I Think I'm Getting Ready to Do Something Dumb (and Expensive)

[Minimalist]

I don't understand "women's intuition" but yours is talking to you loud and strong, Rhonda.  Get some other estimates.

[KittyAnn]

Well, a kudos from The Valkyrie works in your favor. Now how do I contact this Poca? What are her/his credentials?

Lol his credentials are that he is pretty smart and he was the only one that would help me edit my book :p I was just playing around. Poca would probably murder me for enlisting him to do all that again.

Maybe not....he loves read everything

[pocaracas]

Hehe.... poca... riight... could be, but his time is limited to a few pages a day, so be prepared to wait.
Friends and family are usually good for proofreading this kind of stuff, while also providing nice criticism, although they may be biased, as they know your background and can understand some things that you too find obvious, but others won't.

[mlmooney89]

Yeah in all seriousness a friend or family member that has a good grasp of basic grammar could help. I had a lot of things that Word wouldn't fix, like you had said, such as when I decided to change what I was writing but my brain went faster than my fingers were typing so Poca would be like uh these are all words but it's like you put two sentences together that make no sense.

I agree editing your own work is near impossible so it's either find someone as wonderful as Poca or you will end up paying a lot. My quote for an editor (basic editing meaning only grammar, no continuity) was over $2k and I was like ffffuuuuuccckk that.

[rskovride]

I'm glad to see that this thread is about editing. I was off to the rescue with my vast experience with doing dumb and expensive things, only to find out that I cannot help at all.

[Ravenshire]

Editors are expensive, but absolutely nessecary, especially if, as it sounds, you intend to self publish. If you're going the self publishing route, ask yourself two questions, and be harshly honest about the answers. First, do you wish to actually make money from your book? Second, and more important, do you think it will sell, especially without a publisher doing the promotion for the book?

If the honest answer to both of those questions is "yes," the hire the best editor you can afford. There is a glut of self published works available, both on the 'net and in print right now, ranging in quality from abysmal to pretty darned good. The best of these, and coincidentally, the ones that sell best are typically well edited.

On the end, it's your book, your money and your decision, but every one of the best selling authors Kit mentioned paid for editors. They just had the cost included in the expense of going through a publisher.

[Martian Mermaid]

You aren't feeling right about this, perhaps it's not right.
Try a different editor.

[Rhondazvous]

Yeah in all seriousness a friend or family member that has a good grasp of basic grammar could help. I had a lot of things that Word wouldn't fix, like you had said, such as when I decided to change what I was writing but my brain went faster than my fingers were typing so Poca would be like uh these are all words but it's like you put two sentences together that make no sense.

I agree editing your own work is near impossible so it's either find someone as wonderful as Poca or you will end up paying a lot. My quote for an editor (basic editing meaning only grammar, no continuity) was over $2k and I was like ffffuuuuuccckk that.

Oh, fuck the hell out of that. And it's really crazy when they ask for hundreds or even thousands of dollars then send me an email with a typo or a sample where they correct the grammar in character dialogue.

So I'm thinking about finding a graduate program for fiction editors and maybe making an arrangement with a professor to give a student credits as well as a reasonable stipend from me. How much did Poca charge you. Or I can ask him, since he's right here.

[brewer]

By the inch?

[mlmooney89]

He did it as a friend. But it wasn't really anything official. I sent him a copy of my book and was like dude read this. He then pointed out all of my mistakes and I said he is my new editor lol.