How to Know You're Ready to Hire an Editor

Written by Carley DenBoer and Matt Roseti

If you have lots of writing that you’re producing for your business or someone else’s business, you may be wondering: when should I hire an editor?

OR is it even necessary for me to hire a copy editor? 

And today, we’ll dive in to all the details of IF and WHEN you should hire a copy editor to help you in your business journey.

The short answer is – if you’re a copywriter or a business owner looking to: 

- Save time and tedious work 

- Get support and coaching for your writing 

- And learn valuable skills that will help you in your future writing…

…hiring an editor might be a great choice for you! 

Maybe you’re a copywriter running your own copywriting business. You’ve put it all out on the line to do this. Maybe you left a 9-5 job. And you might have scared your parents and friends a little with this career change. But you did it because you knew it was right for you. 

💪And now, you’re running your own copywriting business. 

📈You’re starting to work with businesses you really respect. 

☕And you wake up each morning loving what you do each day. 

Not to mention the slooower pace. That morning cup of coffee never tasted so good! Every day, you write stellar copy for brands you respect, and it feels so fulfilling! 

OR maybe you’re a small business owner. You’ve had this dream for a while now. You knew the product you wanted to sell–and you knew it was different. You worked hard to create a distinct personality for your brand. 

📦And now, people are starting to actually buy your products and bring you business. 

😬You’re realizing this thing might actually work. 

🔨And you’re committed to putting in the work to market your brand. 

Maybe you’ve been DIY-ing the copy for your website, blog, or email list, and it takes a lot of work, but hey–that’s what you knew it would be. And you’re gonna keep going with it because it’s actually working. 

_______

Whether you’re a: 

- Copywriter creating copy for other businesses

- OR a small business owner DIY-ing your own copy…

You KNOW how much time and effort goes into writing really good copy. And even if you’re using AI as a support, you know that quality copy really takes a human touch to get it just right. 

So, once you get all that copy written, what do you do? 

🟢Do you move on to the next project, so you don’t lose steam and momentum in your day?

🔴OR do you stop to edit your writing? 

How do you know WHEN it’s time to hire a copy editor? 

I’m Carley DenBoer. I’m a copywriter, copy editor, copy coach, and owner of The Editing Marketplace–a collaborative copy editing community where writers of all levels can connect with top-notch copy editors to get their copy in tip-top shape and ready to publish! 

Today, I’ll share my experience and expertise as we get in to the nitty-gritty about: 

- WHEN to hire an editor

- WHO should Hire a Copy Editor 

- 7 Reasons to Hire a Copy Editor 

- How Much Does it Cost to Hire an Editor? 

- How Can I Hire an Editor? 

Let’s dive in! 

WHEN Should I Hire an Editor? 

So, when should you hire an editor? I get this question all the time. As a coach in Sarah Turner’s copywriting course, Write Your Way to Freedom, I get to work with copywriters in the beginning stages of their freelance careers every day. 

So, when to hire an editor is one of the most common questions I get. 

And if you’re a business owner DIY-ing the copy for your brand, you may be grappling with the same question. 

The truth is: there’s not a straightforward answer. 

Hiring an Editor Isn't for Everyone

I’m not gonna lie – as a freelance copywriter, or a business owner – you don’t NEED to hire an editor. Many writers create thriving businesses without getting their work edited. So, if you’re:

💰Pinching pennies

😎Not feeling the need for coaching

🤓Or you really have an independent streak…

…hiring an editor might not be your jam or your first priority, and that’s totally fine!

Hiring an Editor Is for People Looking to Invest in Their Business

But if you’re looking to: 

👓Get another pair of eyes on your writing

🪴Invest in some professional growth when it comes to your copywriting

💁Benefit from copy coaching…

…hiring an editor is gonna be a great way to invest in yourself and your business. 

If you’re thinking, “Hell yeah. I’m ready to hire an editor,” then your next question most likely is: “WHEN should I hire an editor?”

What editing is all about – especially the way we do it in The Editing Marketplace – is supporting you as a writer holistically. 

And this can happen at any stage of your business journey. 

To produce truly powerful copy, you need to take into account many factors. And a lot of that happens BEFORE a single word is written. So, we recognize that to help writers create effective copy, we need to help them in every aspect of their business: 

- Client onboarding

- Proposal creation 

- Discovery call techniques

- Competition research

- Funnel evaluation… etc. 

A good editor for hire will not just throw in some grammatical fixes to the copy editing but also take the time to understand where YOU are at in your business journey and cater their editing to your unique situation.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Ok, but what does this holistic approach to editing actually involve?” 

I’m gonna shoot you straight. Having a good copy editor is like having a really nosy, gossip-proned friend. We wanna know alllllll the details…. 

We don’t want to just know that you’re dating someone new. We want to know the person’s age, height, career, education, previous relationships, religious beliefs, and which parent they secretly like more. 

In the same way, we’re going to help you by diving deep into the copy. We don’t just want want to know who’s the target audience, and what product you’re promoting. 

We wanna know:

• Who are you trying to target

• Who are you NOT targeting 

• What does the existing sales funnel look like?

• When did this business open? 

• What products/ services sell best?

• What keywords are you ranking for? 

• And.

• So.

• Much.

• More.

It can be a lot – but we do it because we care about our clients and we want their businesses to thrive! 

So, you can hire an editor any time you feel like you might need some extra support in your business. That’s what copy editing is ALL about! 

WHO Should Hire a Copy Editor 

All right, so we’ve established that there’s not just ONE right time to hire an editor in your business journey. But WHO most benefits from hiring an editor? 

Copywriters

If you’re running into any of these situations as a copywriter, it might be time to hire an editor! 

You’re a New Copywriter Looking to Grow Your Writing Skills 

I was a newbie copywriter once, too, so I get how it feels. 

When you’re green, every time you whip up a new piece of copy for a client, you’re filled with loads of nagging doubts. 🤷

- Is this copy going to make my client happy? 

- How does my writing compare to other copywriters? 

- Is my copy actually good enough for someone to pay me for it? 

ALL of these questions and more can be answered by hiring an editor. For example, at The Editing Marketplace, our editors won’t just fix your comma splices. Our editors specialize in helping new copywriters gain confidence through honest, encouraging, and holistic feedback. 

We love treating you as a WHOLE person and understanding the greater context of your journey as a business owner. 

You’re a Copywriter With a Full Workload 

Look, I know what it’s like to finish writing for one client in the morning and move right on to writing for the next client that afternoon.

When you’re a more advanced copywriter, and your client load is full, slowing down to edit your own copy is the last thing you want to do. 

Hiring a copy editor to consistently edit your work is clutch when it comes to saving time in your workday! ⏲️

At The Editing Marketplace, you have the ability to test out working with different editors till you find the perfect match. Then, once you get to know your copy editor of choice, and they get to know you and your writing style, you can really get in a flow of working together. 

Business Owners 

DIY-ing your own copy as a business owner is hard work. Heck, copywriting is a full-time job for a reason. As a business owner, you should consider hiring an editor if…

You’re a Business Owner Looking to Save Some Money 

Hiring a copywriter might not be something you can afford. Plenty of business owners write their own copy just to save some money! And while it comes at the cost of time, that might be what you have to offer right now instead of cash. 

And maybe you have some decent writing skills, too. But at the end of the day, copywriting isn’t a skill you’ve been trained to do, and you might be really wondering if all that time you’re putting in to copywriting is worth it. 

- Is your writing as good as you think it is? 

- Will your writing convert? 

- How does your writing fit in to your overall marketing strategy?

When you hire an editor, you get a trained pair of eyes on your writing without paying the cost of a copywriter. Good copy editors will be able to share their own copywriting skills with you and train you in how to implement these skills to your future writing. 

You’re a Business Owner Who Likes Writing Copy 

As a business owner myself, I get what it’s like to care SO MUCH about the copy for your brand that letting someone else write for you is painful. 

After all, who knows your brand voice better than YOU – the founder of your brand? 

If you’re the type of business owner who likes to write your own copy because you genuinely enjoy it, and you’re good at it – working with an editor for hire might be a great fit. 

You get to stay in control of the content and everything that’s said – BUT you also get support from a trained copy editor to help with grammar and content. 

At The Editing Marketplace, we even add in overall marketing strategy advice as part of our editing services, so the focus is much more business-minded than just fixing punctuation. After all, most of the editors at The Editing Marketplace are business owners themselves. 

7 Reasons to Hire a Copy Editor 

As I already mentioned, I work with a ton of copywriters who want to know when to hire an editor in their business journey. Most copywriters I work with also want to know what it’s like to work with and hire an editor. 

I usually tell them all about the following benefits! 

Reason to Hire an Editor #1: Pre-Writing Support 🫱🏻‍🫲🏾

As a writer yourself, you get what it’s like to stare at a blank Google Doc and feel lots of doubts eating away at your creativity. 

Starting to write a piece of copy is one of the biggest hurdles to copywriting. 

When you hire an editor, they can help you BEFORE you even write the copy with details like: 

- Outlining a piece 

- SEO research 

- Strategizing how this particular piece of copy you’re prepping to write fits within the larger funnel

- Planning the calls to action and how you get readers to act while also handling their objections

That’s why, at The Editing Marketplace, we have the edit prep questionnaire, which is a pre-editing document you can use to fill your editor in on all of your specific needs for the piece, the questions you have, or any overall business context you want the editor to know. 

Basically, we help you get the info you need BEFORE writing copy so that your copy is strong, good, and ready to publish! 

Reason to Hire an Editor #2: Proofreading 🔎

I think this is probably what most writers think of when they consider hiring an editor: proofreading. 

And the way I usually describe it: proofreading is a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to editing. But sometimes – especially when you're a more advanced writer – this might be all you’re looking for. 

That’s why, at The Editing Marketplace, we allow writers to cater their specific editing jobs to their needs. So, if you just want line-by-line grammatical edits, our editors will focus more on that and less on coaching and skill teaching. 

You can also customize the price of your editing job based on what you’re needing. This way, you’re not paying for coaching or skill-teaching when you just want a basic proofreading edit. 

Reason to Hire an Editor #3: Copy Coaching & Writing Skill ✍️

The best English teacher I had as a kid didn’t just take a red pen to student’s essays. He actually wrote feedback about the piece as a whole and helped coach students in their overall writing skills. 

The best editors will do the same. 

Lots of copy editors can just go in there and fix your typos, but THE BEST editors for hire will actually help you holistically as a writer. 

I like to train my editors as coaches and teachers. 

So, if you’re at a place in your writing journey where you could benefit from someone teaching you great writing skills that you can take and add to all of your future writing…

…you should hire an editor! fd

Reason to Hire an Editor #4: SEO 📊

I already mentioned SEO, but it’s worthy of its own space here – because a good copy editor will be able to provide SEO support and resources that you need for any web content that will be competing to rank on Google. 

Even if you have some SEO knowledge, I find it’s always helpful to get another pair of eyes on the piece and strategize any additional ways that the copy can be optimized. 

At The Editing Marketplace, you can always request SEO analysis on all of your copy, and our SEO expert copy editors will get you ranking in no time! 

Reason to Hire an Editor #5: Community 🤗

Working as a copywriter can get lonely. And if you’re a business owner who’s spending tons of time writing, you’re most likely working solo on your computer for a good chunk of your day as well. 

One of the most unique benefits of working with an editor is the natural, built-in community that you can enjoy. 

Once you hire an editor that you really click with, you’ll find community with that editor. 

One of the most unique benefits of joining The Editing Marketplace is that you not only get to work with the editor that you hire – but you also join a community of copywriters, business owners, and copy editors. 

The Editing Marketplace is a platform for all of these people to connect. So, whether you join our Discussion Boards or our weekly Q&A calls, you can gain a team of supporters when you hire an editor on The Editing Marketplace. 

If you’re a copywriter still in the client acquisition phase, you can STILL join The Editing Marketplace for the community aspect. We have a two-phase onboarding process. You can pay the subscription and hang out in the group and then go back and finish the onboarding when you’re ready to actually submit edits for clients. 

That way, you can still be a part of all the great things happening in The Editing Marketplace community. You can be part of the weekly support calls and ask all the questions you want about your business.

Then, once you get your first client, you’ll know exactly what to expect and how to get your copy edited. 

Reason to Hire an Editor #6: Anything Goes! 🎉

You can also hire an editor for ALL types of writing – not just copy. 

It can be anything that you use in your business OR your personal life. 

Heck – one time someone literally paid me to edit their apology email that her boss asked her to write. At first, it was SO sassy and passive aggressive (making it a very entertaining edit for me lol). And so I just went in and made it more polite for her. You really can use this service in so many different ways. 

When you hire an editor, it’s just a great way to get something that you’ve written for your own business edited because we can make it STRONGER and help you build CONFIDENCE. 

Lots of times some of the writers we work with are on the shy end when it comes to promoting themselves. When you hire an editor, it can be a great way to boost your confidence and make sure that your copy conveys your skill level and abilities!

Reason to Hire an Editor #7: Marketing Strategy 📉

Whether you’re a copywriter helping someone else’s business…

OR a business owner yourself…

…getting insight into the brand’s overall marketing strategy is one of the best benefits of hiring an editor! 

A quality copy editor will provide insights on content pillars, help fit your particular piece of copy into the brand’s overall funnel, and give you insight and advice about the marketing strategy. 

How Much Does it Cost to Hire an Editor?

At The Editing Marketplace, we let our writers and editors negotiate a price together. Learn more about editing cost HERE.

How Can I Hire an Editor?

There are tons of websites online where you can sign up for an edit and get back a proofread version of your document. 

I like to think of those websites as the fast-food version of edits. You can get edits back pretty fast – but with fairly minimal benefits besides grammar checks. 🍟

The Editing Marketplace is like the farm to table option for copy editing. 🍲We offer high-quality edits from ACTUAL people who care. 

Plus, it can be JUST as fast as the low-quality versions. Did I mention that you can request a rush job for any copy you get edited? 

When you sign up for a subscription for The Editing Marketplace, you can pay $5 a month for access to: 

- A collaborative community for copywriters, business owners, and copy editors 

- Weekly Q & A calls 

- Editors who are coaches, teachers, and who invest in YOU as a business owner. 

If you’re a writer who’s ready to join our community: 

You can also sign up for our email list for amazing writing tips – and get your first 3 months free!