What to expect from your editor

No matter what stage your writing project is at, it will benefit from the input of a professional editor. But what exactly can an editor do? This article covers some of the specialist skills your editor can bring to your project. Remember, each project is different and has different requirements at different stages, so not every project will need all of these elements. Also, not all editors have experience in all of these areas. After reading this article, you will have a much better idea of what to ask for and discuss with your editor.

Oversight and guidance

Navigating the world of publishing can be a full-time job in itself. Many editors have experience and contacts in the publishing world, and can guide you through the steps and around the pitfalls of traditional and self publishing. This may come in different forms, depending on where your project is up to. You might benefit from a manuscript assessment – where the editor will read your work and provide feedback on overarching issues like character development, voice, story arcs, etc. Or perhaps your project could use more oversight – someone to take charge of the publishing process by engaging a designer, proofer, printer, or an agent/publisher. Or maybe you are looking for more of a mentor-type arrangement – someone to hold you accountable and provide support and encouragement. Think about out-sourcing some of the publishing admin to your editor, so you can get on with the work of writing.

Structural editing

This is a high-level edit that goes into more detail than a manuscript assessment but doesn’t address issues at the sentence level. When conducting a structural edit, editors look at the overall structure of a piece:

• are the chapters and paragraphs in the best order?

• do the beginning and end (and everything in between) make sense?

• are the characters well-developed?

• is dialogue appropriate and meaningful to the story?

• are tables, charts, graphs or images working in the way they should?

• are all appropriate materials included (contents, introduction, index, etc)?

A good editor will go beyond pointing out issues and will provide suggestions and examples of how any problems can be addressed. If you don’t understand the feedback (or you disagree), contact your editor for a chat – there is rarely one “right” fix, and a conversation usually leads to a solution that everyone is happy with, and a stronger piece of writing.

Copyediting

A copyedit involves going over your work in more detail – checking for appropriate word choice, correct sentence structure, grammar and punctuation. Your editor will also check for consistency at this point – you may be surprised how often a character’s name or hair colour changes between chapters, and how common it is for the content of tables or graphs to differ from what is said in the text. This stage can also include fact checking (making sure non-fiction names, dates, etc are accurate and spelled correctly) and reference checking. Referencing is a specialist skill, and not all texts require fact checking, so make sure you discuss these with your editor when you brief them.

Save your copyedit for towards the end of your project. There’s no point doing a copyedit when you’re still drafting or ironing out structural wrinkles – you will end up having to do it twice, or more!

Preparing for layout

Usually, big, text-based project are created in a word-processing program. But these are limited in how they manage images, graphics, and so on – so most projects need to be transferred to a desktop publishing program before they are printed or published. This process is called typesetting or “laying out” (these terms have more specific meanings, but that’s the subject of a different blog), and should be undertaken by an experienced book designer.

Before sending your files to a designer, your editor can prepare the text by making sure there are no leftover tracked changes or comments, cleaning up any unnecessary (often invisible) formatting, and applying paragraph styles.

“Styles” tell the desktop publishing program what text should be formatted as a paragraph, a heading, a bulleted list, a caption, etc, etc. Your manuscript with styles applied might look a bit odd, with different parts in different fonts, sizes or colours. But don’t worry, this isn’t what the laid-out document will look like – it’s just to distinguish the elements from each other.

Make sure you discuss with your editor and designer who will be responsible for styles. Consider introducing them to each other, so they can work together to make your project its absolute best.

Proofreading

Proofreading happens right at the end of the process, after layout and before your project is printed/published. It provides your project with that final polish. We’ve all seen the memes of ads and headlines with a misspelled word or wrongly placed apostrophe – and nobody wants to be the author of those kinds of mistakes!

Your proofer is highly trained to notice the tiny errors our eyes usually skip over. Ideally, they will be someone who has never seen your project before, so they can come to it with completely fresh eyes.

Proofing looks at the tiny, tiny details of your work. A good proof will:

• pick up any errors that slipped through the copyedit (eg, should it be “stationery” or “stationary”?)

• ensure all punctuation is accurate and correctly placed (eg, no spaces before full stops or commas)

• will make sure margins, headings, images and other elements are all consistently applied (these may need to be corrected by your designer)

• will make sure page, section and column breaks are placed to ensure the best reader experience

• will ensure consistency and accuracy of internal references (contents, page numbers, footnotes, etc)

You should now have a better idea of some of the services your editor can provide. The most important thing to remember is that your editor wants to help you make your work better. We aren’t here to judge! Many editors have experience with writing, so we know how hard it can be to share a draft. No matter where your project is up to, get in touch and let’s have a chat about how we can take the next steps together.