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.

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.

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.