To exist or not to exist…
To act or not to act…
To be or not to be… there we go.

Did Billy Shakespeare have an editor? Did editors exist back then?

In book writing and publishing it is unheard of for a book of any type to get into print without being gone through letter by letter by a professional editor. In the world of self-publishing it is less the norm.

And this is what makes the difference. Some writers may be able to craft a good story and put it into words with minimal typos, grammar problems or punctuation mistakes. But… that’s highly unlikely. My first book, The South Coast, is in the hands of my editor now and the first round of edits have been highly insightful. Not only will a good editor proofread but will look at the story, consistency and point out anything that simply doesn’t jive. This can also be two different editors, a copy editor and a content editor.

I’ve made a strong effort not to put the typical cliches into my detective novel, in regards to the main character as well as the story arc. There was one element I knew was skating that line, if not downright flaunting the fact that it was a cliche. And thankfully she called me on it.

Self-publishing is becoming huge. eBook sales are growing as the number of devices to read them on keep coming out and even making quality print versions has become financially possible to writers like me who wish to self-publish rather than go the traditional route. This should make a great market for independent editors to market to these writers, further growing the self-publishing industry until the traditional big New York publishers really have to step back and look at their royalty offerings as well as the very long lead time to printing.