It's been quite the journey going from someone with a raw manuscript written in 30 days to someone with a finished and published product. I had a lot of help from some talented freelancers, but I also had some help that set me in the wrong direction.
This would be how I found my first editor. I asked my local NaNoWriMo group about editors, and someone suggested an editor. I looked up the editor's Facebook and saw she was decently priced. About a week later, I sent my manuscript off to be edited.
I'm going to stop here and mention I had already edited my own manuscript a few times. I used to be a copy editor in college, but I know it's very hard to accurately edit your own writing, especially on a large scale.
I got my manuscript back and added in the edits I agreed with. Then I went through and re-read my entire novel again.
Basically, I edited my book about ten or so times at this point.
I then published my novel. It was an exciting time.
Until my friend read my book and told be about all the typos and errors, that is. Here, my editor wasn't really an editor but a proofreader, and not a good one at that. I made the mistake of just taking the first "editor" I found. I didn't do much research on the editor. Heck, she didn't even have a real website. I spent money, and I received a bad product. I then went on www.fiverr.com and looked around. Someone on a Facebook group had suggested it at one point, but I never really looked into it. While I was looking at a bunch of different editors, I made a post asking for a credible editor and proofreader who could look over my already published manuscript. I went through a lot of suggestions, and landed with someone who was also on Fiverr who had over a decade of experience. She was even most cost-effective than my first "editor."
She cleaned up my book, and I published a new edition of my novel before it went to print.
The moral of this story is to not always go with the first option that is thrown at you. Look at all possibilities, do research, as more than one person for their opinion. Don't be like me and spend $200 on basically nothing but a life lesson.
If you would like to know who I chose as an editor either time, DM me on Facebook or Twitter. While you're at it, give me a follow. It makes me happy :) Until next time,
Sarah