Yes, professionals need editors too, because a) we're all human, and b) none of us can read our own writing as others read it. (Just as, actually, it's very hard to proofread your own writing really well: you know what you meant to say.)

(It's something that too many self-publishers don't realise, I think: just how much expensive, specialist work authors get done on their work for free by their editors (and in some cases their agent, if the agent's an ex-editor and wants to) as well as the money they're paid. That work needs doing: if you're your own publisher, you need to pay to have it done.)

Having said that, you can get better at doing more of it yourself: in many ways the editor is acting as a very well-focussed, experienced Common Reader, IYSWIM, and you can get more of that focus and experience with practice.

But it's not easier than proof-reading, which is largely mechanical though slightly schizophrenic since literals and typos need two different kinds of eye.

Editing is a completely different and much more complex skill-set. I remember a publishing person saying on their blog that a thorough line-edit proceeds at about 6pp an hour. How long is your average MS? 300pp?

Emma

Emma
Thanks for explaining things so well. I'll be researching the editing services that are available, and will make a decision once my novel is nearing completion, (sometime in 2012 I hope).

The self-editing work that I'm doing involves analysing each of my characters; what they've said, their actions & reactions, their concerns, their descriptions, making sure they're not too alike, - also cliché hunting and reviewing pace and continuity etc.
Cheers
Michael