I love critique groups. I go to two, sometimes three, all the time. I enjoy the camaraderie, the exchange of ideas, the push-and-pull of writers in a community.

But a critique group is not a substitute for an independent editor.

Critique groups are there to give us encouragement, to point out obvious flaws, to brainstorm ideas, to provide the underlying support necessary to live “the writer’s life.” A chapter-by-chapter critique from a handful of divergent voices cannot take the place of a focused analysis by a detached professional who knows what he or she is looking for–i.e., deal breakers–and how to correct them.

I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the number of authors who have assured me they only needed a copy edit because their critique group had already been over it (and loved it, of course), yet when I read the first three chapters I knew it needed serious revision to be considered viable. I wish I could say that many of them went on to fame and fortune without those revisions, but sadly, I cannot.

Substantive and line editors don’t edit a manuscript in individual chapters; they review the entire work first for over-all slinky flow, plausibility, cohesiveness, and continuity. First they correct deal-breaking content errors, THEN they go on to converting passive/static voice to active prose and excessive author narration to character action and dialogue. Only after all that has been fixed do they plunge into syntax, grammar, punctuation, and those other niceties that wrap up the package. Why worry about commas in a passage that needs to be rewritten?

Critique groups are invaluable; I highly recommend them and will never not attend one. But if you want what you’ve slaved over all these months and years to sell, remember: editors may not be priceless, but they’re usually worth far more than they cost.