What kind of editing does an indie author need?

The answer is, as always, it depends.

In an ideal world, you’d go through the complete editing cycle a traditional book goes through—including developmental edits, line edits, copyedits, and proofreading—but but for most indie authors, that’s just not feasible.

I get it. Editing is expensive and indie budgets are small! But I’d still advise you to get some kind of editing done. It will only make your book better and improve your current writing skills!

So how do you decide where to allocate your budget?

Evaluate where you think you need the most help. Ask yourself the the following questions to find your writing superpower.

Do you feel confident in your story? Does your story hit all the beats your readers expect? Do your beta readers love your characters?

Yes:

Great! It sounds like your story is compelling and you’ve gotten some good feedback. You’ll probably want to get some language edits done to make sure your prose is clear and correct.

No:

If you’re worried your story-level aspects—like character arcs, themes, pacing, and setting—are shaky, you’re best off getting developmental (story-level) editing or a manuscript critique.

Are you a grammar geek? Do you feel like your prose is clear and guides your reader through the story?

Yes:

Amazing! It sounds like you can do the language edits yourself. It would probably be helpful to get some story-level edits.

No:

That’s okay. Let someone else worry about the grammar for you. Get those language edits .

If you can swing getting both story and language edits, I definitely suggest that you do! However, choosing one based on your budget and strengths is the a great option as well.

When deciding, remember that readers will forgive language issues if your story and characters are compelling. However, you should still do your own language edit so your readers aren’t distracted by any typos or language issues you can solve yourself.

What’s your writing superpower? And which kind of editing do you think you’ll invest in first?

Let me know in the comments!