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I am going to publish my second book (a technical book on Einstein's relativity), probably with a UK publisher. I am trying to find an editor for it, and I would be very pleased if someone guides me through this.

It is not necessary for the editor to go through the entire text and calculations but rather it suffices to copyedit the first 20 pages (Preface & Introduction) of the book plus (if possible) those words/sentences of the remaining of the book that are marked in color by me.

I have a problem in this regard:

Unfortunately, the US sanctions against my country (Iran) caused our monetary unit to dramatically lose its value against the US dollar. Indeed, one US dollar is now nearly "seven" times more expensive compared to four years ago, and thus I cannot afford the editing fees.

However, I can mention the editor's name in the publisher Agreement and want them to send their editing fees subtracting from my royalties in some future time. Moreover, I would acknowledge them in the book as the editor.

Is it possible for me to find an editor accepting these conditions?

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Normally, if you publish with an established, reputable, publishing house, they will assign you an editor (i.e. a copy editor) and, in my experience, they don't charge you for it. The figure the cost of such things as normal business practice, which is one of the reasons that royalties are low.

I suggest that you contact a "suitable" publisher with a proposal and indicate that you have a solid draft of the work already complete. If they are interested, then they will probably take it from there. They normally employ copy editors who are generally knowledgeable about the field, though not actual experts. They can improve writing and presentation, but not the actual ideas.

They will want to go over the entire work, however, so that it meets their own standards. I found the experience on several books to be quite pleasant. That is distinct from reviewers, who can have their own ideas, quite different from yours. But the editor needs to be satisfied on all counts to publish your work.

But be aware that there are "publishers" who will publish anything as long as you pay the bill. Predatory publishers.

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  • I think predatory publishers is the wrong term here since the term is usually used for publications that should involve a peer review process. For books the issue is pay-for-publish, vanity publishers.
    – Roland
    Aug 30, 2021 at 6:05
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    @Roland Some sort of peer-reviewing is also common for academic books, at least in my field.
    – Kimball
    Aug 30, 2021 at 11:59

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