Anatomy Of Book: Should You Work With A Professional Editor?

Most writers dream of seeing their name in print.  Being published in a journal or E-zine was always an honor for me, but I still hungered to see my name on the cover and spine of a book.  Like many of you, I craved to hold in my hands a book that I had created out of my words, out of my very soul, that was uniquely and tangibly mine.

One of the questions I wrestled with is: am I ready to put together a manuscript to self-publish or shop to publishing houses?  Is the time right?  A lot of factors went into making that decision.  I asked myself everything from: ‘have I grown enough as a writer?’ to ‘do I have a big enough body of work to pull from?’ to ‘do I have an adequate social media presence and fan base?’  This may seem like an odd question…