This week I'm preparing to teach next week at an online course that prepares missionaries to do home assignment. This online teaching is becoming a trend in my life—I've also been asked to teach at an online OMF writing workshop in March.
Big difference is that next week we've got a curriculum to follow and other "facilitators" to work closely with. The one in March I've got a lot more freedom with.
One of the things that I've been asked to prepare for March is a "top ten tips list for working with editors". I know that many of you won't have had the experience of (or interest in) working with an editor. But I thought I'd throw this out there for any who have and to get your ideas/feedback.
The workshop is focused on non-fiction books. While I have a fair bit of short-writing non-fiction editing experience now, I don't have experience in editing books, so that's a bit of a challenge. So some of these tips might be more suited to magazine editing, than book editing.
From the perspective of an editor, here are some things I'd like to include on my Top 10 list:
- An editor is not your enemy, this isn't personal to them, be professional in your interaction with them. Editors want to make your work shine, work with them to help that happen.
- The editor may understand your audience better than you do (especially the case for magazine editing).
- Don't think that your work is perfect when you give it to an editor, they will make changes.
- An editor is your "first reader", their job is to catch the things that will puzzle or bother your readers. They will see things that you can't see because you are too close, for example, where you've not given enough explanation, or too much.
- Welcome rewrites, an editor usually has a good reason for asking for one.
- Take note of deadlines, word limits, and other instructions an editor gives you, again, there is a good reason. If you're having trouble meeting a deadline, let the editor know sooner rather than later.
- An editor can help you become a better writer, welcome feedback.
- Communicate succinctly with your editor. They are busy too, they don't need multiple emails/texts/phone calls from you.
- Be accurate—make sure you check your facts and sources, this will save time later. Not every editor has the time/resources to check these things, the integrity of your writing depends on you checking.
- If you make changes when an editor sends you edited content, make sure you note where you made the changes (eg. by using Track Changes in Word).
2 comments:
The one main thing I would add as a freelance book editor (fiction so far, but this still applies to non-fiction) is formatting your manuscript correctly before sending it to the editor. It doesn't take long to learn and apply the document formatting when you start your writing, but if you send a long unformatted document to your editor, they will spend valuable time fixing it that could be better spend on actually editing. Editors who work for publishing houses will usually refuse your manuscript on first glance if it's not formatted. As a freelancer, I won't do that, but I will love you forever if I don't start my editing job grumpy because I have to unnecessarily fix things ;-)
And as you say, Wendy, remembering that it isn't personal is also very important. An editor isn't your enemy but they're also not your best friend - don't get too 'buddy'-like or you'll find yourself taking it personally when they correct your manuscript. If we're making lots of suggestions, it's not that your work is terrible; usually it's that we can see it has fantastic potential beyond even what you were imagining (only because we have a different perspective by not being you, the author) and are excited about making it shine.
Lastly, please please spell-check your work before you send it - even if it's just a quick built-in Word check!
Thanks for commenting Jess. Yes, spell check. I don’t think you should ever send something to an editor unless you’ve done a careful edit yourself, or asked someone else to go through it for you.
I’m not sure what you mean by formatting. Different publications have different formatting. If a publication (and I’m talking magazines/blogs) have a specified format guide, then by all means use it, but if they don’t, how can an author know that I prefer to edit using a sans-serif font, or with double spaces between paragraphs?
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