Learn How to Edit? Or Outsource? (Fiction)

[Selfy]

There's an interesting debate, at the mobile-app part of the forum, between learning to program and outsourcing it. Should I learn to program or outsource it?

My dilemma is similar: should I learn to edit fiction or outsource it?

By editing, I meant copy-editing which includes line-editing. The story goes that I've been producing fiction books, some outsourced and some I wrote myself, and recently embarked on a quest to improve my writing skills. I decided to learn the fundamentals, hoping it would give me an edge; but the more I learned, the more I realized how little I knew about writing rules. Run-ons and comma splices and dangling modifiers, to name a few of my errors, littered my sentences. That was basic stuff, I thought.

My thinking is that learning fiction writing is similar to learning a programming language: both are skills that could be cultivated. But at the same time, these skills could also be outsourced. I can easily outsource the editing. Problem is how do I know if it is good editing if I don't know what good editing is? How can I pay someone to edit when I just learned about dangling modifiers? Will the editor create more bugs?

In summary, my fastlane highway forked. In one road, I could take an online course on copy editing while being more involved in the editing process -a process that adds quality to the final product but is time consuming- until I reach editing proficiency. And in the other road, I could leave editing alone and focus my time on marketing and building a scalable system. So.. should a fastlaner learn to edit fiction or outsource this function?

 

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[Lauryn]

For velocity, outsource.

For skill and precision, self-edit.

At the end of the day, either can work. A good editor I had took my story and made it really pop and sizzle. But my budget was constrained, so I couldn't use him on some of my other work. I decided to own it and just write, publish and keep it pushing. When I can afford him - or someone I like - I will go back to editing through them.

 

[Digamma]

As all things, it depends.
Becoming a good writer is a lifelong process. If what you want to do is to write, learn to write, and find great editors because you can't really edit yourself.
If you are hustling Amazon or something, then outsource both.

 

[Aimee]

If you really want to become a good writer, I'd suggest both are necessary. Editing is different to programming in that the English language barely changes as time progresses. Once you've learned how to edit it's a skill for life, whereas programming is something that you constantly need to refresh to stay current.
Right now I'm doing both. Reading books ('The Elements of Style' by Strunk and White is by far my favourite and I'd recommend it to anyone, 'On Writing' by Stephen King is informative, interesting and entertaining, and I've found a hard copy of 'The Chicago Manual of Style' to be a great reference) helps me to learn the craft in theory so I have more of an idea what I'm doing and make less mistakes, but I often find criticism from other (more experienced) people on my own writing to be even more eye-opening.

 

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[Digamma]

Once you've learned how to edit it's a skill for life, whereas programming is something that you constantly need to refresh to stay current.

I partly disagree. While it's true that you only need to learn the principles once (as it's true for programming, anyway), a skill needs to be practiced to stay sharp or it will lose it's edge.

But hey, the point of your post is golden: editing is a great skill to learn for a writer. It makes you better, no doubt about that.

 

[Aimee]

I partly disagree. While it's true that you only need to learn the principles once (as it's true for programming, anyway), a skill needs to be practiced to stay sharp or it will lose it's edge.

But hey, the point of your post is golden: editing is a great skill to learn for a writer. It makes you better, no doubt about that.

Ah yes, I definitely agree, but I guess you need to keep refreshing any skill! I was trying to say that the changes in the English language are not as rapid as those in programming. I think I just worded my post badly.

 

[Selfy]

As all things, it depends.
Becoming a good writer is a lifelong process. If what you want to do is to write, learn to write, and find great editors because you can't really edit yourself.
If you are hustling Amazon or something, then outsource both.

I plan on outsourcing the editing eventually. My theory is that having proficiency in editing will help me make better decisions in the long run. For now, I will be editing most of the works myself.

 

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[Hicks]

I plan on outsourcing the editing eventually. My theory is that having proficiency in editing will help me make better decisions in the long run. For now, I will be editing most of the works myself.

I would recommend doing the editing yourself at the beginning. Then when you have the books looking how you want them to you can get someone to replicate it for you. But I'd start off doing it if you are not doing the writing....if you are writing then maybe you need a second opinion.

 

[Selfy]

I would recommend doing the editing yourself at the beginning. Then when you have the books looking how you want them to you can get someone to replicate it for you. But I'd start off doing it if you are not doing the writing....if you are writing then maybe you need a second opinion.

I'm doing the editing myself. Problem is that when I edit, I take forever because I want it to shine! It would have been better if I wrote it myself. It's really unsustainable for me to keep editing the way I do.

I'm also looking at developing my plotting skills. So on top of editing is PLOTTING. If this is what MJ s refers to as the 'process' to success, then I am paying it double time.

-- How you like em apples?

 

[Hicks]

I

I'm doing the editing myself. Problem is that when I edit, I take forever because I want it to shine! It would have been better if I wrote it myself. It's really unsustainable for me to keep editing the way I do.

I'm also looking at developing my plotting skills. So on top of editing is PLOTTING. If this is what MJ s refers to as the 'process' to success, then I am paying it double time.

-- How you like em apples?

I feel your pain. I'm sure it takes me longer for me to edit than it does for the writer to write it. However What I've been doing is send the edited text back to the writer so they can see what im aiming at. I think that after a while they will hone it down. I'm in non-fiction though.

 

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[Selfy]

Edit Strategery on a shoestring.

For every day you write, you are a different person; thus to edit efficiently and on the cheap try to spread your editing days to refresh your mind. How? Get your manuscript all the way to an ebook, editing and polishing the best our can, but before you hit publish, let the book marinate for a week. Then come back to it. Edit it out

Either way, for the newbs:

There are two types of editing in fiction.

1.) Content editing - they edit the structure of the story (add scene delete scene, change scene, etc)
2.) Line editing - they catch bugs in your sentences. (their = they are)

I don't do any content editing, but I line edit the hell out of my works, replacing verbs, trying to catch a rhythm. Ooga booga. Ooga? booga.

I decided not to outsource my editing, on the basis that I am not mainstream, just a bottom feeder serving an underserved market; however when I hit the novella length fiction, I won't hesitate get line editing done.

PS. Writing correctly the first time saves you the trouble of editing.