I started off writing fan fiction, moved onto helping
other writer friends with their work, and finally made the leap into publishing.
Find out
who other writer friends are using, or get involved in self - publishing forums or groups — such as KBoards, or the Alliance of Independent Authors.
But you can find affordable people through Twitter, Elance, and recommendations
from other writer friends — the writing community is tight - knit and friendly, full of people who love stories, creating them, and championing one another.
-- Finally, don't be afraid to reach out to
other writer friends.
Are these authors so unconnected in the writing world that they don't have
other writer friends who are grammar Nazis and good editors with whom they can trade work to get it cleaned up and edited?
I have
other writer friends (for instance, Michael J. Sullivan and Hugh Howey) who have achieved super-success first by self - publishing, but who then shrewdly parlayed their fame into select, carefully tailored deals with big publishing houses, which allowed them to expand their fan base to include bookstore customers, while still retaining most of their other rights.
Unless you hire them (which you probably should) or you barter with them (as you definitely should, swapping critiques with
other writer friends).