Francis Berger
  • Blog
  • My Work

Why Most Self-Published Writers Don't Hire Professional Editors

10/28/2013

2 Comments

 
Though I have not been on the receiving end of any such criticism myself, I am intrigued by the constant criticism self-published writers get from some readers concerning the quality of editing in some self-published works.  Some readers are very quick to suggest the author should have hired a professional to proofread the novel before putting it on the market.  This is good and, for the most part I believe, well-intentioned advice.  Nevertheless, it comes off sounding a little flippant at times.  Why don't most self-published authors hire professional editors?  I don't care for the expression, but I would say the answer to this is one a classic no brainer.  Money. 

Money is the main reason why most self-published writers do not hire professional editors and proofreaders. Ninety percent of self-published books have sales of less than one hundred copies in their first year of release - this does not make the hiring of a professional editor a very cost effective option for most self-published authors. 

To illustrate this point, let's create a hypothetical self-published author and call her Bertha Hack.  Bertha has sold 50 print copies of her 75,000 word novel Vampire Loins on Fire for which she has received a royalty of $4.00 per copy.  Her ebook sales are considerably better.  It has sold 100 copies and Bertha has received $1.00 for each copy sold.  So Bertha's total royalties for her debut novel is a whopping $300.
  
Now, let's turn to what most editors and proofreaders charge.  Amazon's Createspace offers a basic copyediting service for what is considered a very reasonable price.  Send your manuscript to Createspace and an editor will check over the manuscript for basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes.  For this service Createspace charges $160.00 for up to 10,000 words or .016 cents per word for anything over 10,000 words.  Since Bertha Hack's novel clocks in at 75,000 words, her editing job will set her back $1200.

So, if Bertha had submitted her work to a professional editor, she would still be $900 in the hole for Vampire Loins on Fire.  A high price to pay just to appease a few readers who are error-sensitive. Now some might argue that Bertha would have sold far more books if she had hired a pro edit it, but this is pure conjecture.  In fact, I think it's utter horseshit.  There are too many terribly written and terribly edited self-published bestsellers out there that prove that the quality of editing has very little to do with sales most of the time. 

As for me, I plug away at proofreading bit by bit on my own because I cannot at this stage in the game afford to pay for professional editing.  My book, The City of Earthly Desire comes in at 230,000 words.  Using the Createspace service as a gauge, it would cost me about $3400 to have the text professionally edited.  I care about the quality of my work, but I also like to eat and buy my kid diapers. 

The good thing about self-publishing and print-on-demand is you can make changes to the text at any time and as many times as you want.  I have uploaded two proofread versions of my novel The City of Earthly Desire since its release a year ago.  Each version is a little bit better than the one before.  I'm hoping this next one I will complete in a week or two will be almost perfect.  And even if it isn't, I think I'll be able to digest a criticism or two concerning editing, were they ever to come my way.     
2 Comments
Cynthia MacLean link
4/4/2016 21:38:23

I enjoyed your article, and its golden nuggets of truth. Well worth the read.

Reply
Francis
4/5/2016 21:22:08

Thank you for the kind words.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Blog and Comments

    Blog posts tend to be spontaneous, unpolished, first draft entries ranging from the insightful and periodically profound to the poorly-argued and occasionally disparaging.
     

    Comments are moderated. Anonymous comments are never published (please use your name or a pseudonym). 

    Emails welcome:

    f er en c ber g er (at) h otm   ail (dot) co m
    Blogs/Sites I Read
    Bruce Charlton's Notions
    Meeting the Masters
    From The Narrow Desert
    Synlogos ✞ Aggregator
    New World Island  
    New World Island YouTube
    ​Steeple Tea
    Berdyaev.com
    Adam Piggott
    Fourth Gospel Blog
    The Orthosphere
    Junior Ganymede

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Picture
    A free PDF is also available in My Work. 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.