“You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning
inside you, and we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.”
– Arthur Plotnik
“No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.”
– H.G. Wells
You editor is someone with a special skill-set. One that is often described as being intrusive, overbearing, heavy-handed, and just plain wrong. But it is also described as being artful, challenging, insightful, and brilliant. Is it one or the other? Or is it both?
There are a few things your editor does that you may not fully appreciate. I thought I’d gather a few of them. See if you agree:
1) Reads widely. This is no small feat. When your editor reads for a living it could be surprising to find that they are reading for fun too. The advantage for you is that the editor can bring breadth and variety into the editorial conversation.
2) Cares About Making Your Book Better. It may not sound like it when the editor is being critical or dismisses your latest brainstorm. But editors genuinely want to be a part of great books. Lazy or cavalier editors don’t last long in the industry. I have heard editors speak passionately about a book they worked on…even books that were published years ago.
3) Fights In-House Battles Big and Small. An author rarely, if ever, knows the extent of the hallway conversations or the formal meetings that have an impact on your book. Everything from reminding a publicity person of their promise to do something to navigating the cover design decisions to the Title meeting. Some battles are won, some are not. But that editor is in the trenches working with the team to get your book done the best possible way it can within that organization.
4) Confirms Sales Copy. As the book makes its way through the marketing and sales process someone has to write the catalog copy or back cover copy. Someone has to proofread it. Someone has to make sure that it describes the book accurately. If your editor isn’t the one who created the copy it is very likely that the editor will be reading it at some stage in the process. Don’t take this for granted. It is a crucial piece of the puzzle.
5) Understands You and Your Book. Or at least attempts to understand. Your editor has their proverbial hands inside you doing surgery. It can be messy. It can even be “dangerous.” But they have talked to you, listened to your vision for the story, and is one of the few people in the world who knows your book as well as you do. This is not an easy job. If they poke too hard you may scream or if they let something slide it may ruin a chapter.
Do you have some other things that can be added to this list? Please add them in the comments below.
Meanwhile…thank your editor today. They are overworked and underpaid. But they still love their job….and hopefully still love working with you.
Judith Robl
As a freelance editor, I have none of the input of an in-house editor. But if I take on your project, it is because
1) I like and believe in your story,
2) I think I can help you make it stronger and more engaging,
3) I see the potential for you to become a stronger writer
I will use Track Changes for small things like missing spaces, a missed period at the end of a sentence, a lower case letter instead of a capital.
I will use comments to tell you why the infinitive should not be split, you are using the wrong homonym (they’re, their, there – I find myself misspelling them myself, so don’t take offense, please), or to define the run-on sentence.
As your editor, I will be as supportive as your mother and as critical as your worst nightmare English teacher. I will expect your absolute best writing and work to help you make it possible.
If you choose to ignore my changes, please don’t credit me in your acknowledgements. It isn’t appropriate if I didn’t really contribute. My reputation is on the line as well as yours.
Thank you, Steve, for acknowledging the work of in-house editors. They are a much maligned and under appreciated part of the process. Thank you, also, for letting me express the position of the free-lance editor.
With the rise of self-published books, the freelancer is a critical part of the equation for publishing quality books.
Vannetta Chapman
Great post and I heartily agree with all of your points. I would add, from an overall perspective, that my editor is my advocate at the publishing house. Someone who advocates for you is a person who is willing “to speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument; recommend publicly.”
Much like having a good agent, having an editor on your team is one more piece of the publishing puzzle.
Thanks for the post!
June Hines Moore
Thank you, Steve, for taking time to put this together for us authors. Blessings
Susan Mary Malone
Thank you, Steve. I’ve worked as an editor for two decades now. Yikes! It’s always nice to be appreciated 🙂
S. Skaer
Excellent post! Editors are one of the reasons I am pursing traditional publication. No matter how many edits I go through, I will always be able to profit from the fresh perspective an editor can bring!
Kim Moore
Thanks so much for this, Steve. As an editor, I find that most don’t want to take what I do for granted. When that happens, it’s usually because they don’t understand what goes on in the process of getting a book from start to finish. Thank you for explaining some of those things. I love, love, love being a part of this creative process. From acquiring to copyediting to line editing to copy writing, I am blessed with making a living with books. Authors are some of the loveliest people I know and a joy to work with. Their imagination, passion, sparkle, and words impact my life in the very best way.
Sara Davison
Great post Steve. As both an author and an editor, I would also add that one of my biggest motivators for spending countless hours poring over a manuscript is my deep desire to see the quality of work, especially in the Christian market, become higher. Any time a poorly edited book hits the shelves it reflects on all of our work and, frankly, on the kingdom as well. Excellence should always be our goal, and if my work can contribute to that in any way, however small, then I’m happy.
Bill Giovannetti
Writing may be a solitary task, but publishing is a team effort. As a beginning author, this took a while to sink in. A mentor at Mt Hermon once commended me for humility, and the longer I’ve gone in this profession, the more I get it. Letting someone else edit your precious work requires huge doses of humility. And thankfulness.
In the end, the product is always better. Writers who don’t quit will be published, if they humble themselves to receive critiques, edits, and help from gracious experts along the way. Thanks for this reminder.
Thank you to all my editors. You are appreciated.