I bet you’re saying, “I can copy edit my manuscript myself or send it to a friend or family member, so I don’t need a copy editor.” Well, you’re not alone. I told myself the same thing about four or five years ago when I wrote my first book, and that’s one mistake I’m not happy I made when I was starting as an author. So, I’m giving you these six reasons why you need a copy editor so you don’t make the same mistake I made. (PS: I was a copy editor then and still left obvious errors in my book, so I never recommend editing your work.)

So, what are the six reasons why you need a copy editor?

1. It’s the logical thing to do. Copy editing is one of the core parts of the publishing process for a reason. Whether you’re writing a hundred-page book or a ten-page pamphlet, you still need to copy edit your text for clarity, readability, coherence, consistency, etc. Nobody wants to go through the pain of trying to make sense of what you’ve written, except your copy editor who wants to take that burden off your readers.

Read more: What to Expect When You Contact a Copy Editor: The A-B-C-D of the Copy-Editing Process

2. You’ll have the confidence to publish and market your book. One reason I rarely talk about my first book among many other reasons is because of the errors in it. Spotting errors – particularly recurrent and avoidable ones – in a published work is embarrassing. You don’t have to deal with that embarrassment. You have a higher level of confidence in publishing and marketing your book when you’re sure beyond any doubt that it’s of topmost quality unless you don’t care about quality – and I know you do.

3. Editing software won’t help you; it may sometimes do more harm than good. A common reason some authors don’t employ the services of a copy editor is that they believe they can rely on editing software. While editing software has its place in doing certain things, they’re not the ultimate. The editing software doesn’t understand the context of your text and would make suggestions that could potentially change your meaning. Spellcheckers will mostly flag incorrectly spelled words, but not words that are spelled correctly but are contextually wrong. Homophones are often the culprit. You always need that human eye to spot the difference.

4. Your readers will trust you. Your readers will know you take your craft seriously and, as a reward, will also take you seriously. When your manuscript is error-free, readable, consistent, and coherent, your readers will be able to engage with the text. There’s nothing to throw them off guard or distort the point of your message. They have what I love to call a smooth sail to the end of the passage instead of a ‘bumpy read’ of a passage with grammatical, punctuation, or syntax errors. You build credibility with your readers when your text is error-free; however, when they begin to spot errors at the turn of every page, they question the veracity of your content.

5. Your copy editor is your best ally in improving your writing. One of the best ways to improve your writing is to have someone who cares about your work enough to point out areas that need development – using punctuation wrongly, writing poor sentence structures, or misusing or misspelling words. Even the best of writers needs a copy editor who can point out their blind spots. See sending your manuscript – long or short – to a copy editor as a way to get better at your craft; there’s always room for improvement.

6. DIY won’t cut it. It’s the sad but bitter truth, and this is one of the reasons why you need a copy editor. DIY is good for many things, but not copy editing your work. Why? Because you’re so close to the text and immersed in that bubble you cannot spot your mistakes. You know what you mean in your head and your brain has registered those little mistakes that you no longer see them as mistakes. That’s why you spell a word that isn’t correct but don’t pick up on it when revising your work because you know the word you want to spell so you assume that’s what you’ve spelled.

You need someone who is ‘far away’ from the text to spot the errors. A fresh pair of eyes, not DIY, will help you achieve the quality of editing you want for your book.

I hope these six reasons have convinced you to employ the services of a copy editor. Your manuscript will do well with it. Your readers will thank you. And you’ll thank yourself.

If you write scholarly books and articles in humanities and social science or general interest books, I specialise in copy editing such books and would love to hear from you. I can’t wait to be your best ally in improving your writing skills. Send an email to oluwakemiesho.com.