How to Choose an Editor
Not everyone who claims to be an editor is qualified; and not every qualified editor matches your style. So here are some tips to help you find a top-notch editor who will make your book shine!
Editors can be expensive, and there’s nothing worse than realising you’ve chosen the wrong editor once the work is done. Unfortunately, the publishing industry is full of bad actors who are either unqualified or, in some cases, who actively try to scam you.
But there are some things you can do to vet editors and find the best one for you.
Accreditation
There are two types of accreditation an editor can have: qualifications and professional memberships. It’s important to note that not every professional editor will have a professional membership, but this is still a useful tool in your arsenal to help you find the professional editor that works for you.
Qualifications
Qualifications and training are what separate professional editors from word nerds (though we never lose the latter aspect) and knowing what to look out for can help you determine whether someone is a qualified professional and whether the training they’ve had is relevant to the work you’d like them to do.
There are a lot of good course providers online and through universities and colleges, so I won’t list them all here, but some of the big online course providers (from the perspective of a UK-based proofreader) are:
Most editors will display their qualifications on their website, but some may only give them on request. If an editor is not happy to share their qualifications, consider this a red flag.
Professional Memberships
Professional memberships are paid memberships editors can choose to take to become part of an institute or organisation. Each of these organisations have their own code of conduct that their members must follow and requirements for joining.
Professional memberships are not essential as an editor, and while some may join multiple organisations, others may stick to one or even none. However, those that do join organisations as a professional enjoy the benefits of dedicated private forums, continued professional development (courses, webinars, conferences), and members-only resources designed to level up the quality of their work.
Members of these organisations will usually display their badge on their website, while the organisations themselves often have their own directory so you can search for and hire accredited professionals.
The training providers above are all organisations that offer professional memberships, but another well-known one to look out for is the Alliance of Independent Authors. There are more than I can list here, but these are some of the major ones in the UK/US – if you know of any more that should be included, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.
Directories
Related to the organisations and qualifications are directories. These are places where you can search for editors with the skills and experience in your niche. Some examples of good directories are:
CIEP Directory (UK)
It’s important to note that not every editor will be on every directory, and while an editor being on such a list goes some way to showing they are a professional, many editors choose not to be shown on directories.
Testimonials
Testimonials are statements given by a previous client of the editor that testify to the editor’s character and professionalism. They give prospective clients a look into the experience others have had with the editor and can be a great tool in deciding which editor is right for you.
Now, to address a common question about testimonials: yes, they can be faked. But this is where due diligence comes in. If the testimonial appears to be too good to be true, dig deeper. If there is no name attributed to the quote, or if looking up the author of the quote yields nothing, you may be dealing with a fake.
My approach (which you’ll see on my website and in my terms and conditions) is to ask give authors the option of making their feedback public or not. If they choose yes, then they can choose for the attribution to be any combination of their name, book title, or link to a newsletter/book/author website. This gives prospective clients all they need to look up the author and check the testimonials are real.
On this topic, it’s generally not advisable to contact authors you don’t know to ask about their experience with an author. It’s also a bad idea to ask the editor to send you contact details for previous clients: an editor charing confidentail information is a major red flag.
One final thing to note with testimonials is that the displayed ones were chosen by the editor. This means they will favour positive reviews and in some cases may paraphrase a long review to make a more appealing short testimonial. This isn’t a bad thing by any means, but being aware that testimonials are a place where the editor’s bias (they want to look good and get more work) can be seen is important. For this reason I strongly recommend using testimonials only as part of your research.
Check out Their Work
While we can’t send copies of other author’s drafts (would you want your unfinished draft sent to strangers?), most writers who we work with are pursuing publishing. So, once a book is published, editors may be happy to share book titles, author names, or even links to the published works.
This doesn’t show you what the draft was like before the edit, but it does let you see what a finished edit may look like. Just be aware of what kind of edit was done: if you’re talking to a developmental editor, poor spelling was never their concern; likewise, if you’re talking to a proofreader, plot holes are not a fair judge of their work.
In some cases, an editor may not be willing to share this information. We’re not obliged to do so, and some (especially those new to the field) editors may not even have any of their work published yet. It took me a year before an author I’d worked with published their novel and the time between editing and publishing can be on a scale of weeks to years – publishing and marketing take time!
Sample Edit
Proofreaders and copyeditors will often offer free sample edits for manuscripts over a certain length (I offer a 2,000-word free sample proofread for manuscripts over 30,000 words, for example).
This is one of the best ways to vet an editor. It allows you to see how they work, their approach to your novel, and whether their editorial style matches your writing. Free sample edits do not mean you are obliged to work with that editor, and I would encourage you to get sample edits and quotes from multiple editors so you can weigh up whose service best matches your style and price range.
Take Your Time
Seriously.
Many authors start looking for editors at the time they want to hire one. And this makes sense, but the rush to publish can often lead to poor choices. Take your time when vetting editors, all of us are happy to discuss the scope of your work in detail before committing to the job.
Giving yourself the time to find the right editor has another benefit, and that is to have a guaranteed booking. Many editors book jobs weeks or even months in advance, so if you’re looking for an editor this week and you need a quick turnaround, you’re likely cutting out a lot of the market and, odds on, you’ll get a rushed service that compromises on quality.
My advice: look for an editor three months before you want to hire one. Spend a month talking to editors, getting sample edits, and discussing the breadth of work before making up your mind. Your readers will thank you for it.
Word of Mouth
The last option is a simple one: talk to other authors.
If you’ve recently read a book you really enjoyed and the author is happy to discuss it, consider asking them for recommendations – they may even have acknowledged their editor in the book itself! This is a great way to find professionals whose quality of work you are familiar and happy with.
And, as a bonus, you get to meet more amazing authors and more of the community!
Honourable Mention
One last honourable mention is resources. Many editors will display free resources to help you with your writing and editing journey on their website, blog, or newsletter. While this is by no means a sure-fire way to find a good editor, it’s a good way to see if an editor knows what they’re talking about and if their approach matches yours.
Remember that editing isn’t as objective and by-the-book as many like to believe. Every editor will have a different approach, style, and personality – find the editor who best matches you.
None of these approaches are a one size fits all, and none of these will be foolproof on their own, but using these ideas should help you find the right editor for the job.
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And if you’d like to talk to me about your current project, I’d love to hear from you!
Last Updated: 8th March 2025.
These are such useful tips!!! Thank you for sharing!! As someone who will need to look for one sometime next year, I’ll def be keeping these in mind.