36 Book Editors in India- Fiction & Non -fiction

Book Editors are important for any writer. An editor doesn’t just provide constructive feedback, but an editor can also be someone, who can work with you on bettering your manuscript. They usually feature on the third or the fourth number in the To-do list of any writer, where the first few things basically involving writing and research.

In this article, we will cover the following points, before sharing a list of book editors who offer editing services in India for both fiction and non fiction.

Who is a Book Editor?

Book Editors work on your manuscript in terms of different aspects like storyline, plot, characters, narrative, dialogues, language and grammar of your manuscript. They polish your manuscript to make it publishing ready.

Why should you work with an editor?

With availability of online apps and sites like Grammarly, one might argue on the need to hire an editor. However, working with an expert can never be compared to working with an app.  Any app or site comes with its own limitation when it comes to language, local words / names and grammar. For e.g., While color is right in American English, it is incorrect in British English.

Any app/ website might not be able to detect the localized words for food, dressing habits, traditions and culture which are extremely important when you are writing a story set in India. Most importantly, all apps cannot deliver 100% accuracy of being error-free. Furthermore, apps cannot look at things like structure and flow – they can only give feedback at the language and grammar level. For structure and flow, you need an editor competent enough to do structural editing.

Moreover, writing can be extremely lonely at times. Having an editor with you, also means having a person by your side, who can be your sounding board, agony aunt, friend, confidante and your 3 am go-to person for anything and everything that is writerly. Of course, that is what friends and family are for, but professionals are professionals. The value and expertise they bring along cannot be quantified in words.

What are the different types of editing?

Usually, book editors in India provide the following editing services:

• Structural Editing/ Developmental Editing

In developmental editing service, the editor usually analyses the manuscript based on various aspects of novel writing which includes theme, characters, genre/sub-genre etc. for fiction while for non-fiction it will be analyzed on clarity and consistency. The core focus here is more on the plot and the narrative.

• Line Editing

This involves correcting &/or improving the consistency, tone and style. In this the editor works on the grammar of the manuscript along with spelling and punctuation. Here the focus is on the language.

• Proof-reading

The final step in editing, this includes a thorough check for any inconsistencies, spacing issues, spelling mistakes, typos and grammatical errors that might have got missed out till now. This step is to ensure the manuscript is error free and ready for publishing.

List of Manuscript Editors in India for Fiction, Non fiction & Academic writing

 Scroll towards the right to see all the columns and click on next to see the next page. 

What does this list contain?

• Names of  Book Editors in India who provide editing services
• Email ids
• Editing Services offered – Important to analyze according to your requirements
• Preferred Genres & Sub-genres – Crucial while deciding who can be the best editor for your manuscript
• Any other additional services offered apart from editing – Added benefits* 
• Number of years of experience

Points to consider while hiring the editing services of a manuscript editor

1. Editing is charged on a per word basis and the charge varies from editor to editor. It depends on various factors ranging from the type of editing required to the experience of the editor hired for it. The usual range we discovered while working on this post was starting from .60 paise / word to Rs. 2 per word. ( As on September, 2020) Please note the charges are subject to change taking into consideration various things like volume of work, nature of work involved etc.
2. You can avail all of the above editing services or any one of them depending on your requirements. The cost will vary accordingly.
3. Any manuscript can require more than one round of editing to make it error free.
4. If required, you can always request for references. Most of the editors are willing to share references of clients and books they have worked on in the past or any other testimonials to their work unless their confidentiality clause does not allow them to do so. Some have even mentioned these on their sites for easy access.

Other services for writers

*Apart from editing services, some of these editors also offer other services like ghost writing, beta reading, manuscript review, research etc. To give you a brief idea about these:

• Ghost Writing – It is like hiring someone else to write your book. When the book gets published, it is still in your name and the writer (ghost in this case) walks away with the payment you have made towards writing the book. The charges are usually based on the nature of the project, research required, word count and delivery deadlines. The cost might also vary basis the experience of the writer hired for such services because that in turn, will also impact the quality of the writing.
• Beta Reading / Manuscript Review / Manuscript appraisal / Manuscript Assessment – In simpler words, this is nothing but a review for your book, but before it is published. Usually, beta-readers are experts in specific genres and the feedback provided by them also inspects various elements of book writing along with salability of the book. Unlike editing services, these reports are charged on the total word count of the manuscript and have a slab rate instead of a per word charge.
• Research – Whenever a writer embarks on a journey of writing a book which is backed by immense research, the research usually takes up a lot of time leaving little to almost no time for writing. That is one of the reasons why such books take years to release. That is where you can decrease some of your work load by allocating the research work to someone else while you focus solely on writing your book. The cost depends on the number of hours allocated to research.

If you are just starting out with an idea, you might want to read our Beginner’s guide to writing a novel to get more clarity. While which type of publishing to opt for can be a difficult decision to make for the question – Tradition or self publishing – in India, which is better for a first time author?  is something we hear the most. With the rise in publishing options available for writers in India, it is important to hear what a published author has to say about Amazon or Self Publishing in India.

Editing is an imperative phase of any writer’s journey to getting published. History has witnessed many a successful writer-editor teams who have gone to deliver bestsellers after bestsellers. What makes a strong writer-editor team is the ability to understand each other’s needs and wants to execute it perfectly. And this, can happen only over a period of time with lot of patience and effort from both the ends.

As Tim Foote says, “Everyone needs an editor!” and with this list, we believe it is just a matter of time for you to find a perfect editor for your manuscript.