Self-publishing: Why an editor is essential
If you’re thinking of self-publishing your book, you might be questioning whether you need an editor beforehand, or whether you can skip that step completely. In my view, editors are an absolutely essential step in the self-publishing process for lots of reasons.
What do editors do?
There are three major types of editing: developmental editing (focusing on broader story- and structural-based edits), copy/line editing (sentence-level editing), and proofreading (checking for final errors before publication).
Each editing stage here is very specific. There’s a lot of work involved with each step, but ultimately, each round of editing focuses on strengthening, honing, and fixing certain areas of your manuscript. The outcome is a professional, polished manuscript that you can publish with confidence.
You can read about what’s involved in the different editing stages in more detail below:
- What is developmental editing?
- What is copyediting? and What is line editing and do you need it?
- Line editing vs copyediting: What’s the difference?
- What does a proofreader do?

Why you need an editor if you’re self-publishing
To ensure your book is professional quality
In traditional publishing, all books go through the three sets of edits described above to make sure they’re ready to be released. It’s part and parcel of a publisher producing a solid product for readers.
In self-publishing, as the author, you’ve decided to go it alone – which is commendable, and very exciting! But it also removes something of a “safety net”, which is the publisher playing a role in ensuring your book is as strong as it can be, free of factual mistakes, inconsistencies, grammatical errors, and so on.
It’s okay, though – because as a self-publishing author, you can hire an editor. And these editors can provide the same level of service to self-published authors. For example, I’ve worked with Big 5 publishing houses, and I work with self-publishing authors all the time. Just because you’re going it alone doesn’t mean you can’t work with an experienced editor to produce a high-quality book.
To build trust with readers
Sadly, there’s still quite a lot of stigma surrounding self-publishing. Many people still view it as a “lesser” option because some manuscripts are rushed to publication riddled with errors.
This has had a knock-on effect on readers, too. Some readers have become very reluctant to pick up self-published books due to bad experiences: paying for books that they think aren’t very good, or are too full of mistakes to really finish.
But if you can produce a high-quality book that impresses readers – something an editor can help you with – readers will keep coming back to you for more in the future!

To save time and effort in the long term
Even though you will need to invest time and money in editing initially, it can actually save you time and effort in the long term! Why? Well, because a well crafted, well-edited book requires fewer revisions.
Authors who are self-publishing can learn a lot from an editor, especially when they’re new to the craft of writing. As they progress in their craft and in their careers, their manuscripts are likely to be much “cleaner”, which typically means the editor needs to make less suggestions or revisions. Of course, this doesn’t mean that all future books will be perfect, but the writer will usually need less help with craft-related issues.
To reduce negative reviews
I should stress that working with an editor does not mean you’ll never get a negative review! All books get negative reviews because tastes are so subjective. Don’t believe me? Go and look up your all-time favourite book on Goodreads, and click into the one-star reviews.
But working with an editor can help to reduce the number of negative reviews you get. The more your work is strengthened and improved, the more likely people are to enjoy it. This is true for both your story and for things like errors in punctuation and grammar. Readers notice these things, and they will leave a bad review for a book that distracted them with endless typos and mistakes, even if the story was okay in their eyes.
To increase marketability
A polished and well-edited book is much more likely to attract attention on the very competitive self-publishing platforms. Aside from that, an editor can actually help you understand where your book fits in the market.
So many authors I work with don’t know their genre or age category – or they think they do, and they’ve got it wrong! Genres and age categories have very specific writing conventions, and an editor can help you make sure you are placing your book in the right category – or advise you on how to revise your work to fit into the intended category.

The risks of skipping a professional edit
You can choose to skip over editors – but there are risks involved!
Mistakes, inaccuracies, and errors
Even if you use tools to help you catch mistakes, these tools can miss things and can be inaccurate in a way that a fully trained professional editor wouldn’t be. This can mean that your book ends up littered with factual mistakes, inaccuracies, and errors.
It can also be very difficult to spot mistakes in your own work, as you grow so close to it over the period of writing. Relying on your own eyes to catch all problems at all times won’t work. You may end up with lots of continuity errors: timeline errors, characters’ eyes changing colour halfway through, characters sitting down when they were previously standing, and other, wider glaring plot holes and inconsistencies.
These problems are common in any manuscript, but the key is, if you work with an editor, you can eliminate them. Trusting yourself to fully edit your work at every stage of the process is risky. All writers need a fresh pair of eyes!
Structure and flow issues
Editing doesn’t just fix errors! It can help you to improve the flow and structure of your manuscript at a broader level. If you know you struggle with structural issues such as where to break up chapters or scenes, skipping an edit can lead to a book filled with pacing issues, odd transitions, or a jerky narrative structure.

Negative reviews and lost sales
I mentioned earlier that hiring an editor doesn’t guarantee positive reviews. This is still true. But the more unaddressed issues there are in your manuscript, the more likely you are to attract negative reviews from displeased readers. Remember that readers are investing their money into your book, hoping for a positive reading experience. So if they encounter a book filled with mistakes, or a confusing structure and flow, that’s more likely to lead to negative reviews.
This can have a knock-on impact on your sales. If readers like your book, they’ll shout about it to friends and family and other readers, who may go on to purchase it, too. If they dislike it and think it was rushed to publication, they may shout about that – but that particular form of shouting won’t lead to extra sales! In fact, it can discourage them.
A damaged reputation
Readers are usually quite forgiving if they don’t enjoy one book by an author, and they may give you a second chance, if there are aspects of your writing they like. (Although if there are so many errors they can’t fully grasp the story, that may not be the case.)
But if readers continuously remember you as an author who puts out low-quality, rushed work, or releases books riddled with errors, this can harm your reputation.
Missed opportunities for growth and learning
Working with an editor gives you the chance to gain professional feedback and learn from an experienced professional in the publishing industry. This can be a very valuable experience for lots of writers.
Editors aren’t just machines of correction. They develop relationships with their writers, help them to learn and grow in their writing craft, and offer insights on how to improve in the long-term. They cheerlead for their writers, help them tackle writing challenges, and encourage them to keep going. Working with an editor can be a wonderful opportunity to really learn and develop – an investment in your writing craft and your career.
Even though hiring a professional editor requires an investment of time and money, I think it’s an essential step for self-publishing writers who want to publish a quality book. It can help you to make sure that your book stands out for all the best reasons, which can help you grow a readership for the rest of your career.
If you’d like to work with me on your book, visit my editorial services page for more information.
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