Book Sandwich, Hold the Humus

It's bad news to edit your own work.
Just look at this blog. 
It's probably a mess, but I'll never know because I wrote it. That's why writers and editors complement each other.

With a blog, the stakes aren't high. Assuming someone does read my blog, I bet they won't spot an error. Of course, I could fix an oops right away and deny its existence.

When you're self-publishing a book, whether it's printed or digital, there will be more barriers to fixing your content. And that's assuming someone reads it and lets you know about that error. If there's an egregious oops in the first chapter, how many Kindle sample readers will delete it from their devices immediately because they reason that it's probably riddled with barriers to their reading enjoyment? 

Writers, you are putting your ideas, time, and creativity on the line. In a lot of cases, you've agonized over your manuscript for years before deciding to share it with the world. Take one more month or even a week to let a professional editor do their thing. A professional editor:

• Makes sure you are making sense. Do your characters have consistent names throughout the book? Does the timeline work? Did you include all the details the reader needs to understand what's going on?
• Makes sure you don't sound silly. I bet your characters are not supposed to be eating humus. You probably meant to take out that note to yourself about expanding the description of the post office. That fight scene? Your character needs to get up before they get knocked down again.
• Tells you what kind of editing your manuscript needs. There's a big difference between proofreading, line-editing, substantive editing, and developmental editing. They all take different amounts of time and require different things from the author and editor.
• Adds quality to the final product in many ways. Consistent punctuation? You got it. Spelling errors? Gone. (It's worth noting that spell-check is often useless.) A suggestion for a detail you may want to add? Hmm. You'll be happy you considered it.

A professional editor does not (or should not):

• Rewrite. This is the author's job. Changing the syntax of a sentence, removing redundancy, or making a suggestion is entirely acceptable. Beyond that, it's the editor's job to point out opportunities for improvement.
• Make you feel dumb. You wrote a whole book. That is an accomplishment, and often a thankless one. Accept helpful and thoughtful critiques, but don't let anyone put you down.
• Discourage you from writing. Everyone has a story to tell. Telling that story takes time, but it is a worthwhile endeavor. Write your story your way, and then ask an editor to make sure it's clear and complete.

Writing is peanut butter and jelly. Editing is the bread that holds it together and makes it a sandwich. This is more than my sales pitch; it's my plea as a reader. Readers deserve finished books and nobody's first book draft is ready to publish. Think of your readers and respect them enough to put on that final polish.