You’ve finished your draft and now it’s time to run it by the dreaded editor. Writers (meaning anyone who writes) tend to think of editors as grumpy gatekeepers who determine what gets published and what doesn’t. Splashing red ink all over a printed page or using the Track Changes feature so furiously that they risk overheating their computers, they crush any and all attempts at creativity and make authors regret that they ever put their hands on a keyboard.
The truth is, if you are creating content or writing anything for external consumption, the editor is your best friend. Rarely has a piece been written that couldn’t be made better by a skilled editor. In fact, the best, most successful authors in the world still have their material scrutinized by an editor.
Says Who? Why give the editor the power to revise your draft?
- First, most editors have fairly advanced knowledge of grammar, punctuation, and at least one of the major style guides (e.g. “The Associated Press Stylebook” or the “Chicago Manual of Style.”).
- Second, editors not only ensure that your document has a consistent tone throughout, they are probably charged with ensuring a consistent tone across all the content your organization produces. Edits that cause your document to sound a little less like YOU are probably made to help it sound a little more like YOUR COMPANY.
- Finally, while you are convinced that your piece is Pulitzer Prize–worthy (we all feel that way about material we’ve labored over), it isn’t—but the editor can at least add some polish.
Productive Ways to Work with an Editor
- Early and often. Unless the person has specifically said they will not review unfinished drafts, seek input from your editor at whatever point you need some advice. Not sure how to make the first paragraph flow more smoothly into the second? Just ask!
- Pass on perfection. For some people, knowing that someone will be editing their draft puts them on a quest to craft the perfect prose. If that’s you, resist that urge. While you want to produce good, solid work that is free of typos and grammatical errors, stressing over every last syllable is a waste of your time and energy. Besides, to an editor, there’s no such thing as perfection; every passage can be improved.
- “So, about that…” As skilled as editors may be, they aren’t necessarily an authority on the material they are reviewing. Providing some background on why you wrote what you did the way you did can help you get to a mutually satisfying finished piece faster.
- In Editor We Trust. It’s fair to ask for an explanation of modifications made to your work, but once it has been given, it’s best to defer to the editor’s judgement. In the end, the more you trust your editor, the more they will trust you.
Content marketing, as we often make the case, is a critical, long-term strategy that can have a huge impact on your inbound customer experience, and ultimately, your bottom line. Nothing short of amazing content will differentiate your online presence, make prospects trust you, and customers gush. As critical as it is to draft quality writers, there is absolutely no substitute for an editor that can watch your back!
