What does an editor do?
Depending on his/her expertise, an editor will primarily be assigned to content edits or copy edits at Dreaming Big Publications (DBP). Both have relatively different jobs and complete their edits at different stages in the manuscript process.
A manuscript is edited by a content editor first. The job of a content editor is to find and resolve any “big-picture” problems in a manuscript, like plot holes, character inconsistencies, pacing and organization problems, among other things. They check the spellings of names and places, identify logical fallacies, and draw attention to any confusing or misleading pieces of the manuscript. They may point out that the protagonist is left-handed in one chapter but brandishes a sword with his right hand in another chapter, or that the story switches from third-person point of view to first-person point of view seemingly without reason. The DBP style guide sums up the job of a content editor by saying, “Questions from the content editor are questions the reader would have if the book was sent out as is.”
From what I’ve learned, a content editor typically writes his/her critiques in the form of questions: “Wouldn’t Kyle get sick if he ate that many bananas?” “Why did Courtney attack the aliens with a flamethrower?” This technique allows the critiques to sound more curious than accusatory.
A copy editor identifies the minor problems of a manuscript, primarily grammar and spelling problems. A copy editor will insert or erase hyphens, punctuation, capitalization and other such syntax changes as they see necessary, and check for sentence fragments, comma splices, and misuse of compound words, among other things. At DBP a copy editor is not responsible for resolving any spacing or formatting issues in the manuscript; this is taken care of by a formatter before the book is published.
During my time at DBP I have worked primarily in content editing, and I’ve found it’s fairly similar to participating in a workshop-style creative writing class at NAU. As I do with my classmates, I simply point out my praises and critiques for an author’s work in an attempt to make it the best it can be.
That being said, editors are not all about criticisms. Whenever I’m editing a manuscript, I point out the things that are working well within the story or the things I love about the writing. Balancing critiques and questions with praise is, in my opinion, the best way to complete a fair and effective edit of a manuscript.
A manuscript is edited by a content editor first. The job of a content editor is to find and resolve any “big-picture” problems in a manuscript, like plot holes, character inconsistencies, pacing and organization problems, among other things. They check the spellings of names and places, identify logical fallacies, and draw attention to any confusing or misleading pieces of the manuscript. They may point out that the protagonist is left-handed in one chapter but brandishes a sword with his right hand in another chapter, or that the story switches from third-person point of view to first-person point of view seemingly without reason. The DBP style guide sums up the job of a content editor by saying, “Questions from the content editor are questions the reader would have if the book was sent out as is.”
From what I’ve learned, a content editor typically writes his/her critiques in the form of questions: “Wouldn’t Kyle get sick if he ate that many bananas?” “Why did Courtney attack the aliens with a flamethrower?” This technique allows the critiques to sound more curious than accusatory.
A copy editor identifies the minor problems of a manuscript, primarily grammar and spelling problems. A copy editor will insert or erase hyphens, punctuation, capitalization and other such syntax changes as they see necessary, and check for sentence fragments, comma splices, and misuse of compound words, among other things. At DBP a copy editor is not responsible for resolving any spacing or formatting issues in the manuscript; this is taken care of by a formatter before the book is published.
During my time at DBP I have worked primarily in content editing, and I’ve found it’s fairly similar to participating in a workshop-style creative writing class at NAU. As I do with my classmates, I simply point out my praises and critiques for an author’s work in an attempt to make it the best it can be.
That being said, editors are not all about criticisms. Whenever I’m editing a manuscript, I point out the things that are working well within the story or the things I love about the writing. Balancing critiques and questions with praise is, in my opinion, the best way to complete a fair and effective edit of a manuscript.
How do editors and authors work together?
It’s always scary to send your writing off to someone who you know will return it with critiques and criticisms. I think all writers dread getting their work back with red marks all over it. For this reason it’s important to balance criticism with praise, and for editors and authors to maintain a respectful and careful relationship.
During my time content editing at DBP I’ve corresponded with authors entirely through email. I would imagine that the form of communication can vary between different publishing companies, but emailing seems fairly standard. After I completed my initial edits on one author’s story, for example, I emailed his manuscript back to him with a message that I had really enjoyed his story and looked forward to working with him. He emailed me back with a new copy in which he either implemented or contested my suggestions, and we continued emailing each other with new questions and suggestions (“Maybe it would be better if it was phrased like this…” “I would prefer to keep this sentence because…”) until we were able to agree on all the edits. Our editing was successful because we treated each other with respect and never became accusatory or defensive over the edits.
There are cases in which authors and editors experience difficulty working with each other because one or both refuse to accept or compromise on suggestions. Sometimes an editor and author are simply not a good match, and in this case the editor-in-chief at DBP will typically reassign the manuscript to a different editor. She also reserves the right to halt the publication process if the author is proving too difficult to work with, but this happens very rarely.
During my time content editing at DBP I’ve corresponded with authors entirely through email. I would imagine that the form of communication can vary between different publishing companies, but emailing seems fairly standard. After I completed my initial edits on one author’s story, for example, I emailed his manuscript back to him with a message that I had really enjoyed his story and looked forward to working with him. He emailed me back with a new copy in which he either implemented or contested my suggestions, and we continued emailing each other with new questions and suggestions (“Maybe it would be better if it was phrased like this…” “I would prefer to keep this sentence because…”) until we were able to agree on all the edits. Our editing was successful because we treated each other with respect and never became accusatory or defensive over the edits.
There are cases in which authors and editors experience difficulty working with each other because one or both refuse to accept or compromise on suggestions. Sometimes an editor and author are simply not a good match, and in this case the editor-in-chief at DBP will typically reassign the manuscript to a different editor. She also reserves the right to halt the publication process if the author is proving too difficult to work with, but this happens very rarely.
How much control do authors have over the editing process?
The editor-in-chief of DBP typically says that the final decision on any major edits comes down to the author, especially because the editors at DPB are typically college students like myself who may not have as much experience or knowledge as the author. I can’t say if this is the case for other publishing companies, especially more prominent ones, but I believe that authors typically have a large amount of control over the editing process. Editing a manuscript is a partnership, and in an ideal situation, an editor and author will contribute equally and discuss things respectfully until they reach an end product that they can both be proud of.