Many writers think they can edit their books themselves. There’s no denying the fact that you can learn copy editing and edit your book.
But as you’d rely on a designer to get a book cover, you should also rely on a professional copy editor to help you with editing. Keep reading this blog to find ten irresistible reasons why you should hire a copy editor.
1. Get Published Easily
Getting published is a tedious process that requires you to check a lot of boxes. Even if you fully understand the publication process and have literary agents in your circle, you still have to write your best to get published.
One of the ways you can increase the value of your book and get published is to collaborate with a copy editor.
For example, if you are located in New York, working with New York copy editors can help you get your book published by any NY publishers. You can find copy editors online who will fix developmental, grammatical, and factual mistakes in your book.
2. Make Your Writing Concise
Nobody would like to read your book if you can’t write concisely. Your sentences and thoughts must be coherent to make your book interesting. People will find your book “boring” if they can’t find a sense of connectedness in your writing.
How can you identify whether your book is concise or not? The only way to find out is to get the opinion of a skilled copy editor. They can tell you whether your book needs any changes or not. Other than fixing mistakes in your book, a copy editor will also teach you how you can write better in the future.
3. Provide Value to the Reader
As a writer, you have to be focused on providing value to the reader. Nobody would ever want to read your new books if they didn’t find any value in the last book they read. A simple way to check if your book provides value to the reader is to get it checked by a copy editor.
Copy editors understand both the perspectives of readers and writers. They know how to add or remove sentences from your book to make it more appealing to your readers.
4. Preserve Your Reputation
If you are recognized as a “thought leader” in your industry, you must ensure that your book is factual and free of any mistakes. It will raise many questions about your credibility if you provide wrong or misleading information in your book.
A skilled copy editor can read your manuscript and ensure it’s free of errors. They will point out any topics in your book that might negatively affect your reputation.
5. Make Your Writing fun to read
If you want to sell more books, your writing has to be “interesting” for your readers. No matter how much knowledge you have about the topic you’re writing for; if your writing style isn’t fun, you won’t be able to get the fame you deserve.
It might be hard for you as a writer to identify whether your writing is fun. Therefore, you should let a copy editor read your book to identify if it’s good for your readers. A copy editor will point out the mistakes in your writing expression to help you write in a more engaging and entertaining way.
6. Learn From a Skilled Professional
Being a writer doesn’t mean you only have to stick with “writing” all your life. You should enhance your skills and develop others skills that can help you as a writer.
Getting your work reviewed by a skilled copy editor will help you enhance your editing skills. The more you work with a copy editor, the easier it will get for you to edit your books in the future.
7. Improve Your Voice
If you want to increase your readership, you have to improve your voice as a writer. Developing your unique voice will allow you to get distinguished and sell more copies of your books.
It can get hard for you to improve your voice. If you don’t have time to enroll in lengthy courses that will teach you how to fix your writing mistakes, a simple option is to hire a copy editor. The copy editor will help you enhance your writer’s voice for a book that you are going to publish.
8. Save Your Time
Fixing mistakes in your manuscript can take a lot of time and effort. Even if you are a skilled editor, you must set aside time from your daily schedule to review and edit your manuscript. It’s better to rely on a copy editor to eliminate mistakes in your manuscript before you send it to publishers.
A skilled copy editor knows how to do their job in the shortest possible time. They will set realistic deadlines and let you know when they can finish reviewing your manuscript.
9. Get Honest Feedback
Every writer wants to get feedback after completing their books. Writers usually send their final manuscript to their friends and family in hopes of getting honest feedback. There’s nothing wrong with sending your manuscript to the people you trust to get a review.
However, if you think any “casual reader” will be able to point out serious mistakes from your book, you have got it wrong.
Only a skilled person who has helped other writers publish better books in the past will be able to identify deadly mistakes in your manuscript. You should hire a copy editor if you truly want to make your book more valuable and want your book to get published in no time.
10. Avoid Depending On Software
Many writers rely on writing tools to fix mistakes and improve their sentence structure. Writing tools have undoubtedly revolutionized the way we write and publish books. However, if you only rely on a tool to find mistakes in your manuscript, you are making a deadly mistake.
It’s better to rely on a skilled copy editor than on any writing tool. A copy editor has far more knowledge and experience than a “bot” and can help you find mistakes you might have missed.
