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Hire an Editor, But Do This First
Ever since self-publishing really became a thing back in the early aughts with the increased popularity of print-on-demand and ebook technologies, more and more people have been writing fiction. I think that’s good. I think humanity needs all the stories, all the ideas we can get.
The truth is, though, that no one will read what you write if you make mistakes. Three misspellings on the first page will do it for me; I’m out of there. Insufficient character development, an implausible plot, not enough forward momentum will do the same thing.
These aren’t things you’re thinking about as you’re writing, of course. You’re driven by a need to get the words on the page, to tell the story, to do the work. And that’s all necessary. But at the end of it, I’m afraid, our vocabularies sometimes differ.
You may call that a book. I call it a first draft.
I will never stop telling my clients and students that they need an editor. Editors are practiced, not just in grammar and usage, but also in detecting plot holes, ensuring the flow of the material, and myriad other ways to lift your story to the level where readers will enjoy it.
