Self-publishing is a great option to get your book published and listed on selling platforms. You get benefits like a bigger portion of the royalties and more creative control. What you won’t get, however, are the services that the publishers provide. Specifically, you’d miss out on free editing services for your written work.
Just because you are a self-publisher doesn't mean that you have to do everything on your own. You can hire an editor that will work with you. There are thousands of editors out there willing to do the job. And finding one to work with is fairly easy with the help of online marketplaces for digital services.
Reedsy and Fiverr are just two of the top marketplace for freelancers. Both have their pros and cons when it comes to hiring an editor for your book. This article will attempt to help you decide where to start your hunt by providing you with everything you need to know about these two marketplaces.
What is Reedsy?
Reedsy is an author service firm that is based in London. The freelancers from this platform offer all the services that an author can need to write a book from the very beginning of the project to the end. This means you’ll be able to find a professional that can help you develop your story, edit, and proofread your work. But it doesn't stop there.
If you need someone to do the querying for you, list your titles on selling platforms, and market your work, you can find that person on Reedsy too. In operation since 2014, Reedsy has grown to be the go-to place for authors to hire freelancers.
If you are looking for an editor, this firm offers five different types of book editing services. And you’d have access to over 2,500 international editors. You can easily find an editor that specializes in the genre of the work that you need to be edited.
Main Advantage of Hiring from Reedsy
One of the reasons why authors prefer hiring from Reedsy is that the company takes care of the vetting process. It only hires professionals with a minimum of five years of experience in book editing.
What’s more is that they prefer those who previously worked for publishing giants such as Hachette, Harper Collins, Penguin/Random House, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster.
These professionals already know how publishing companies operate and what they look for. They can use that knowledge to give your work a huge advantage.
Getting hired as an editor by this company is so hard that it is said to reject 97% of the applicants. So, you will get to choose from a pool of the best editors in the world if you decide to hire your editor from Reedsy. But this brings us to the main disadvantage - the price of the service.
Main Disadvantage of Hiring from Reedsy
Because the professionals that you can find on Reedsy have more experience, their rates tend to be on the high side. Since Reedsy allows freelancers to set their rates, the price may be out of the budget of most new authors.
But if you are willing to make that investment, you are assured that your work will come out strong and polished.
To give you an idea, an author posted his experience with hiring an editor from Reedsy. For his 80,000-word fantasy novel for young adults, he was quoted a price of $2200. With the 10% fee that Reedsy tacks on, the total came out to $2,420.
That’s quite steep even for experienced authors. But, he attested that it was all worth it in the end because he got the result that he wanted. In fact, at the end of the blog entry. The author wished that he had hired an editor right from the beginning because it would have saved him so much time.
What did he receive from the editor? According to the author, the editor sent him a 7-page editorial letter. This contains all the feedback that the editor had about his work.
Thanks to all the editing suggestions and tips, he was able to rework the novel and make it more appealing to readers and publishers alike.
Besides the editorial letter, he also got a marked-up manuscript. This was not as useful to him though since he got all the feedback he needed from the letter itself. Finally, he also received a 1-hour post-mortem call.
This last part was scheduled a week after he received his editorial letter so he was able to rework some problematic portions of the novel.
The post-mortem call served as a follow-up regarding what he was able to do based on the feedback he received. As a bonus, the editor also edited the author's query letter for a manuscript competition.
What is Fiverr?
Fiverr is another online marketplace that seeks to connect clients with freelancers. It was launched in 2010 and has grown to become a top source for low-cost providers.
Fiverr allows clients to pay for Gigs (freelance services) in advance. One of the services offered by freelancers on this platform offer is editing.
Main Advantage of Hiring from Fiverr
The main advantage of hiring an editor from Fiverr is that you stand to save a lot of money. Because some of the freelancers there do not have years of experience, then they are bound to charge less for their services.
Anybody can post their offering on this platform and the company doesn’t have a vetting system. So, if you are just looking for somebody to look at your work, maybe give some feedback, and make sure that it is readable then it is okay to hire here.
Some commenters said that hiring from Fiverr is like gambling. You may end up with a good freelancer, or a bad one. Some very good professionals on there offer competitive rates because they are just starting on the platform and want a few gigs under their belt before adjusting their rates.
And even if you make a bad deal, given that the price they charge isn't too steep, the only thing that you would be wasting is your time. However, this can also be viewed as a bad thing because the reason you are outsourcing the task is so that you can save time.
Why Not Outsource Editing And Formatting Your Book?
Editing a book is no easy feat. Not only do you have to make sure the story is flowing well, but you also need to make sure the grammar and punctuation are spot on. If you're not confident in your editing skills, it's always a good idea to get a second opinion. And that's where Fiverr comes in.
Fiverr is an online marketplace where you can find freelancers to help with all sorts of tasks, including editing and formatting books.
Whether you need someone to do a quick proofread or a more comprehensive edit, you're sure to find a Fiverr seller who can meet your needs. And best of all, the prices are very affordable.
Main Disadvantage of Hiring from Fiverr
As mentioned, anybody can sign up to be a freelancer on Fiverr. So, even if a person has very little editing experience, he or she can claim to be able to do so and be potentially hired for that task.
This is why you need to be patient and go through the hiring process more carefully. Since Fiverr does not vet its providers, you have to do it yourself.
One way that you can perform your vetting process is to read the reviews posted by a potential hire’s former clients. Communicate with the freelancer before agreeing on anything. You have to lay down what exactly you want to be done so that you don’t get shortchanged in the end.
Conclusion
Which of the two online marketplaces is better if you are looking to hire an editor for your written work? Reedsy is the winner. It allows you access to thousands of editors who are highly experienced professionals that have worked with the best publishing houses.
These are the freelancers that can help you work your book into something that publishers will want to buy. However, if you are not in a place to make a huge financial investment, Fiverr is a decent enough alternative.
Even if the freelancers from this marketplace are not vetted, you can still end up making a good hire. You just need to take a closer look at the editors’ reviews. Communicate with your potential hire and make sure that you are on the same page when it comes to what you expect to happen.
