Hello, again! It’s me, the editor. Here to answer one of the questions I get over and over again: when do you need an editor, and when can you do the work yourself?

It’s an important question; most editors charge for their work, and you don’t want to waste money on a service you don’t really need. So let’s hash this out.

Who needs an editor?

I like to group individuals who need an editor into three categories: writers, students, and businesses. These are broad categories, and just because you fall into one (or multiple) of them doesn’t mean you are required to seek out the services of an editor. If you fall into any of these categories, think about what kind of writing you do:

Writers might be working on their novels, or drafting blog posts, or preparing articles for submission.

Students might be typing out emails, writing academic papers, or creating a résumé.

Businesses might be revamping their websites, publishing a user manual, or drawing up an important business pitch.

Now, some of these things probably require some professional editing, and some of them don’t. We’ll come back to this in a minute.

What does an editor actually do?

Editors are an important part of the writing process. Not only are they trained in grammar, style, and usage issues, editors are a second pair of eyes to look over your writing before it goes into the hands of your audience. Editors fact-check your content and help make sure your document fulfills its purpose.

Do I really need an editor?

The short answer is, it depends.

Here’s a slightly longer answer: it depends on what you value.

What I mean by this is that hiring an editor almost always comes down to what you value for the content you have written.

Let’s be honest, some content just doesn’t need an editor. Your private emails and Instagram captions don’t need an editor. Everyday assignments and class papers that you just need for a grade don’t need an editor either. Having your dad look those over before you submit them will probably do the trick. (I still ask my dad to look over my blog posts before I publish them!) And everyone already ignores (or doesn’t notice) the occasional typo in your company memos.

But some authors value another set of eyes to make sure the final draft of their novel is consistent and error-free before submission. Some businesses value the credibility that comes from ensuring the product description and user manual is accurate for their customers. And some students value the professionalism of a polished thesis to culminate their hard work in grad school.

These are the people who should consider hiring an editor. Content that builds or contributes to your credibility is content you should have pride in because you had an editor work on it. Content that you’ve invested a lot of time and passion in is content you should continue to invest in by hiring an editor.

Let them help you make your words the best they can be. Let them teach you how to self-edit. Let them love what you’ve done as much as you do!

That’s what gets me excited about editing; clients who are so proud of what they have done and so passionate about their work. And I get to help them prepare that for everyone else to read!

So I guess, in the end, a good answer is this: if it is important to you and you can’t do it yourself, you should hire an editor.