New writer.

Iv'e written my first novel. Iv'e read it 7 times and made all the edits I'm able to make.
Now what I need is an professional editor.

But the three quotes that I got so far to edit my 150,000 word novel are all 3k for a full edit.
Is that normal? Does it really cost that much? Should I keep looking for a batter price?
Maybe some of you can point me to a good cheap editor?

3k for a guy like me might as well be 10.
It would take me longer to save up 3k then it did to write the book.

It took me two years to write the book.

Any advice please.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

That's awesome you wrote a novel...I would like to do the same...someday.

Three years?! I'd call that a labor of love.

Have you given your manuscript to anyone, even friends or family or coworkers, and gotten feedback? Maybe the editing you already did was good enough.

I'm beginning to like "good enough" (as an aesthetic imperative) more and more.

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

Have you given your manuscript to anyone, even friends or family or coworkers, and gotten feedback? Maybe the editing you already did was good enough.

No not yet. I know that it needs a professional to go over it all least once. I did try looking into some of those sites where you send in your work to have it read and critiqued. My problem with the ones I looked into is that they wanted me to sign away all rights to my work.
I actually read the t&c for those sites and it says they are allowed to do whatever they like with my work if it's posted to their site.

Labor of love indeed. I've been working on it for a few years but I've had the story in my mind for over 20.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

My 2 cents?

Don't get it edited just yet, self-publish, get it out there. If it's good, a publishing house might pick it up and edit it themselves.

Congrats!

a reply to: DBCowboy

Can I do that?

I worry that I can't legally publish with a company if I self publish first.

I really have no idea. I was going to check out publishers after I got a professional edit.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

Look into self-publishing, make sure it's a place where you get an ISBN number and you own the rights.

Hell, it's yours. You can do whatever you want with it.