What to Do If You Can't Afford an Editor for Your Romance Novel

It's no secret: editing is expensive. And though there are editors at most price points, for some authors, even a $250 manuscript evaluation might be out of their budget, especially with the rise in cost of living right now.

So what do you do if you really want to release your romance novel, but you can't afford a romance editor?

I'm going to give you some options below, and, most importantly, none of them cost anything. Because while I believe that editing is important—I am, after all, an editor among other things—I don't believe in shaming writers into paying when they really, really can't.

I do, however, believe in helping romance authors get their romance novels out into the world. So on with the no-cost editing options.

1. Use the Read Aloud function on MS Word, Scrivener, or Google Drive. This is something I do for my erotica novels. Hearing what you've written out loud allows you to catch typos and mistakes that your eyes might not pick up.
   

2. If you have access to a printer and printer paper, print out your writing and read over it that way, with a coloured pen in hand to circle any mistakes. Your eyes are used to seeing your words on a screen, so reading over your book in a new format will, like with the Read Aloud function, allow you to catch things you'd have skipped over if you were trying to edit the document in its original format.
   

3. Convert your manuscript into a PDF or .mobi file, and read it on your Kindle. If you're using MS Word or Google Drive, you should be able to save your document as a PDF; for Scrivener users, here are instructions on how to do the same. And, if all else fails, you can always copy and paste your writing into Reedsy's free Book Editor, which not only picks up some basic errors, but is also a free formatting programme that lets you export books as PDFs or ePubs. And, if you have an ePub, you can convert it into a .mobi file to read on your Kindle using a programme called Cloud Convert.
   

4. Ask for beta readers. I'm in a few writing groups on Facebook, and there's a constant flow of people asking for beta readers and kind people raising their hands to help. These volunteers do so free of cost, just to help their fellow writers out. Make sure you state your book's sub-genre, word count, tropes, and any triggers when you're looking for betas, just like you would if you were looking for an editor.
   

5. Join a critique group. Again, Facebook is your friend, because there you can find groups specifically tailored to romance writers specifically—some of my personal favourite groups include Writing Instalove and Romance Writers Support League—and often, those groups will have separate chats for critique feedback. Now, you might not be able to get your whole manuscript critique, but if you're stuck on a particular scene, you can share it the group and get valuable feedback on what to keep and what to fix.
   

6. Use the Chicago Manual of Style. CMOS online has a 30-day free trial, so as long as you think you can edit your manuscript in 30 days or less, and set a reminder to cancel the trial before it charges you, you can look up how to handle ellipses, how to capitalize Northern England and MidWest, and what the heck an action tag is, to your heart's content.

Moral of this list: don't let your tight budget keep you from pursuing your romance publishing dreams. Do what you can to set your book up for success, and hopefully one day, you'll be making enough to hire an editor to make your books even better. And when that day comes, check out this guide on how to find one.

Until next post, happy reading and writing!