by Jim
Hi Jim,
How are you?
I am writing to you because I read your WordPress blog that I am following. You have post about asking you questions.
I am new to writing, only been doing this for a year now and have about 30 stories, twelve of them I wish to put into a collection and publish as an eBook.
My question is, how do you find an editor? English is my second language and so I would like to have someone looking into grammar and sentence build.
I have looked around and found several editors but they are very expensive (the book is about 77,000 words long). The lowest I could find was around the $1,200 mark. Is that what it should cost or am I just not aware of the market?
Any answer would be appreciated and thank you for you time.
Sincerely,
Yakir garavelas
Hi Yakir,
I am doing very well, thank you!
You’re not alone, I’ve actually seen this a couple of times. A lot of editors are super expensive. It can be tough even when you see ones that are like $0.05/word, that adds up to a small fortune with larger works!
My advice would be to either go to Goodreads and either check their community for beta reading groups, or beta readers willing to work within your price range (some on goodreads do work cheaply.) Another thing you can do is visit a college in your local area and post a request with your contact information for an English major to do some editing work for you. Typically, college students will read/edit and they usually only charge $100-300 for it.
Your best bet is one of the groups. You’ll have to help by reading someone else’s work and doing edits there, but it will be well worth it.
Readers, how do you find beta readers for your books?
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU
Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!
-Jim
James Harringtons Creative Work 
Beta readers can be incredibly helpful! Although I have found it’s good to keep in mind your intended audience. If a beta reader doesn’t like fantasy and that’s what genre your story is in, than keep in mind some of their comments may not work for your type of audience.
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Generally………..I don’t. I should.
I have had pro edits on a number of works, but some is raw, or you might say my own best effort. As for Beta readers, I have not found good help there; but that is just me.
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Thanks for the tip! I’m in need of new betas, so this helps.
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This is great advice! Thanks!
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I agree. Beta readers are invaluable if you can find ones that read your genre and know something about writing.
And if you’re trying to find them, or editors, you might be interested in the Writers Club. It offers to help authors find beta readers and even gives its members free editing as a perk. 🙂 https://www.patreon.com/AWritersPath
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