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[splendiferous]

I'd like to hire an editor for help with what I hope will be my first publication (I'm a graduate student). I've tried my university's writing center, but their focus is mostly on helping you make sure your argument makes its way onto the page; likewise, my friends have been very helpful, but I feel I've exhausted what their advice can offer on this particular manuscript.

I'm very satisfied with my argument and consider my writing to be generally clear, but plodding. I want someone who will improve my style, and who will also tell me what some of my writing tics are so that the experience can help me learn to be a better writer for the future. I am willing to budget to afford an editor if they're good. But I have no clue how to find someone.

Does anyone have experience with this? Any advice would be much appreciated.

[skinnedknee]

My first thought is that this is the job of an adviser-- though, of course, not all advisers are good advisers (and not all good advisers are good writers).  What you're looking for is somewhat discipline specific, so the forum might not be much help in recommending specific people or places to look.  But I can offer tips-- what helps me is to read a lot of articles and pay attention to the well-written article and poorly-written article-- and then think about what sets them apart.  Sometimes it's good v. bad science, but, more often than not, even ho-hum findings can be spectacularly written.

[sciencephd]

Yes, in the sciences, at least, this would be the job of the advisor, who would also usually be a co-author.

[splendiferous]

Thank you for the comments. Unfortunately, I am a better writer (at least, in English) than my adviser; it's not her native language. She's brilliant and has pushed me considerably to clarify what I'm saying, but is not particularly helpful when it comes to how to say it in a way that people will enjoy reading. FWIW, I'm in a social science, and this publication will be in my name only.

[splendiferous]

Those are all good suggestions, lizzy; thank you. I'll start asking around.

Meanwhile, if anyone happens to have done this (maybe no one has), experience with what to look for in an editor would also be helpful. Thank you!

[renee]

Those are all good suggestions, lizzy; thank you. I'll start asking around.

Meanwhile, if anyone happens to have done this (maybe no one has), experience with what to look for in an editor would also be helpful. Thank you!

I once worked at a writing center that maintained a list of editors-for-hire, so check if your writing center does anything similar. Ours had the name, contact info, areas of specialty, and hourly rate.

In terms of things to ask (from the other side):
*How do they work (if the person is local, can you meet in person or do they work strictly over email? If the latter, is a phone an option -- since it sounds like you want more than copy-editing, some sort of interaction will probably be more helpful than a document full of track changes suggestions)

*What fields are they accustomed to working in? This may matter -- or not. Sometimes it's handy to have someone who knows your field's conventions; but sometimes, you just want the best editor/tutor and a good editor/tutor can work across disciplines.

*Given what you're seeking, you want someone who can explain mechanics and style well while also giving you some room to experiment and get feedback. You want someone who can explain why certain things work better for particular audiences, explanations, etc and someone who can point you toward some models. Explain what you're looking for and see what they say.

If you think it would help to be more specific, you can PM me.

[tolerantly]

Splendiferous, what kind of money are you thinking?  I ask because my experience is that academics looking to hire editing services generally have no idea what the going professional rates are, and get blindsided -- I've done editing work for faculty friends for nothing, because what they were able to pay was laughable. 

If you want someone good, I'd expect to pay $50-60/hr, and depending on how dense your paper is and how serious the problems are, you might be looking at as much as an hour per 250-word page or two.  You might get away with something cheaper thanks to the recession, but if they're asking much less than that, I'd probably stay away, because you're talking to copyeditors, not editors.  Do make sure that whomever you hire has some background in your field. I've seen some bad editing work from MFA types who aren't familiar with stock phrases and jargon, and they rearrange the words in ways that may be more euphonious or logical, but leave the paper sounding like it was written by an outsider.

[splendiferous]

Yeah, tolerantly, that's... more than I can pay. You're right that I have no conception of the normal range of fees, although following suggestions here, I plan to ask at my writing center.

Thanks to all who replied, here or by PM!

[renee]

If you want someone good, I'd expect to pay $50-60/hr, and depending on how dense your paper is and how serious the problems are, you might be looking at as much as an hour per 250-word page or two.  You might get away with something cheaper thanks to the recession, but if they're asking much less than that, I'd probably stay away, because you're talking to copyeditors, not editors.  Do make sure that whomever you hire has some background in your field. I've seen some bad editing work from MFA types who aren't familiar with stock phrases and jargon, and they rearrange the words in ways that may be more euphonious or logical, but leave the paper sounding like it was written by an outsider.

$50-60/hour isn't atypical, but it may be area-dependent. That's also where the writing center may be useful; I set a rate less than the median rate of the time for my area but above rock-bottom. It net me a lot of jobs from grad students without a lot of money looking for good editors who gulped at the $80+ rates some of the others posted. I also got a lot of referrals from clients, so it was worth it to me to accept a little less than others. In addition, for grad students looking to work with me for a long time (e.g., over the course of a dissertation) I would make deals because they committed to a certain number of hours which meant I could expect steady work.

Good editing takes time, and you want someone who has the time to work with you.

[tolerantly]

Good editing takes time, and you want someone who has the time to work with you.

Yep. You have to remember that unless your editor is working under the table -- and if she's professional she probably isn't -- she's probably losing 25-35% of what you're paying her to self-employment and income taxes, and she's buying her own health insurance.  People who run editing services generally can't afford to work for cheap.  You can hire a student or desperate adjunct for cheap, but understand that your project will almost certainly come a long second to their own work. One reason why I always refused to take on project-editing jobs was that it involves fixing the work of otherwise-engaged freelancers who want to throw something at a contract last-minute and hope it sticks. 

On the other hand, if you're going to use the service more than once, you may be able to get a package deal, and if you listen to the advice you may be able to hand her a more finished product next time around, resulting in a smaller invoice.