro

7 Simple Steps to Writing a Powerful Nonfiction Book

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

If you’re writing a book to grow your business you need to find a book editor that specializes in nonfiction. You need the type of editor who will not just provide creative feedback, address developmental issues and correct grammatical errors, but who also knows how to communicate strategies that persuade readers to act.

A Good Editor Isn’t the Same as the Right Editor

For this reason, a good “generalist” book editor, whether working freelance or for an editing or publishing service, will likely not be adequate for your book.

Now, a good editor will still do a competent job at face value, but that may give you a false sense of security because a well-edited manuscript always reads much better than an original work (whether the author is you or Malcolm Gladwell). Chances are, you’ll always be delighted whenever you get your manuscript back from a professional editor, regardless of their specialty.

But that doesn’t mean that you know how your readers will react to your edited manuscript. What a good nonfiction-book editor who works with business owners knows, which most average editors may not, is the very specific psychology of readers who buy those types of problem-solving books.

Your book readers…

…won’t buy your book to be entertained

They do, however, expect your writing to be engaging (better yet: captivating).

…have a clear agenda

They need your book to help them solve a specific problem in their lives or in their business. Your book must always satisfy that need.

…demand results from the actions your book is recommending

Your strategies and tactics need to be communicated in crystal clear way.

How Do You Find a Good Editor for Your Book?

You’ll probably begin by doing an Internet search. But here lies the paradox – the Internet can be the best and the worst place to find a qualified editor for your book.

When you do the search, you’ll find hundreds of websites advertising book editing services. Unfortunately, editing is one of those areas where anyone who’s trained as a writer can advertise their services as an “editor” in order to make money or pay their bills.

Don’t Shop for Editing Services as a Commodity

As such, many of these services will offer very low rates – but as the saying goes, “you get what you pay for.” The thing is, when it comes to editing a book to enhance the reach of your business there’s just too much riding on your writing to justify going for a low-cost solution – after all, you’re putting your professional reputation on the line and your audience will likely be very discriminating, especially when targeting decision makers.

So, you need not focus on cost per word (this is a secondary consideration) and instead focus on knowledge of your space, experience and fit.

Something else to keep in mind is that many reputable editorial services or freelance editors with a good track record will list nonfiction books as a genre, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have experience with nonfiction books created for businesses. Instead, they may only have experience with creative and historical nonfiction.

To make your search for the perfect nonfiction editor for your book easier, follow the six rules below and you’ll avoid a lot of disappointment:

6 Rules to Filter Out Bad Candidates

Rule #1:

If the editor has an extensive list of genres on their website, then they are positioning themselves as a jack of all trades, which won’t be a good fit for you.

Rule #2:

If the editor demands payment in advance in order to analyze your manuscript (the equivalent of paid diagnostics with your car mechanic), then take a pass.

Rule #3:

A professional editor will offer to provide you with a sample edit free of charge, say some paragraphs or a full page of text, so you can gain an early sense of the quality of their work. Editing is a significant investment of time and money and you cannot afford to have buyer’s remorse. If the editor is unwilling to supply you with a sample edit, then take a pass.

Rule #4:

If the editor is unwilling to provide you with a business author reference or two that you can talk to, then take a pass. Unfortunately, book editing is an unregulated industry that invites a lot of predatory behavior.

Rule #5:

If the editor is unwilling to provide you with a list of qualifications, or if the list is too thin (i.e. they are fairly new in the industry), then take a pass. There’s nothing wrong with helping out new talent, especially if you are writing a first book of fiction without much riding on it in order to develop your writing chops. However, your entire professional reputation will be riding on the quality of this edit so you can’t afford to be magnanimous here.

Rule #6:

Last but not least, ensure there’s a good connection between you and your editor. The writer-editor relationship is very close in nature.

As such, you need to work not only with a talented editor but also with an editor you can connect with, because the most impactful writing (i.e. the writing that “moves the needle”) must be true and authentic, and in order to be true and authentic when you write you have to be willing to be vulnerable. The last thing you want is for an editor to take advantage of your vulnerability because of some hidden agenda.

What Questions Should You Ask Prior to Hiring an Editor?

In order to make sure you hire the right editor, there are two sets of questions you need to ask.

The first set is meant for the initial interview and the second set is for after the editor has gone through your manuscript in order to give you an estimate of the total cost.

How to Prepare for Your Initial Interview

Ask Questions to Assess Their Experience:

1. Do you specialize in nonfiction-books written by business owners or practitioners?
2. What editing training do you have?
3. What’s your experience with nonfiction books for businesses or consulting practices; how many have you edited?
4. Could I see a sample of your work?
5. Could you provide me with one or two references that I can talk to?

Ask Questions to Assess How They Work:

6. Do you provide a free or paid manuscript assessment?
7. What’s your editing timeline for my project, based on your current workload?
8. What editing tools do you use?
9. What’s your editorial style?
10. Do you provide written notes with explanations and recommendations in addition to textual edits?
11. Do you provide time for ad-hoc questions and discussions with the author?
12. How do you communicate with authors (email only or phone and email)?
13. How do you exchange edits with authors?

Ask Questions to Clarity How They’ll Charge You:

14. What are your fees and your terms? How will I be billed?
15. Do you provide a written contract outlining your services, fees and terms?

Questions for Your Follow-Up Meeting (After the Manuscript Review)

16. What level of editing will my book require (developmental editing, line editing, copy editing, or proofreading)?
17. How many rounds of editing do you think my manuscript will need?
18. How long will it take to edit this book and ready it for publication?

Next Steps

Now you have enough background information to begin your search for the perfect business editor for your nonfiction book.

What to Look Out For

Take your time and ask as many questions as possible. A professional editor will be able to answer with ease each and every one of the questions listed above.

An inexperienced editor will have weak answers for some of the key questions, such as the experience question (No. 3), the sample question (No. 4) and the references question (No. 5).

In all cases tread carefully since this will be a significant investment on your part. In addition to taking all the answers into consideration, make sure to also listen to your intuition – only proceed if you feel that you can truly connect with the editor.

If you feel like you have to “walk on eggshells” whenever you talk to someone, move on to the next person down the list. When you find the right editor, you’ll just “know it” in your gut.

Best of luck on your search!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related articles I highly recommend:

How to Come Up With Killer Book Titles for Your Nonfiction Book

How to Write a Compelling Book Introduction that Will Move the Needle

10 Layout Tips That Will Glue Your Readers to the Page

5 Tips to Hire the Best Professional Writer for Your Nonfiction Book

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.