Why I don’t Edit my own books

Don’t you edit the book too?

Some authors ask me that when I suggest that we find a copy editor to work on their book after we’ve finished the manuscript. I tell them this story.

Some decades ago, when I was a junior subeditor in the Time-Life Books copy room in London, I was called in by the head of Time-Life UK. She chewed me out for 30 minutes because I'd missed out a hyphen in an adjectival phrase in two advertising spreads, so maybe 700 words of copy.

That was quite an introduction to the importance of accuracy.

Since then, I've been a subeditor, a copy editor, a project editor, a managing editor, and a writer. In terms of my ability, I’ve been poor, average, good, very good, and outstanding, respectively.

I can only conclude that I'm not very good at fine detail. I'm very good at organizing information. I'm very good at choosing stories that convey the points we want to make. I’m very good at explaining complex ideas in a way that’s easy to read … but I'm hopeless at checking that the same word is spelled exactly the same throughout a book. (I once worked with an editor who spelled the same place in France three different ways on the same *page*: in the text, in a picture caption, and in a label on a map.)

When authors say to me, “Oh, I thought you would edit the book, too,” they sound as if they feel cheated.

I tell them that, generally, no writer should edit their own material. If they've made a mistake in the first place, the chances are they won't notice it the second time. And specifically, I shouldn't be the last eyes on a book before it goes to print because I’m just not that good at it.

The author might be better at it than me … and might not. But there are many people who are better at it than either of us. That's why once an author’s manuscript is done, I recommend you get it in front of a proper copy editor or subeditor to tidy it up. It’s their job.