I help to run an editing business, and one principle we always hold to is to only edit on areas within our realm of expertise. That means we only focus on non-fiction, mainly in the nursing and medical fields.

This has several advantages:

• We can provide faster turnaround as we’re more familiar with the work.
• We can provide samples of other work we’ve edited — very important in finding a good editor.
• We have a reputation in our niche.

You’re right in that much of editing is also about the intangibles — the professionalism of the responses to your emails, how the editing website looks, how you feel about your editor and proofreader.

You absolutely made the right choice in sending out a sample and getting some responses. It’s a powerful way to immediately see if your editor is up to the task.