To my understanding, with novels, first, you find an agent. The agent will then employ an editor to patch up the work if necessary. But what if I wrote a piece that I want to publish as a short story or contest entry? Would it be advisable to pay an editor to edit your work? Thanks very much.
It would be better to edit your own work. You save money, and you get better at spotting the mistakes and things that don't work, making you a better writer.
The agent doesn't employ an editor to patch up work if necessary. An agent finds a publisher for your novel and then negotiates a contract. Editing is part of the process. The agent gets paid a percentage (usually 15%) of what the author earns in advances and royalties. Hiring an editor (at least a pro/competent one) will cost you far more than you're likely to earn in a contest or getting a short story published. And hiring an editor in no way guarantees that your short story will be accepted by a magazine or ezine. Maybe it is terminology, but you don't publish a short story, unless you're self-publishing. You find (submit your work to) a reputable market that publishes your short story (if they think it is good enough). Like Banzai indicated, it's better to edit your own work for a host of reasons. Good luck, Terry
ditto to all of the above... if your final draft needs to be 'patch[ed] up' it most likely won't be accepted by either an agent or a publisher... you need to learn to do your own editing, if you want to make a living as a writer, or even just get something published now and then...
