25 for 25: The importance of editing
The editing process is kind of like dental surgery. You know you need to get it done, and no matter how you prepare, it’s going to hurt. But it will hopefully help in the end.
This essay is part of my 25 for 25 book writing series. The lessons in this series are meant to simplify the book writing and production journey. You can find a guide with links to the entire series here.
After writing a book draft comes editing—lots and lots of editing.
The editing process is meaningful and important and necessary …
and emotional …
and heavy …
and frustrating …
Enduring it is kind of like necessary dental surgery. You know you need to get it done, and no matter how you prepare, it’s going to hurt. But it will hopefully help in the end.
Some editors are going to be more, or less, connected to your manuscript. While it can be helpful to find an editor with expertise in the book’s subject area, it can also be beneficial to step outside of that and work with an editor who has a more general expertise, because they are going to reveal blind spots and highlight things that will help make your book digestible for readers who aren’t subject matter experts themselves.
Editing involves balance—not to overedit or underedit, but to find the perfect medium of punching up and refining the material while retaining the spirit of the text. Understanding the necessary editing steps will help empower you as your book makes its way through various rounds of editing.
Developmental or content editing
First will come content or developmental editing—the 30,000-foot view. The first round of editing focuses on the story and whether there are missing or redundant elements.
Copyediting
Next comes copyediting, which burrows deeper on the paragraph and sentence level—spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Sometimes those steps are done back to back and sent back to you; other times they're done one at a time and sent back after each round of editing. When the manuscript is returned to you, you’ll get the chance to review the edits.
Proofreading
Proofreading is the final round of editing—the chance to pick up any minor typos or errant commas. These are the things that got overlooked before.
Take editing in stride
It’s normal to want to take every edit personally—and when you see red edits on your document, you’ll be hot as a five-alarm fire.
The first time you open the document, just scan it and gauge the response. Are the edits in line with your expectations? Are they reasonable?
Give it a day or two to think about the edits before diving in. Put yourself in the editor’s shoes and consider why they made the edits and suggestions they did. Doing so can inform your perspectives of the reader experience. Maybe the editor had a good reason for their suggestions. Or maybe there is a way to salvage the text while addressing their need.
The payoff of your hard work
If you've done a solid job in the writing process, editing should be a relative breeze, because you've already tackled the hard problems of audience, hook, and outline. If you've followed the proper roadmap during the writing process, your edits are going to be easier, which is a great reason why you should be mindful of those things in the writing phase.
Give the edit revisions your best effort
These edits are not set in stone. If there’s something you truly care about to keep, state your case.
But take your time and give the editing process your best effort. A lot of the times when I've seen books struggle, it's because the author wanted to rush through the editing process. Take your time with it!
Make sure the manuscript is refined as much as possible, because after the editing process is done, after the book is laid out and prepped for publication, there’s going to come a point in time when you can’t make any more changes.
By that point, you’ll be able to move forward with conviction and purpose knowing that the book is as good as it can be.
Watch this!
I cover the editing process in this video.