Everyone needs to have his work edited even once in his life. An editing company can polish the work of a beginner, improve the writing of a mediocre or average writer, and proofread the work of an expert with an unbiased eye.
There’s nothing shameful about having an editing company look over your college entrance essay or manuscript since its almost impossible to be completely objective when revising ones work; what is shameful is when you’ve gone all the trouble to hire one but still ending up with an unprofessional paper.
If you’ve decided to hire editing services for your work, use our checklist below to do it right the first time around:
Amount of Writing Experience
All professional editors were writers once. You need to know the writing background of the editor to determine his capabilities in performing the task. To write a business proposal, he must have adequate experience in business writing. Anything less than three years is not just good enough. Lastly, ask if he can furnish references.
Amount of Editing Experience
Besides writing, the editor must also have sufficient experience working as a professional editor. Ask samples of his work its better if he can supply you with a before-and-after example to gauge his editing abilities. Again, ask if he can provide you with references.
Involvement in an Industry
An editor will be able to write and edit better if he was also a businessman once. Having been involved in the industry on a professional basis will provide him with certain information that a mere observer may not be privy with. Having more knowledge on the business will enable the editor to understand the works he’s revising more clearly, and consequently be able to edit them with a more discerning eye.
Credentials of the Editor
Ask about the editors educational attainment and other credentials that he has. Credentials are further proof of an editors level of experience in his chosen field. Of course, make sure that you verify whatever credentials he does mention because he might just be lying about everything.
Types of Services Offered
People have various reasons for needing to hire editing services. Make sure that the editing firm you choose to transact with is able to provide the services you’re after. Examples of types of services offered by most editing firms are supplied below:
Ghostwriting If you have a story to tell or a paper you need to do but you don’t have the right words at your disposal, you can hire a ghostwriter from an editing firm to write everything down for you. With a ghostwriter to help you out, your work will still be solely to your credit. Ghostwriters aren’t credited with bylines because they are only there to help you pick out the best words for your writing.
Proofreading Maybe all you need is someone to check your work for any typographical or grammatical errors. If so, a proofreader is the best person to help you out. Clients have various needs when it comes to proofreading; some want all errors to be automatically corrected and substituted while others prefer their mistakes to be simply highlighted but leave all the revising to them. If you have specific preferences in this matter, make sure your editing firm knows about it beforehand.
If your work lacks substance or hasn’t enough facts to support its claim, and editing firm can help you out by researching extensively about the subject of your paper.
Publishing Guidance Maybe, you don’t need any help when it comes to writing. Maybe, all you need is a nudge in the right direction and have your book published. If so, an editing firm is still capable of helping you in this situation. They can help you create an outline and proposal for your book, find a literary agent to represent your work, or give you suggestions about that publishing firms to choose.
How Long and How Much
Alas, we come to the two most important bases of our decision: how long will revisions take and how much in total will it cost? It’s okay to go a bit over the budget if your reasons are valid but just make sure that they are, indeed, valid. Expect to pay extra if you have a rush deadline to meet.
Lastly, if you expect to have various needs for editing services, it’s better to choose one that’s able to provide for ALL of the services you’re after. Hiring a different company for each editing service you need is not only tiring but more costly as well in the long run.
