This time last year, I hired a developmental editor to give me some feedback and edits for the manuscript I’m currently querying. It was an overall great experience, and one I’d definitely repeat and recommend to others!

However, it’s not a cheap experience. I paid $2,500 (in installments) for a 140,000 word manuscript. You may spend more or less–it depends partially on your word count, and partially on the editor’s discretion.

Do I Need a Developmental Editor?

You should look into hiring a developmental editor if you feel your book is mostly done, but you’ve taken it as far as you can on your own. I recommend being on at least the third draft, and being satisfied with all of the characters, plot points, twists, and themes. (Not to say a developmental editor won’t make suggestions in those areas!) Developmental editors make suggestions about the content and structure of your manuscript–they won’t do things like check your grammar or explain how to format dialogue.

I used the platform Reedsy, which I’m told can be a little more expensive than finding an editor on your own (say, through Facebook groups), but I chose Reedsy because 1) I have no idea how to go about finding and vetting an editor, and 2) it has one of the best interfaces of any website I’ve used. Reedsy makes it super easy, and all your communications and documents are in one place. If I need to revisit anything later, I just log in via Gmail and there it is.

I created my brief, including the word count, genre, when I wanted feedback by, and a little about myself and the book. I then went through the database of editors, filtered them down to ones that said they represented my genre, and picked 5 that seemed like a good fit in both personality and resume, and sent them the brief. Four responded with price quotes and what the final review package would look like (one said she didn’t have time to provide feedback in my specified window), and I chose one of them.

Who Did You Hire?

I won’t share the specifics of the person I hired on here, since I don’t have her permission to advertise or make promises on her behalf. However, she was a wonderful help with a good sense of humor, so if you’re also writing LGBT+ fantasy and looking for a recommendation, please contact me and I can point you in the direction of her Reedsy profile.

My editor and I talked shop a little, mostly some of the finer details of how she was going to review my manuscript (are Microsoft Word comments okay? did I want her to read the query letter, too?), and then I sent the doc, bit my nails, and waited.

No matter how much you’ve edited or how many of your beta readers loved your book, you will spend this time assuming your developmental editor is going to tell you your book sucks and you should give up entirely. Of course, even if the book is pretty bad, as a professional they should give you helpful feedback delivered in a, if not kind, at least not roast-level way.

When she was done reviewing my manuscript–this took about 7 weeks–my editor sent me two documents. The first was the manuscript itself, with her thoughts sprinkled throughout via comments. She commented about once every other chapter, and I would say they were about 2/3 constructive (pointing out when a character’s actions seemed OOC, or when I had been inconsistent with how I referred to the in-universe governing body, etc) and about 1/3 highlighting passages, lines of dialogue, or chapter cliffhangers that she really liked. These positive comments were very helpful as well, as they gave me good grounding points when I started editing the rest of the manuscript around it.

The other doc was a 10-page, double-spaced letter summarizing her overall thoughts and general critique themes. The two major changes she suggested were:

• Shorten the manuscript itself (which I did, from 140,000 to 126,000 words)
• Shorten the timeline in the book (originally, the story took place over 3 years; now, it’s a little less than 2)

Both of these changes we significant work, and they weren’t as straightforward as “cut Chapter 7” or “add more dialogue to the party scene.” Sure, she made some suggestions along these lines, but developmental edits are as a whole pretty thematic. You have to be prepared for some very broad and potentially labor-intensive suggestions, and you have to be able to take in the feedback, keep the things that are useful to you, and creatively apply them to your manuscript. But hey, being creative is how you got here in the first place, right?

What Are Some of the Nice Things Your Editor Said?

Not going to lie, when people say nice things about my writing I briefly contemplate getting them tattooed on my body. But instead, I’ll flex on some of the compliments from my editor in this little side box:

• “[T]the whole opening.  It manages to be lovely and dark at the same time.”
• “The dialogue.  It is whip smart, true to character, and is as fun to read as it is to listen to the Gilmore Girls. “
• “The humor.  It’s SO funny.  It’s gentle and real.”
• “You describe hot boys very well.  Lol.”

I’ve worked with a developmental editor twice, so I have some experience, but I’m by no means an expert. If you have questions, I’m always happy to answer how it worked for me, or to be a second set of eyes to make sure your Reedsy brief is clear, or help you define exactly what an editor might mean by this or that comment.

Anything I didn’t answer here? Feel free to comment or reach out.