If you’re about to publish an article, a website, a paper, a book — almost anything more than a Facebook status — you need an editor. Even with spell checkers, grammar checkers, and online resources, you still need an editor. Editors these days do a lot more than edit. Editors check facts, spot inconsistencies, restore dropped text, fix nonsensical text and heads, correct styling, restructure overlong sentences/paragraphs/heads — in general, tidy up your document.

Here are the 5 reasons you need an editor (even if you think you don’t):

1. Grammar and spelling checkers don’t catch everything.

Automated checkers don’t check for proper names, usage, homonyms (there and their), nonsensical text, inadvertent inclusion of metadata like headers and footers, document structure, and misplaced or dropped text.

2. You understand your writing, but maybe your readers won’t.

Writing is a lot like being in a relationship. You can complete all your content’s thoughts, jokes and ideas. But can your reader? You are so close to your content that sometimes you lose the big picture. You don’t notice where bridges or explanations are needed to get your reader from A to B. A trained editor will. We’ve built so many content maps over the years that we know where readers need signposts.

3. Get an editor for the sake of your readers.

Writers often say: “I’m self-publishing, so I do the editing myself.” There is a common misunderstanding that self-publishing means you do everything yourself. I’ve heard this so many times, and my answer is always the same: “Get an editor for the sake of your readers.” Self-publishers are passionate about their readers. They talk about them, plan for them, dream about them. Even if no readers have shown up yet, writers continually scan the horizon for them. And what do readers like most? They like reading to be easy. They want to get lost in a story, not in a jumbled sentence. Editors make reading easy. Get an editor. Your readers will thank you.

4. An editor cuts through a writer’s tunnel vision.

Writers often think their manuscript is perfect because they’ve read it a hundred times. But that’s exactly the problem. By the time you’ve read your manuscript a hundred times (some say they’ve read it a thousand times), you’ve developed a sort of tunnel vision. Errors, discrepancies, confusing language, even typos become part of the general landscape. You stop noticing them. Editors don’t. Editors are seeing your content for the first time, so errors jump out at them.

5. An editor gives help and support.

Writers sometimes resist the idea of having an editor. “I want to do this on my own,” they say. But why? Couldn’t you really use some support and help? An editor isn’t going to steal your thunder. We frequently don’t even get mentioned in the book. We’re thrilled even to appear in the Acknowledgments. A good editor becomes a friend to your writing and often to you, too. We know what it means to have the trust of a writer, and we handle it like gold.