There are all kinds of tools that editors use to find inconsistencies in word usage or capitalization, punctuation, etc. that make a proofreading pass, for example, go faster. But these are all mechanical helpers. In the end, the editor has something a bit more subjective to do as a service to the author: searching for interruptions in a smooth read.

That’s how I approach the editing task. I see my job as being a stand-in for the “end reader,” which is not the same as the friends and relations that authors normally give their books to for preliminary review. Friends and relations are cool, but they tend to be: 1) biased emotionally to praise rather than critique, and 2) normally without a professional grounding in effective writing techniques for the type (fiction or nonfiction) or genre (academic, memoir, fantasy, romance, etc.) of writing.

Because I do this type of critical reading for a living, I have a broad exposure to different writers and can put the current writer’s effort into a context. I know what to expect from effective writing on accounting, science fiction, sociology, and inspirational non-fiction, for example. All of these writing contexts have a different look and feel, a different flow to the text. Knowing this gives me the ultimate tool to do an effective editing job; the ability to find the places where I have to stop and scratch my head, go back a few sentences and come up with a smoother way of expressing something that works for that “story’s” context.

I get to smooth out the bumps and fill in the literary potholes in the narrative, thus serving not just the author’s writing purpose, but more importantly, the reader’s desire for a positive experience.

So, even though my immediate client is the writer/author, and they are the source of my income, I see myself as ultimately the servant of the reader, to add value to their experience of a book. And in this way, I also become a partner to the writer in providing that reader experience.

It’s one of the great satisfactions of my work.

We editors and proofreaders rarely use a literal red pencil anymore (although I do know some who still print out their text and put those cryptic proofreading marks all over it—I do agree that it’s still easier to see errors in print than on screen). I still get the definite impression, though, that writers of all kinds of materials still greet us with an air of apprehension and a glance to locate their author shield for easy access in case of the need for defense.

So Many Judgments!

The editorial/proofreading eye is designed to make judgments, so writers and web page designers tend to feel judged when we discover things they didn’t see. It’s all about finding mistakes, which are always a little embarrassing. I can see the desire to avoid confronting one’s mistakes, and also the tendency to think that the editor or proofreader is also judging you personally and thinking you’re a “bad” person because you didn’t catch all the mistakes. Not so, though. We’re evaluating the text, not you as a person. Really!

The Fresh Set of Eyes

I can’t speak for all editors and proofreaders, but I’ve talked to enough of them to know that, yes, we do take pride in seeing what others might miss. But we also tend to have someone else proofread our stuff. Every mind makes assumptions, especially about material we’ve seen over and over again. I would never claim that this blog is error free, for example. That fresh set of eyes can make all the difference.

Preferences

Lots of grammatical judgments in particularly have subjectivity written all over them. What works for one style of writing or one publishing house is forbidden with another. Just check out the Chicago Manual of Style. It’s filled with recommendations and preferences; less is set in stone than one would think. I have numerous style sheets for different clients to keep all their preferences straight. The main pattern we editors are often looking for is simple consistency for the benefit of the reader. You can stretch and even break “the rules” if you do it consciously and consistently. And one thing the editor can do for you is to make sure you are consistent within your own system (capitalization of important terms that are not normally capitalized comes to mind).

Flexibility in writing and editing is the way I like to work. It allows me to collaborate creatively with my writer and/or publisher to make for the best read for their audience. A scholarly book is not going to look like a stream-of-consciousness fiction. We have to be just as flexible as required for the folks we collaborate with.

So, contrary to “popular belief,” we proofreaders are not angry at mistakes or the ones who make them, nor are we out to puff up our egos by waving our “we’re right and you’re wrong” flags all over your story.

Seeking the Smooth Read

What do we really want? We just want to make the reader’s experience of a site or book or whatever, smooth and easy, and we want to avoid having that reader make negative judgments about the site and the person who’s offering the products or services based on some silly typo. These natural judgments that people make (that the person’s service lacks quality) are probably totally unjustified, but a little extra attention from a second set of eyes can be very valuable in projecting quality and gaining trust.

Yes, we and our “red pencil” really are your friend. The idea is to make your work the stuff people want to read.

Self-Editing as Cop-out

The issue that struck me as an editor was Sapala’s plea to NOT fall into the trap of self-editing a section of your book when you get stuck. It does sound like a bit of a cop-out: stopping the actual progression of the story (fiction or nonfiction) and thinking that editing/refining what you’ve already written will substitute for moving on.

I know there are writers who successfully write and edit as they go. If this works for you to get you to the finish line, all good. I get the impression, though, that a lot of writers do use editing to avoid moving on. I know I have that sense of wanting things to be perfect as I go, but I’m an editor! There’s a lot of wisdom in Sapala’s advice to writers to keep going to the end of your rough draft before editing.

The Developmental Editor’s View

Also, I’ve found that it more efficient to give a developmental editor a complete draft of a story to do a manuscript evaluation. I’ve evaluated both fully written drafts and drafts in pieces with some connective description as to what will fill the gaps, but I think my service is best used for a complete draft. With a partial manuscript, I do feel like I’m not able to give a complete idea of the value of the plot all the way through. Saves money for the writer in the long run, too.

So, from both me and Lauren Sapala: Keep writing through to the end of your rough draft!

The Purpose

When I work with a self-publishing author, I begin by proposing a manuscript evaluation, which is the first step in developmental editing. This first pass gives the writer an overall idea of whether or not their story line and characters (for fiction) or topic organization and narrative (nonfiction) actually hold the reader’s interest.

The Process Compared to Copy Editing

Instead of going into sentence detail to focus on grammar and other writing mechanics, I keep my mind on reading for content and story progression. For fiction, I track characters and look for lapses in how the writer describes them and makes them behave. I also track the plot sequence to see if there’s anything that doesn’t make sense as I go along. And finally, I just get a feel for how the whole thing works (or doesn’t) for a reader. Fiction or nonfiction, I want to remain curious but not confused. There can be mystery, but the writer needs to create it consciously. Let me step fully into your story and go along for the ride (or the flight)!

The Joy of the ME

I find manuscript evaluation to be extremely satisfying work. I have my own creative writing (mostly poetic in form—keeps me from rambling), but I love being able to contribute in this way to another writer’s creation. It’s like watching a flower bloom or a child discover her own drawing skill.

I also enjoy the more mechanical aspects of copy editing and proofreading, but this work of supporting stories is just goosebumps to the extreme.

PS: Let me know when I can help you meet your geni(e)us.

Self-Publishing Cost Trade-Offs

I do understand that indie authors who are self-publishing may find it difficult to afford professional assistance in all areas of getting their books out into the world.

• Do you put your money into cover art because you can only draw stick figures, or do you put it into interior book design?
• Do you pay for upfront writing coaching or more mechanical copy editing and proofreading?
• Do you get a manuscript evaluation or pay for professional marketing help?

It can be a hard call on some of these steps.

Pros and Cons of Peer vs. Pro Editing

Whatever your other choices, I do advise against counting on yourself and your friends for all your editing-related needs. We all get blind to our own material after many rewrites for one thing, and your friends may either not have very discerning eyes or may not want to criticize your work. Yes, because they are your friends.

If I were working a book project where I wanted to save money and still get some professional attention, I’d put it into copy editing and proofreading. Your friends have a better chance of giving you value in the overall reading department (manuscript evaluation). They will likely know if they like the story and if it moved along in a way that makes sense.

Another set of eyes and brain is really crucial to fine-tuning your prose, though. An English major may or may not be necessary, but you will “get what you pay for” on this point. Someone who’s been trained to read with an editor or proofreader’s eye will be more likely to see typos, missing words, and awkward phrasings. In my experience it’s mostly inconsistencies in capitalization and term formation (to hyphenate or not to hyphenate?) that amateur proofreaders miss.

Give the Reader an Experience

Remember that the idea is to create a story so smooth to read that the reader forgets they are reading and is pulled into your world to be transformed by it. If they have to stop and scratch their heads because they can’t follow what you’re saying, or because they keep seeing typos and whatnot (credibility will suffer), then you have lost much of the impact of your story.

Editing and proofreading do affect content and results. Your book is important enough to you to invest time writing it; make sure it creates a great experience for your readers by investing in at least one professional edit.

I’m your reader (as well as being an editor/proofreader), and what I’m looking for is a smooth and engaging experience with your words. Inconsistent capitalizing of words that normally aren’t makes me stop and wonder if this instance is different and how it relates to the rest of your story. Don’t make me stop and wonder unless you really want me to pause to absorb a new idea.

The Consistency Challenge

This may sound like I’m being too picky, but if you’re going to capitalize a term because it’s one of your x number of steps to success or the name of your channeled entity, etc., please do it all the time. You may think that you’ll remember, but trust me, you won’t. Most English-using humans don’t. Just isn’t intuitive. If you were German, you’d have internalized the capitalize-all-nouns thing from childhood, but English doesn’t work that way.

I think it’s a good idea to capitalize the important pieces in your new business advice book, but you will need to check (or better yet, have someone else check) to see that you’ve capitalized these terms throughout. Same for names of characters in a fantasy novel (Yarrow the Elf or Wolf the shapeshifter) or a spiritual self-help book (your Angel or Voice).

Please think carefully about how many terms you choose to capitalize. I’ve seen this practice overdone, particularly in spiritual inspiration books. If you capitalize too much, you will lose the impact for your most important concepts.

Just because you’re excited about a concept . . .

I get this sense of over-excitement from too much capitalizing of common nouns. It’s as if I’m being tugged at or yelled at (“This Concept is so Important; it will change your Life!”). It’s OK just to tell me your story or outline your process with bullet points to create space for your ideas. A smooth read of your words and a good layout of your material will go a much longer way toward allowing your ideas to be integrated into my life than simply capitalizing everything.

End of rant, then. I’d love to hear about your experience as a reader with this phenomenon; maybe I’m just being too anal. And your experience as a writer in deciding how to use capitalization in your work. Why do you think it’s important?

When I first read this article on a conversation between novelist Donna Tartt and publisher/editor Michael Pietsch, I could definitely see Tartt’s frustration in dealing with editors in the past, which pretty much solidified her wish to stand out by rebelling against “the rules.” I’ll bet she does write readable, comprehensive prose, though, or she wouldn’t be as successful as she is. So, she’s playing by some “rules.” She just doesn’t want to feel that rules are rigidly imposed upon her by outsiders who are applying some semi-arbitrary style book to her creative work.

Pietsch brought up the “invisible hand” issue about editing (which is more influential in substantive/developmental editing than in copy editing or proofreading) and his tone itself stressed the importance of understanding that we editors are challenging, to a certain extent, the writer’s ownership of their creation. We are participating (although mostly anonymously) in the creative process, and therefore a diplomatic and flexible approach (particularly for fiction, I would imagine) is called for. We can’t retreat into some stereotypical Puritanical grammar-lady mode and be of any real assistance to the writer.

Even Tartt admitted that rules might be a good idea for, say, journalism and probably other nonfiction writing, where a standardized approach to communication will create a smooth read for folks who are reading to understand a structure or process. But a “smooth read” is also important for fiction, I think. When I read fiction, I want to get “sucked in” to the writer’s world, to get to a point where I don’t feel like I’m reading words on a page, but actually observing and emotionally participating in the story. I want to come away from the book feeling as if I am still haunted by my experience for a while. I read mostly science fiction and fantasy, so maybe reading more realistic fiction is different, but I doubt it. If the writer’s prose is filled with confusing sentences or even confusing plot process or characterizations that don’t make sense, then my reading experience will be frustrating.

There’s room for individual style, but stretching that grammatical fabric too far does a disservice to the reader (unless you are writing experimental prose for a niche academic audience—I’ve seen how that works). It becomes a balancing act for the editor(s) to be good helpers in supporting the author’s writing and also representatives of the reader and the principles of comprehension. I think it’s funny that editors and proofreaders are so often seen as rigid rule-appliers when, in my experience at least, we’ve had to make so many subjective, contextual calls on best practice based not on a set of rules, but on how the written structure best serves the story the writer is telling.

That’s me, then. Your ally in providing a great reading experience for your audience. First thing I do when I see a manuscript is to follow the writer’s style, figure out how it works, and then only step in to “interfere” when I, as just a reader, find myself stopped and confused, or if I see that the writer’s intent has been sabotaged by his or her own human tendency to forget to be consistent about character personality, the use of words or capitalization, or whatever.

I am here to be of service to you, not to take over ownership of your creative work. If I want ownership, then I’ll write my own books. The only thing I ask is to be given an open-minded consideration of my recommendations. The decision is still yours, dear writer, as is the ownership of your content.

I’ve been working on a textbook update where the client wants “copy editing” over top of the new author’s changes to the text (!!!). A bit messy to look at a marked-up copy, but I’m getting through. Doing just copy editing  on a PDF of the textbook rather than a Word manuscript does point up the substantive differences between copy editing and proofreading, though. I have to refrain from spending time on what are normally proofreading tasks.

Proofreading, which is normally done on a clean PDF copy right before printing, looks at a lot more than just spelling and grammar. We do read to see typos and such, but this is the only time we get to check the consistency of the compositor/book designer’s work as well. It’s about the whole book as presented to the reader, not just the text.

Here are some elements of a text that the proofreader is called upon to check  (and which may or may not be finalized in the manuscript) to ensure consistency across an entire document:

• Compositor mistakes like missing running heads, terms suddenly appearing in a different font or size
• Heading level errors where the revision author uses Heading 3 where the template for the content calls for Heading 2
• Heading rows in tables misaligned in different chapters
• Footnote numbers not handled consistently from one chapter to the next
• Case study template violated where one chapter only has one column, but the others have two with a standard set of questions in the left column
• References handled inconsistently for capitalization, order of names, and punctuation; easy for authors to forget and just paste in a new reference using a different style
• Consistent verbiage for information on intro and access date for website URLs in references
• Forgetting to give the spelled out version of a term with the acronym on first mention
• Formatting for source references at the bottoms of figures and tables (in my project’s case, the formatting was different in these two cases)
• Capitalization rules for units of measure
• Verifying accuracy of URLs in references (usually an extra job in my experience and one that adds cost to the job)

As you can see, there are a lot of things to check. I usually go through the text several times to look at individual issues (bigger ones to smaller ones), and if something can be checked by searching on a specific term or set of terms, I will take care of those prior to actually reading through the text. I have a good eye, but trying to see all of these things at once is almost impossible in one go.

I actually enjoy this work tremendously, especially as a break from developmental editing or book indexing. It doesn’t involve subject analysis, so my brain gets to just focus on mechanical aspects of a text. Not that proofreading is easier, necessarily, just that it uses a slightly different part of my brain.

So, I was invited to an inspirational online class by a high-energy life coach with what sounds like a great way with presentation. Looks like she speaks to hundreds at a time and really fires them up to reach their potential.

But I never got far enough to see what her presentation was like because I was stopped cold by the written copy promoting the event. Run-on sentences (I think she meant to put a period and space in, and capitalize the next word, but…), lack of detail about where and when for the event, just a feeling of her talking real quickly to everyone on short notice to join up with her, with no thought to making the promotion professional; reminded me of a really long tweet. It was very obvious that no one had looked at her material again to make sure it looked professional and had all the pertinent information for that level of access.

As a result of reading through this, I was disinclined to go further to participate or even check out prices (if any), because the initial promotion copy looked so sloppy. Several other people had already asked questions about the logistics of the event because the information was unclear.

I know I’m a proofreader, and you might say that I’m too picky, that other folks wouldn’t notice or care as long as the final presentation gives them what they are looking for. But I disagree. I think the coach here is losing new client opportunities because she isn’t taking the time to get her promotional copy right before putting it out.

Now, if this were a start-up coaching operation where the individual didn’t have the capital to invest in professional editing or proofreading, I might feel a bit of sympathy (although there would still be the problem of building credibility when your form of expression has blatant errors in it), but in this case the coach claimed that she was very successful already, so I’m pretty sure she had the resources to have her copy looked at.

I think folks often get focused on their strengths and fail to compensate for the things they aren’t so good at. Coaches in particular tend to have great people skills, awesome influence in counseling and oral presentation situations. Some of them are also good writers and pay attention to all the details of their business. But if you’re one of those “inspirationists,” as I call them, who want to focus on the content of the message, on the in-person relationships at workshops and retreats, then it’s a really important investment to build a support team who will conduct quality control on your other forms of expression, like event or course invitations, blog posts, website design, etc. If you don’t invest in the quality of your visibility (from promotional copy to your head shot photo), then a lot of people who need your services won’t get past the front door; they’ll be wondering as they stop for all the errors whether those errors are just cosmetic or a reflection of the underlying quality of the service being offered.

You don’t want them to stop and wonder; there are too many other places to go and services to check out. Please take an honest look at your online visibility creations (blogs, websites, promotional pages, etc.), and make that investment to free yourself from worrying about periods and spaces. Allow us to help you. Doesn’t have to be me, of course, but do invest in the pros who can make your true value visible. You deserve it.