by Arthur Vidro
Back in my newspaper days, we often worked late to complete an issue before it got shipped (by car) to the printer. We didn’t receive overtime. The reason, I was told, was because we were professionals. A full-time professional gets paid a flat rate per week (or year), and whatever needs to be done, he or she does. If we put in a ton of extra time, we could take some “comp time” off in return. But not extra pay.
I was happy with the set-up, happy to consider myself a “professional.”
In today’s world, popular websites for finding freelance help treat editors as if they were fast-food workers. I’m grateful instead for the Editorial Freelancers Association website (and perhaps one or two others), where editors are vetted, pay dues, and treated as the pros they are. If you seek a quality editor, the EFA is a good place to start.
All this passed through my mind the other day when I received an inquiry from a writer asking my rates to edit a short mystery story. He wondered if I could quote him a flat (not hourly) rate for the assignment, even though, like so many writers, he was reluctant to let me see his writing until after we had an agreement.
It is hard to price an editing job sight-unseen. Would you call up a dentist who didn’t know you and ask, “I want my teeth looked at and, where necessary, fixed. How much will you charge?”
But that’s the world we live in. Editors, thanks to many freelancer websites and software programs, are seldom treated as professionals.
I wrote back with a slew of questions, explaining I needed more information before I could quote a flat fee. The parenthetical additions are for readers of this publication and were not sent to the eventual client.
Do you know the word count? I’ve received descriptions from authors using page counts, but many of those authors don’t double-space their pages, making it that much harder for the editor to give accurate price estimates.
Is it a first draft, or more of a finished story? Obviously a first draft almost always requires more editing. And yes, some wannabe authors consider a first draft a finished story.
Are you looking for sections to be rewritten? No problem, I love doing it, but it’s an extra service not everyone wants.
Is there a deadline to be met? Vital to know ahead of time.
Are you open to constructive criticism? If not, I’ll bite my tongue and return to you a piece that is clean without its necessarily being good.
Do you want a critique of what works, what doesn’t work, and why? Again, not a problem, but it’s an extra service that some writers don’t want.
Or are you content merely to let a language pro correct any spelling, punctuation, and word usage errors? The sort of editing that makes some regard editors as less than professionals.
Professional Editing vs. Fast-Food Editing
Not every writer requires an editor, but nearly every writer would be helped by having one.
For instance, a fine writer I know writes stories set in the past but doesn’t always know the language of the times or the exact history. So he relies on me to point out anachronisms. For example, modern phrases such as “level the playing field” and “grow the economy” would not be spoken by characters in a story set in 1925. Nor should a story set in 1935 make reference to the Hindenburg disaster, which occurred in 1937.
Some novelists make changes as they write and move material from section to section and can’t keep track of all the little details. Yet, consistency matters. A professional editor can handle that task. Most of the so-called editors hired via fast-food-format websites won’t bother even trying to maintain consistency in a manuscript.
I once wrote to a novelist, after explaining the editing:
- [Villain’s] occupation is stated once in the first half, as a locksmith. It is stated once in the second half, as his having an electronics store. I left both occupations alone. But you’ll have to choose one or the other. [Of course I cited the page numbers involved.]
- [Protagonist’s] hometown started out as Adamson. Somewhere along the line it changed into Adamsville. I changed all the references to read “Adamson.” If I guessed wrong, they’ll have to be changed back to Adamsville.
- There is one place where a piece of cardboard is mentioned, but I never understood its significance. Although most or nearly all of my comments can be ignored if you choose to, that cardboard element should be cleared up.
- The chapter numbers need fixing. Sometimes they go up, sometimes not, sometimes they skip or repeat…soon enough I decided to focus on the words, not the chapter numbers. But this matter requires the author’s attention.
Likewise, all other details–a character’s birth year, height, eye color; how a character addresses another (by first name, surname, or nickname); even a building’s architecture–should be noted and monitored by a quality editor.
If the author has Michele (with one L) ordering a vegetarian platter and glass of port on page 25, and then has the same Michelle (two L’s) finishing the last of her sirloin steak and beer a few pages later, it’s up to the editor to sound the alarm.
A professional editor will do that.
Just don’t expect such attention to detail from a fast-food-editing website where editors get jobs primarily by underbidding the others.
Arthur Vidro is a freelance editor/proofreader/writer and has sold eight short stories and hundreds of newspaper articles. He may be reached at vidro@myfairpoint.net. This article first appeared in the Spring 2018 issue of Calliope, whose ISSN is 2691-1388.
