Re-editing My Book After Editor Used A.I

The Restart

This year I’ve had to restarted my writing career in a brand new genre under a different pen name. I’m proud of my previous work, but circumstances meant it was time to move on and leave the past behind. Essentially, I am starting from scratch, but with more experience and knowhow than first time around. A brand new beginning. Part of that restart meant finding a new editor.

So, I turned to Fiverr for the first time thinking it was the place to look, and would possibly be cheaper than elsewhere (it was, for reasons i’ll shortly get into) I found an Editor who sounded decent, and agreed a price for him to edit my first Sci-Fi book.

Being inexperienced in the ways of Fiverr, and none of this really being a thing when I started self-publishing a few years back, I didn’t realise quickly enough just how much of the edit would be conducted using some form of App or A.I. Naively, it didn’t even occur to me. The landscape of self-publishing has drastically in the last four years.

Initial Thoughts

At first, I was impressed with his edit. The notes seemed particularly detailed compared to my previous editor, and I couldn’t spot any spelling or grammar errors. I’d given him a few instructions about words I’d used in the world building aspect of my Space Opera, and at a quick glance he’d seemed to have adhered to most of them. (I didn’t mind the odd mistake as it was easy to change back)

I was relived. Finding a new editor who didn’t charge a few hundred pounds for my 40k book when I didn’t have the money was a weight off my shoulders. I started going through the changes in my normal process and for the first hour was feeling good, but then doubts started to creep into my mind.

Having zero experience with A.I (I’ve never used Chat GPT or any such thing, and never will) I didn’t really realise what I was looking at at first. I’m still unsure what exactly he did use (I should have asked, although by this point he was behaving very strangely so I don’t think he would have answered) but whatever it was, it wasn’t human. Things felt very off.

Unnecessary Changes

Too many words and sentences had been unnecessarily changed. I’m used to plenty of corrections within my edits. My spelling and grammar has never been my strong suit, and will always need tidying up, but, a lot of particular words and phrases I'd agonised over appeared changed for little to no reason.

I checked the detailed notes and a lot of the reasoning was indeed vague, or just absolute nonsense trying to convince me otherwise. It was all doublespeak. What seemed detailed at first glance now felt manipulative. It was mostly all change for change sake (Amongst it were a few decent changes, but that’s not the point)

That’s when I started to examine the notes more carefully. Many more alterations didn’t feel right. They were grammatically correct and spelt right, but there were so many structural and word changes which didn’t need to be made. It was like the A.I or App was trying to show off how clever it was, how big its vocabulary was, rather than respecting my choices and doing the job it was meant to. It wanted to prove to me that it knew more than I did, which was just bizarre. (Hopefully I’m explaining this right.)

Against My Wishes

These unusual changes were not what I asked for, or even what I was paying the editor for. I’d not experienced anything like it. I’m very comfortable in my ability to write and tell stories. Whether it’s liked or not is irrelevant to me at the end of the day. I write for myself and hope others will enjoy my work too (that way I can have a career. But either way i’m telling the stories I want to tell) My edits in the past have always focused on correcting mistakes, not someone competing with my writing, which is what this edit felt like.

In my experience (as limited as it is having only worked with a handful of editors previous to this one) editors don’t do extra work for the sake of it. Especially, ones working on self-published indie manuscripts. They try their best, and by and large all the ones i’ve hired have done a good job, but none have ever volunteered to rewrite my work for me just to show how much better they are at it. Surely they’d want more money as a developmental editor.

Lesson Learnt

By the time I really noticed all of this i’d already paid the editor, and would have anyway. I’m not confrontational, and despite using an App or A.I, in theory he did complete the task given. I just wished either: He was more upfront about his process, or, i’d been wise enough to ask him about his ways to begin with. (Won’t make that mistake again)

Part of the second chapter was completely missing so I asked him to edit that (He eventually did, but it was a whole ordeal) I added the lead in to the missing part, and a bit after so he knew where it was, and what needed doing. It was also a little bit of a test to see whether he’d re-edit what he had already edited, even though I told him he didn’t need too.

Sure enough, when editing the missing section, he also re-edited what he’d already done in a completely different manner, giving new reasons for the parts that had already been changed. He’d very obviously copied and pasted the section into something which made the changes (Which i’m sure is how a whole section went missing in the first place)

So, it turns out the changes aren’t even consistent each time the A.I App is used. If he put those paragraphs through the robot again it would have spewed out yet another different edit from the last two, and in turn given me a detailed bullshit explanation as to why.

I was slightly pissed by this point, but the edit was now complete and I’d paid him. I was hoping to find someone I could use for all the books I was working on, but i’d already decided I wouldn’t be using him again (not just because of the A.I edit, but that was the biggest reason) When I looked him up a month later his account was gone, my guess is I wasn’t the only one feeling duped or underwhelmed.

Not Judging But…

Honestly, i’m disappointed with the whole process, and now need to find a new editor to re-edit work i’ve already paid for when I really don’t have the money. But, I now know I won’t be looking on Fiverr, and I will be asking plenty of questions beforehand. (It has also delayed the publishing of this book)

In a world where everyone can undercut everyone else because of A.I and Apps I know i’m going to have to pay a lot more for edits than I did a few years ago, and that sucks. But, I don’t like the alternative. I don’t want my work edited by A.I, be it sneakily, or up front. It’s not for me, and never will be.

Let me just finish by clarifying that I won’t ever judge anyone who does use A.I to edit their work (knowingly or unknowingly) It is a cheaper alternative in an overly expensive market, and the edit of my book was absolutely fine (barring the missing section) if I wasn’t so particularly about the things I wrote. The A.I done a decent job, it just felt soulless, and quite frankly, a little patronising to me. If you use A.I to edit your work, that’s okay, do what you got to do.

I’ll never knowingly read a book written by A.I, but to a degree I do get why people will use it to edit, I just won’t. And now, I have a better understanding of the reasons why I feel that way. I want my work edited by humans. Now, I just have to find one, which is turning out to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. (Insert grumpy face here!)