7 Questions Editors Ask When Taking on Clients: Part 1

Questions 1-3

An independent author has found me through the Editors Canada listings, saw my website (scribbledzombie.com) and decided to reach out and ask me to edit their manuscript. Maybe they want a copyedit or a developmental (big picture) edit. They have an idea of my rates, so a quote seems like more of a formality at this point. What possible questions could I have? After all, someone is willing to pay me decent money to edit their work, right?

Here are seven questions that you may have to answer at some point. Some of these are good to have a handle on while you writing or planning your first draft. Others should be considered before you reach out to an editor.

1. Who is the intended audience?

This helps your editor determine if the tone or vocabulary is appropriate for the reader or if it needs adjusting. Tone is the attitude of the narrator or the author toward what their story, the world, the characters, and the events of the plot—and it needs to fit your audience. Word choice is key here.

2. What is your goal with this book?

I’ve had clients who were so enthusiastic to get the edit out of the way so they could get the story up on Amazon as soon as a possible, and I’ve had a few who just wanted to make sure their story was clear and engaging so they could get it printed for their family and friends. Either is fine. Refer back to question one.

Why audience matters?

A wide audience purchasing your novel has expectations as a consumer that your mother doesn’t have. The consumer wants a product that draws them in from the beginning and keeps them flipping the digital or real pages. They will put it down when it becomes boring or confusing. They might come back if your characters are mildly interesting or if the world still has its hook in their mouth. But if it doesn’t continue to deliver, they’ll simply stop and write a bad review, or push through because they have to see if you pull it out of the fire in the end. Then they’ll leave the bad review. Your mother is reading that thing no matter what.

So with all this in mind, I become the reader’s advocate when I’m editing. Does that mean I’m editing so it appeals to a market? Maybe a bit. Am I suggesting that you should be writing to appeal to market? Absolutely not. But whether your goal is to query an agent or self-publish, you are writing for an audience. And that audience has expectations: a compelling premise, a relatable character with relatable motivations, conflict, interesting side characters, an immersive world, clear prose, and the experience of not being utterly confused. These are things to keep in mind no matter where you are in the process, but they’re also fantastic things to ask your beta readers. What’s in our brain doesn’t always make it onto the page in the way we intended.

3. What types of editing are required?

This is a big one, so I’ll probably continue the other questions in the next post.

Does the project require developmental work to ensure the organization of your plot is consistent and coherent, or are we focusing on the language at the paragraph and sentence level with a stylistic or copy edit? How do you know what you need? If you’ve only had feedback from beta readers and the manuscript hasn’t undergone the serious revisions of a developmental edit, it probably isn’t ready for a copyedit. It could be, but I’ve taken that job, and I learned that no good can come from taking a client’s money when I know the project isn’t ready for the edit they want me to do.

From the editor’s side:

Agreeing to a copyedit (grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage) when the story, characters, and plot need revisions, is a nightmare. I will tactfully steer clients toward my way reasoning, and if they still insist on the copyedit, I know we’re not a good match. They will not be happy with my work, and I will not be happy doing the work.

From the writer’s side:

Perhaps you only have the budget for one type of edit or you think the editor is trying get more money from you. I’m sure there are editors out there like that, but ultimately, you as the writer have to decide why you’re doing this. If it’s to put your best work out into the world, then you go with the big picture edit. It’s not a good use of your limited finds to polish something that’s broken. Readers will forgive the odd typo but they won’t forgive your main character’s unclear motivations, your plot holes, or your inconsistent world.

But maybe your goal is to get the work on Amazon as quick as possible. You want a polished piece and that’s what you’re willing to pay money for. It’s not an editor’s prerogative to question this or the merits of your story. Just do the edit I want to pay you for. As the master of your creative work, this is absolutely your choice. Just know that editors have a choice too.

Further considerations:

I’ve on both sides of the developmental edit, and I know that feeling of getting your work back with recommendations of deep revisions and rewrites. It’s like a blow to the stomach when you’re not expecting it. The wind goes right out of you. I figured I’d have to tighten up a few scenes, cut some parts, flesh out character motivation here and there. After all, I’m paying an editor to point out things I can’t see because I’m too close to the work. It ended up being a full rewrite that took two years, followed by another two years of life and revisions before I was ready for that copyedit. The story I ended up with had one scene from the original. Just one! It was a completely different book but a much better one.

And here’s the other thing: the chapter by chapter feedback I received and the overall recommendations were worth the money I paid. It made me a better a writer by drawing my attention to the larger issues I wasn’t aware of. That was my goal from the beginning: to improve and to write the best book I possibly could. Though it was painful at the time, in the end it paid off.

Yep. This was longer than I expected. I cover the last four questions in Part 2.

I hope this was helpful, or at the very least, gave you things to ponder no matter where you are in your drafting process.

Read Part 2 (questions 4-7) here.