Whether you want to hire an individual editor or an editing service to edit your writing, it is important to be very careful, as there are many editors and editing services that are in fact mere scams. When considering an editor or editing service, there are four main steps to keeping yourself safe from editing scams.

1. Check reviews

2. Speak or communicate with a real person

3. Request proof

4. Have a way of getting your money back

These are not the only four steps that you can take to ensure that you are keeping yourself safe from scams, but they are the most relevant ones.

Check Reviews

If you are hiring an editing service to review your writing, then this step is relatively straightforward. There are multiple sites that you can check for reviews, ranging from Google reviews to Facebook reviews. The most important thing to remember is not to just automatically believe the editing service is legit due to testimonials on the editing services’ website as they can be easily faked. For this reason, it is important to read over reviews that are written independently from the editing service’s webpage.

If you are hiring a person as an editor, this step can be a bit tricky as it is not as simple as checking for customer reviews on Google. The best way to check out reviews on an individual editor is to Google the editor’s name to see if anyone has blogged about their service or posted about them on social media. However, the best method is to only hire an editor from a reputable site that allows you to see reviews written by former customers. It is very important that you ensure the editor does not own the site hosting the reviews in order to ensure the reviews are not fake or biased.

Speak or Communicate with a Real Person

This step is very simple, but also very important, as you should never pay for a service without communicating with them to ensure that the service or person is not just an automated computer system. When possible, it is best to do this by phone as it will also allow you to get a feel for the person that will be editing your writing. If you opt to do this by email or chat, make sure to include at least one question that would require a unique answer and not a form answer.

Request Proof

Requesting proof ensures that the editing service or person is real and that they can edit to the standard you require. A simple way to do this is to ask the person or service if they would be willing to edit the first page of your writing for free to demonstrate their skill and ensure that you could work together.

Have A Way of Getting Your Money Back

The last step involves protecting yourself in case it is a scam. To this end, you should make sure to use a credit card to pay for the service or individual editor that will allow you to dispute the transaction if necessary. However, if you cannot pay by credit card, then the first three steps are much more important and you should only hire a service with a satisfaction or money back guarantee.