The Benefits of an Editorial Assessment

Whether you’re submitting traditionally, or self-publishing,  I cannot stress enough the importance of having your manuscript professionally edited. It is analogous to having a polished resume on hand when applying for a coveted job; you want to put your best foot forward. To that end I’ve found it well worth the investment  to hire the best editor you can afford - I’m just keeping it real. That’s coming from someone whose mother was a high-school English teacher. She was a stickler for grammar, punctuation and, let me not forget, enunciation – one of her pet peeves. I recall I used to hide her pens, rather than suffer the indignity of seeing my letters, short stories, and juvenile poetry attempts slashed, burned, and altogether destroyed with red ink.

I shared on a previous post that on one occasion, I was not  vigilant enough with editing my query letter. I spotted a glaring grammatical error less than a minute after I’d hit ‘send’ to a potential literary agent; an agent I’d particularly wanted to impress. Needless to say, I did not get an RSVP. I’ve since learned enough to make the following suggestion: If you write fiction, not only should you have your manuscript professionally edited, but also your query letter; and if your genre is non-fiction, that pertains to your manuscript, synopsis, and book proposal as well.

In 2009, I wrote a novel about a young teen-aged girl navigating through the Philadelphia foster care system. Upon completion, I decided I wanted an Editorial Assessment done, and found via Reedsy.com, an in-house editor at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency, in London, England. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will share the editor’s (E) assessment, as it might be of value to other writers.

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