This week, I had a conversation with an author with a dream of getting a book deal from one of the big five, and she asked me a perfect question: What can you do to help me find an agent to achieve my goal? And I said hell yes.

When you’re an indie author, the reason to hire an editor is clear: you want to give your book the same advantage as if you were seeking a traditional publisher. But the lines get more blurry for writers who are seeking a more traditional experience. You need a story good enough to land an agent, but you don’t want to go through unnecessary rounds of edits only to go through more when you’re offered a book deal. Here’s what a developmental edit can do for you if you’re wanting some help after many rejections:

Brush Up Your Sample Pages

As an indie author, your first few pages are what prospective readers will review before buying your book. As an author seeking a traditional publishing experience, it’s what you’re sending prospective agents. Either way, it’s paramount to get them over the hump of that first sample and wanting more.

It’s easy to feel like you need to start your story at the beginning and introduce your characters, but are they your strongest pages to yield an emotional response from readers? A developmental editor can help you find the right pages or else improve upon the first pages you already have.

Nail Down Genre Conventions

There’s a good chance that you wrote your first draft pretty intuitively. We all grow up surrounded by stories, and their structure can feel instinctual as we begin writing our own. This is why so many people define themselves as pantsers. It’s a great way to get a first draft written, but as you edit, a more analytical lens on what readers expect is needed.

Did you know every genre has obligatory scenes that will make your story feel fully rounded? Though they can feel very different in each book, these common elements are what tie the reader experience to the genre and propel them through reading and ultimately recommend to friends. Experts can apply these scenes to even the most bizarre or innovative stories, and having them will help you convert a prospect to an agent.

Unveil Marketing Insights

Best case scenario as a traditionally publishing author, you’re going to get a marketing team to help with the launch of your book, which amounts to about three months’ time. Then the team will have to move on to other books that are being published. This isn’t enough time to sustain a career as an author. So, it’s wildly important to have some footing for continuing promotion when they’re gone.

A developmental editor can help pinpoint your target market by age group, gender, marital status, education level and more. These kinds of details are also helpful when writing a query letter and pitching agents. By quickly being able to identify your target market, agents can more easily pitch your book to publishers.

Wrap Up Unsatisfied Plot Points

You have a great idea for a book. Of course you do! That’s why you’re here. Honestly, I’ll bet your work in progress is filled with many good ideas. Do you think they’re all fully fleshed out?

If there’s any question in your mind, a developmental editor can help you tie up the loose ends. It used to be that editors at major publishing houses worked with authors for years on developing their novels, but now by the time it reaches an editor’s desk, they want the work a few strokes from completion, which can be really hard without help! You want to wow them once you get past that sample stage, and a developmental editor can get you there.

Fill in the Gaps

This largely goes along with the conventions of your genre and unsatisfied plot points I mentioned before, but editors are great at finding gaps in your story and helping you fill them. When you’re writing a novel, you have a clear image in your head of what is happening and how one point leads to the next. But though it is clear to you, these concepts don’t always translate as well to the page and into your readers minds as you would expect. Wouldn’t it be great if they read your mind? The gap between the two is called your authorial bias, and closing these gaps will translate your book to an agent more thoroughly.

Writing a book can be an isolating experience. It’s hard to plot, write, edit, and query all by yourself. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can build a team of support to finish your novel no matter which publishing path you choose. Having good beta readers or a social network of writers is a good start, and it’s okay to seek editorial help if you decide you need it. You are still the author, and all of this is happening because of you! Way to go.