There is a big mistake I see many authors make before hiring an editor, and it has nothing to do with grammar.
By the time most authors reach out to Emerald Lake Books, they’ve already invested months—or sometimes years—writing and revising their manuscript. They’ve reached the point where they feel they’ve taken it as far as they know how, and now they’re looking for someone else to help them move it across the finish line.
That’s a perfectly natural progression. After all, editing is one of the next major milestones in the publishing journey.
What many authors don’t realize, however, is that there is another opportunity that comes before editing—one that no editor, publisher or marketing professional can fully address on their behalf.
It’s an opportunity that belongs entirely to the author.
The Conversations That Changed My Perspective
When I first began working with authors, I assumed much of our time together would revolve around improving the manuscript itself. We certainly discussed the writing, but I soon discovered that some of our most valuable conversations had very little to do with sentence structure, grammar or punctuation.
Instead, we found ourselves discussing questions such as:
- Who is this book really written for?
- What do they need from this book?
- What do you hope readers will do after they finish it?
- How does this book fit into your larger goals?
- What opportunities do you hope it creates—for you or for your readers?
- If you were able to secure endorsements from a few carefully chosen people, who would they be—and why?
Those conversations often led to changes within the manuscript, but not because we were editing it. Rather, the author had gained greater clarity about the purpose behind the book and the readers they most hoped to reach. That clarity naturally influenced the stories they chose to tell, the examples they included, and the emphasis they placed on certain ideas. As a result, the manuscript became more focused and meaningful to the people it was written to serve.
Over time, I began to realize that these weren’t simply interesting discussions. They were an essential part of preparing a manuscript for publication.
It Didn’t Start with Publishing
Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised.
Long before Emerald Lake Books existed, I owned a social marketing and web design agency called Aleweb Social Marketing. Like many business owners, I was looking for a way to answer prospective clients’ questions, establish credibility, and explain the value of what I did without having to repeat the same introductory conversations over and over again.
Eventually, I realized a book could accomplish all of those things.
It wasn’t simply a product to sell. It became a communication tool. It educated prospective clients before we ever met. It demonstrated my expertise. It built trust. It created speaking opportunities and consulting engagements that otherwise would never have happened.
That experience fundamentally changed the way I viewed books.
From that point forward, I stopped measuring a book’s success solely by the number of copies it sold. Instead, I began asking two different questions:
What is this book intended to accomplish?
What does success look like for this particular author?
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that asking those questions is really an exercise in intentionality. When we’re clear about what we’re trying to accomplish and how we’ll recognize success, the decisions we make along the way become much clearer.
A book’s purpose defines what it is designed to do. Success, on the other hand, is deeply personal. For one author, success might mean landing speaking engagements. For another, it could be attracting consulting clients, opening doors to a new career, leaving a legacy for future generations, or simply helping people who are facing the same challenges they once experienced. A novelist, on the other hand, may dream of building a loyal readership that eagerly awaits the next book in a series, while the author of a children’s book may hope to spark a lifelong love of reading or help young readers navigate a particular challenge.
Very few authors answer those questions the same way once they move beyond sales numbers.
Understanding what success looks like for each author allows us to make more intentional decisions throughout the publishing process. It helps ensure that the manuscript isn’t simply well written—it is also positioned to help the author achieve the outcomes that matter most to them.
Years later, when I founded Emerald Lake Books, those same questions naturally became part of the way we worked with authors. Eventually, they evolved into the methodology we now call Publish with Purpose.
What Editors Do Best
Professional editors play an invaluable role in preparing a manuscript for publication. They bring objectivity, experience and technical expertise that every author benefits from.
A good editor can identify inconsistencies, improve clarity, strengthen organization, reduce echoes, smooth awkward transitions, and help ensure that readers remain engaged from beginning to end.
What editors cannot do, however, is determine your purpose.
They don’t know what opportunities you hope this book will create. They don’t know how your book fits into your business, your ministry, your career, or your long-term goals. And they don’t know which readers you most hope to reach or which relationships you hope your book might help you build.
An experienced editor may ask thoughtful questions that help you uncover those answers. But ultimately, only you can answer them.
That’s why I believe authors should take the time to work through those questions before handing their manuscript to someone else. When you’ve already done that work, your editor is free to focus on what they do best: strengthening the writing itself rather than helping you discover the purpose behind it.
The Opportunity Only You Have
Preparing a manuscript isn’t just about improving the writing. It’s about making sure the manuscript reflects your intentions as clearly as possible before someone else begins refining it.
Only you know why you wrote this book.
Only you know the impact you hope it will have on your readers.
Only you know what success looks like after publication.
Those aren’t questions to answer after the editing is complete. They’re questions that influence the editing itself.
The clearer your answers become, the stronger your manuscript is likely to be before it ever reaches your editor’s desk. More importantly, you’ll be in a much better position to connect with the readers you hope your book will serve, because every decision throughout the manuscript will have been made with them in mind.
Although many of the examples I’ve shared come from my own experience with nonfiction, the principles themselves aren’t limited by genre. Whether you’re writing a business book, a memoir, a novel, or a children’s book, understanding your purpose, your readers, and your definition of success influences decisions that no one else can make for you.
A Methodology Worth Sharing
For years, these conversations took place naturally as part of our publishing process at Emerald Lake Books. They weren’t packaged into a course or presented as a formal methodology. They simply grew out of working closely with authors and discovering what consistently helped strengthen their books.
As time went on, I realized these ideas weren’t just helping the authors we published. They represented a different way of thinking about books—one that focused less on producing a manuscript and more on helping that manuscript accomplish something meaningful.
That realization eventually led me to write Publish with Purpose, where I explored many of these concepts for the first time. Later, those ideas grew into the Publish with Purpose Summit, giving authors an opportunity to hear from experts across the publishing industry while considering how each decision could support the larger purpose behind their book.
With every conversation, every summit, and every author we worked with, the methodology continued to evolve.
Eventually, I realized that one piece was still missing.
Authors needed a way to apply these ideas to their own manuscript before they ever hired an editor or submitted it to a publisher.
That’s what ultimately led to the creation of the Strategic Manuscript Self-Audit. It isn’t a new philosophy. It’s the next step in helping authors put the Publish with Purpose methodology into practice on their own, preparing their manuscript for whatever comes next.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If this article has you thinking differently about your writing, the Strategic Manuscript Self-Audit will guide you through these questions in a structured, self-paced process designed to help you prepare your book for its next stage.
Or if you’re still determining where you are in the publishing journey, you may also find our roadmap helpful.
