Normally, I'm the one sending out quotes and commenting on prospective clients' work, trying to showcase what I can do. However, for the first time in a long time, I was on the other side of the search for an editor. And I will gladly admit that it highlighted a few things that were a bit concerning about my sector of the publishing industry.

In today's post, I want to describe the process that I went through to find an editor for my own work, explaining how I was able to weed through the noise, and how I came to my final decision.

I feel this post will be insightful for writers and editors alike.

Be advised that this is one of my longer posts, but it is what it is.

The Initial Ad

In the past, when looking for a contractor that I could add to my team, I would leverage my contacts and networking connections. I would ask for recommendations and go from there.

This was how I found my cover designer. She was new and just starting out, but we just connected during one of my regular writing group meet-ups. So, I took a chance. And I was ecstatic with the gem I had found.

If she ever gets booked up to the point where she's unable to take one of my covers, I'm going to cry. That said, she's helping me put in place procedures and design specifications, in case she's unable to do the work for me. (And those documents make her life easier too.)

The copyeditor I've used for my last few books was also found through my networking connections. And because we had known each other for years, I was able to barter for services, doing a service-swap. However, she's been trying to retire for a few years now, so she can find the time to do some writing of her own, and I keep pulling her out of retirement. But I want her to write her stories! We keep talking about them, and I'm waiting as patiently as I can before I can get my hands on them (I love the concepts and ideas so much). But every time I pull her out of retirement for another editing job, I manage to derail her writing mojo. I can't keep doing that to her. I love her too much as a person to do that to her.

So, with my former copyeditor's encouragement, I embarked on the journey of finding a new copyeditor.

Instead of leveraging my normal networking channels, I chose to go for someone who I have never met before, ultimately placing an ad through the EFA job boards. I was warned that I would be inundated with responses, but I was prepared for that.

As soon as the ad went live, I had over 50 responses in my inbox. I went to lunch with my former copyeditor (for a general chit-chat), and there were another 10 responses waiting for me when I got home.

Needless to say that I had the folks at EFA take down that job posting later that same day.

But I looked at every single email that came in. Not everyone would. Some writers would get so overwhelmed that they would look at only a handful of them. But not me. Every single one was opened and reviewed. And I built a spreadsheet to help me keep track of it all.

Out of 60+ responses to my ad, I asked for sample edits and quotes from only 14 of them. And it was because the other 46 (and some) editors made it far too easy to say, "No."

So, let's break it down into the many reasons why email responses were an instant no from me.

Reasons I didn't ask for sample edits

There are a few reasons why I didn't bother asking for a sample edit from those 46 (and some) editors... and some of them were stupid business-related issues.

Gmail Address for Business Email AND No Website

A significant number of the inquiries came in from a Gmail address. I was okay with that, because getting a custom domain email is an expense that some editors might not be ready for. (Hell, even my cover designer uses Gmail.) However, when there was no website or other online presence to back up the fact that this is a real person, I had to say, "No," right away.

I feel bad about this, because many of these instant no's included resumes to show their qualifications. But with no website (and only a Gmail address), I had no way of confirming that this impressive resume wasn't put together by ChatGPT.

Look, I get it. Self-hosted websites and custom domains can be very expensive. BUT you can get a FREE website that uses a subdomain of WordPress, Wix, Weebly, or any other countless website hosting providers. There is ZERO excuse to not have a website, particularly in today's market.

So, no website equals no work from me.

Custom Domain Email AND No Link to Website

This was just another type of the problem mentioned above. Sure, I could have slapped that custom domain into the address bar on my web browser to see what came up, but I'm lazy, folks. And with 60+ responses to my ad to be looking at, I'm going to go with those who make my life easier.

For those editors who didn't make it easy for me to find their website, it was an instant no from me.

Comic Sans as the Email Font

OMG, I laughed so hard when I saw the email that came in using Comic Sans as the body font.

Let's face reality here: We've been making jokes about Comic Sans since the 1990s (and yes, I am old enough to remember making those jokes myself). No one considers it a serious font anymore. So, how can I take any business email seriously when it's using Comic Sans?

Yeah, that was an instant no. I didn't even read the email.

Mansplaining About the Editorial Process

Yes, there are some writers who do not understand the editorial process. I'm not one of them.

I have been a professional editor since 2015. I think it's safe to say that I know how the editorial process works. I might not know how you define the differences between copyediting and line editing (because trust me, every editor seems to have their own definition on that), but I don't need to be treated like a child when you describe what it is you do.

In fact, even if I didn't have that preexisting knowledge, I don't need to be treated like a child at all.

There is a difference between explaining something and mansplaining it, and it all comes down to tone. As a developmental editor and writer, I'm very good at recognizing tone and subtext in a passage. And the mansplaining makes me growl.

Instant delete.

Boastful Claims of Experience… Highlighting the WRONG Experience

There were many editors who said that they had 20+ years' experience with editing, and I gave many of them a good shot. But there were a few who had similar claims of experience that highlighted the wrong experience.

One person said that they "trained with Ray Bradbury." Um… There's a few things wrong with this statement.

1) Ray Bradbury was a writer, not an editor.

I know from personal experience that writing and editing are two very different skill sets. Not only that, developmental editing (the type of editing I specialize in) and copyediting (the type of editing I was seeking an editor for) are also very different skill sets. Just because someone "trained with Ray Bradbury" doesn't mean they can copyedit.

2) Ray Bradbury was writing in an era when the popular writing style was VERY different to what the market demands of today's writers who are just starting out.

There are many "historic" writers, writers who helped to define genres, who I feel would have never been published if they had to face today's market. Ray Bradbury just happens to be one of them.

Experience in the WRONG Genre

This particular issue manifested itself in two different ways.

For a few of them, in the main body of the email, they included a list of books and genres that they frequently worked with. On the list was often romance and romantasy—two genres that I don't write. And some of them specified nonfiction and memoirs—not the genres that I was hiring for.

However, for other editors, it was their portfolios on their websites that told the story of the wrong genre.

For one editor, all the books listed were for nonfiction, women's fiction, and memoirs. Nope, wrong genre.

And for one editor, all the books listed were children's picture books or women's fiction. Again, wrong genre.

Yes, there are going to be English rules that are irrelevant of genre, which is a huge part of copyediting. However, there will also be genre-specific nuances for speculative fiction, like how to treat telepathic communication (something not found in other genres). For high-action stories, there are also copyediting tricks that are important that play with pacing on a sentence level.

An editor who doesn't understand those nuances isn't going to be a good fit for the book. And trust me when I say that editing romance is NOT like editing thrillers.

The Website Nightmare

For every website that I visited, I was looking for two things: the About page (looking for the qualifications and background) and information about the services offered (does the editor actually offer the services that I'm after?).

Most websites were simple and clean, making them easy to navigate. However, one website in particular decided to be "clever" with their menu and page titles to the point that I struggled to find what I was looking for and quickly.

There is something to be said about creating a website that is on brand. And there is a point where you can take the on-brand concept too far.

In this one case, the About page was called Autopsy. And I only know this because I started randomly clicking links to see if I could find the information I wanted. (Not a good start.)

The Services page was called The Gory Details. To make matters worse, each of the "services" was given the name of a tarot card… with no detailed description of what the services actually were, as in what level of editing was incorporated. This made it impossible for me to determine (or backup their email-based claims) that they actually offered copyediting.

At that point, it was a no from me. However, because I could, I decided to take a good nosy of their website, knowing that it was a perfect example of "How to NOT create a website."

• Red links on a red background.
• Using fonts for headers that are difficult to read.
• A mix of fonts and page layout designs (i.e., no consistency within the theme design)

And the part that really tops off how off-putting the website was:

• Professing that the editor works in dark fiction, like horror, but all of the covers shown of previously edited books were all children's picture books (with their bright and cheery covers), romance, and woman's fiction. Sorry, but those covers are not supporting the dark fiction in any way.

Yes, you want to be on brand with your messaging, but it's vital to remember that a website is not for you. A website (any website) is for the purpose of passing information to those who visit the website. You might know where to find everything, but can visitors to your website easily navigate around? And will they be able to easily read your content?

If potential clients can't easily find the information they are looking for, they will move on to the next editor on the list.

Collaboration of Editors

A few of the responses to my EFA ad came from editing collectives or editorial businesses with a lot of editors on staff.

For me, this was a no, because I don't want to work with a group of editors. I want to work with an individual. This was a personal choice that I didn't want to compromise on.

Editors have their own style, just like writers have their own style. For the sake of consistency, you want to try to stick with the same editor as much as possible across an entire series. If I had chosen to work with an editing collective, there was no guarantee that I would be able to get the same editor year after year, project after project.

Granted, there could be something that comes up, and the editor that I chose to work with on Book 1 might not be available to work on Book 3. However, the chances of working with the same editor for all books are higher if I work with individuals, not a collective.

Sample Edit Weeding

So, after the initial culling, I requested sample edits from 14 editors. And weeding through that lot… Well, some editors again made it super-easy to say, "No."

The editor who changed their mind

There was one editor who saw the sample and immediately responded with a "No" to me, saying that they weren't interested in the project after all.

I can totally respect that. There was a reason why I sent the first 50 pages (14,000 words) of the manuscript, regardless if they asked for 1000 words or 2000 words. I needed the editors to see what it was they were really facing—beyond the opening pages.

And the opening pages were filled with violence. Not everyone will be up for that.

Did they actually edit anything?

There were a few sample edits where I questioned if they actually did anything.

In one case, all they did was change the formatting of the chapter title, change the formatting on a few phrases to italics, and added a few paragraph marks.

Um… That's not copyediting—at least not how I define it.

The reality here is that I know my writing is clean… but it's not that clean.

The editor who wanted to rewrite my story

There was one editor who didn't just do copyediting on the sample. They rewrote it!

And they wanted to charge me US$8000 for the privilege of having them "strip my voice" completely out of the manuscript.

If you want to know exactly how I feel about someone rewriting my story and stripping my voice from it, go and read my blog post about writing fight scenes and high-action sequences. The irony in this: The passage that was used for the sample edit is the exact passage that was discussed in that blog post.

While my email response to their sample edit was very businesslike, you don't want to hear the swearing that went on when I saw what they did to my story.

Charging me to use my style sheet

The book that I'm getting edited is not the first book that I've published, although it is a first-in-series. However, because I've been down this road (a few times now), I have a house style guide that details how certain things are to be treated, particularly when the Chicago Manual of Style is not clear on the topic. The house style guide also includes preferred spellings for certain words (like alright vs all right… both of which are acceptable, regardless of the variant of English you use).

One of my tasks before sending the manuscript to the chosen copyeditor is to expand the house style guide to a series-specific style guide that also includes identifiable features of characters and locations for consistency checks. And I need to add the non-English words to the document that are specific to the manuscript, complete with any accent marks that are to be used in the spelling.

Let me make this clear right now for any writer reading this post. It is not necessary for writers to have their own style guides. But if you have published multiple books (or will publish multiple books), they are incredibly handy documents to have. They help to avoid any confusion that might arise because of things like alright vs all right.

All copyeditors will create their own style guide to work from for a given project (or at least they should… it is part of their training)—which is how my house style guide came to be in existence in the first place. My original copyeditor asked a lot of questions about these word treatments that had multiple accepted forms… and I had to make a choice for consistency. We documented it, so all books published under my imprint can see the same word treatments.

But when an editor insists on charging me extra (significantly so) to use my style sheet… That didn't sit well with me.

The editor who didn't respond in a timely fashion

I wasn't expecting immediate responses to my request for sample edits. But to take over a week to get back to me—with no email to say that you got my message and will take a few days to go over it—is not a good sign.

This is about understanding communication style. And I looked at the number of business days that had passed.

If I send something to somebody on a weekend, I expect that it will be a few days before I hear anything in response. It's the weekend, and editors are allowed to take the weekend off! But an entire week? That's 5 business days.

I actually didn't start going through the sample edits until roughly the third business day after I sent the last request for a sample edit (and I didn't send the requests all on the same day). It took me a full day to go through the sample edits, and I made my decision by the end of the fourth business day.

Now, had the person who took a week to send me a sample edit actually sent an email saying that they got my message but that it would take them a few days to go over it, then I would have waited for their sample to come in before making a decision. But I had no communication from them at all for 5 business days. I just assumed that my email got lost in spam, or that they weren't interested and were ghosting me.

As it turns out, their sample edit wasn't to the same caliber as some of the other sample edits that came in, so I wouldn't have chosen them anyway, but thank you for making it even easier to say, "No."

The HARD Choices with the Assessment

Just by looking at the sample edits, I was able to easily weed the number of editors worth considering to a handful. Then came the really hard assessment choices.

One editor's sample edit really showed their years of experience, shifting word order around to create a faster feel to the sentence (rather important in a high-action sequence). One editor's suggestions resonated so well with me that I smiled as I saw the magic they wove.

In the end, I managed to narrow it down to two editors. The quotes from both was roughly the same, and the proposed edits were similar. But one of them brought that something extra that the other editor didn't.

The copyeditor I ultimately chose for The Eagle Order has a forensic science background. And in her sample edit, she called me out on my incorrect usage of the word bullet.

I'll be honest here. When I first saw those comments, I got really angry, because I was so sure that I was using the term correctly. (The gun nut I worked with all those years ago when I was first writing The Eagle Order managed to grill it into my head that they were magazines and not clips.) But a quick internet search… and I felt sheepish for my initial rage at the editor's comments. She was right—100% right. And of all the editors that I asked for sample edits from (of all those who chose to edit that particular passage), she was the only one to pick up on the error—an error that my characters would never make, even though the author (i.e., me) did.

Knowing that she was able to pick up on that kind of error, I knew she was exactly the editor that this manuscript needed.

And if I had found myself in a position where I couldn't easily decide between the two editors that I was considering, I would have sent the two sample edits to my former copyeditor, seeking her advice on who should be her replacement. But I didn't need to go to that step.

Finding the right editor is not easy

I know I've written about the sorts of questions that you need the answers to before hiring an editor, but even if you ask the right questions, finding the right editor for you and your writing is not an easy task.

It takes time, patience, and a willingness to set aside your attachment to your writing long enough to see the value that an editor is offering. (I'm still a little embarrassed with myself regarding how I reacted to my new editor's comments on the word bullet. I thought I was beyond that precious-snowflake response, but clearly, I'm not.)

And for the editors out there reading this, I know how hard it is to find work—because I'm in a famine phase too. But are you doing something that would result in an instant no from writers? Seriously, you want to make it really hard for the writer to pass on your services. That way they know in their heart that they're getting the right editor for them.

The Eagle Order is out in August 2026

The Eagle Order, the novel that I was seeking a copyeditor for, is due to be released in August 2026. Watch this space for more details as they come to hand.