When you hire a professional editor for your written work, there are some things you should expect about the process. You may or may not be aware of these things. However, it definitely helps to be cognizant of them in order to avoid surprises or delays.

One thing many authors don’t know is that a professional editor will want to have a contract, or service agreement (another name for it), which the author will need to sign before editing work can begin. This contract spells out exactly what the author’s deadline is, how the author will deliver the work to the editor, how the editor will deliver the finished work to the author, and other legal items which are meant to settle any disputes which may possibly arise in the editing process. Some authors are not very patient and want the work to start right away without taking the time to read and sign the editor’s contract. Bad idea. If you are an author, please read, understand, and sign the contract, even if you can’t sign electronically and must sign, scan, and send. It may save you a lot of headaches down the road.

Need I mention that a contract prevents an editor against scope creep? Scope creep is what happens when an editor (informally) agrees to do a certain set of tasks, but then the author suddenly asks for another type of work in addition. For example, the editor may have agreed to do a heavy copyedit of a research manuscript, but then after the finished document is returned to the author, the author might ask the editor to cut 100 words to meet the standards of a particular journal.

With a contract that spells out exactly what the editor’s tasks are, the author cannot legally add another, different set of tasks. In the above example, the contract would state that the editor is to do a heavy copyedit of the research manuscript. That’s it. The author cannot ask for anything else unless a new contract is drawn up stating that the editor is to cut 100 words from the manuscript.

If you are an editor, have you found that your clients accept having a contract? Or do they balk at the idea?