Today's Interview Topic: The Developmental Editing Process
About Jean:
Jean is a professional editor who specializes in speculative fiction, including horror, romance, mysteries, thrillers, and even westerns. She has vast book industry experience as a former bookseller and book buyer, plus her academic background in English and experience as a slush reader both equip her with the skills to assess your writing with a precise and thorough eye. Her enthusiastic, straightforward style, excellent communication, and knack for polishing your manuscript to a shine make her an excellent choice for writers embarking on their journey to publication. Not to mention, she recommends superb resources for the post-edit revisions process!
Hello Firebirds!
I’ve had the joy of interviewing editor, proofreader, writer, and word nerd Jean McConnell! She joined me to chat about the developmental editing process and how authors can best prepare themselves for the first step of the professional edit. If you're curious about how developmental editing works, want to find the right editor, or need advice for the revisions process, this interview has your name on it! We’ll be covering the ins and outs of preparing both yourself and your manuscript for the first round of content edits, and we may or may not have a bonus question you won't want to miss!
(Spoiler: there is absolutely a bonus question, and you definitely don't want to miss it!)
Hello, Jean! First off, thank you so much for interviewing with me! One of my favorite things about meeting people in the writing industry is that we each have a unique story that brought us into the bookish world. What inspired you to become a freelance professional editor?
I was a bookseller for several years and studied English, so I guess it wasn’t too surprising that I eventually gravitated toward editing. I can’t read anything without correcting errors or thinking about how I would have framed things in a more effective way, and I decided to use my background and analytical tendencies to help other writers. I also used to be a teacher and enjoy the process of helping writers develop their skills and reach their goals. Hearing that my clients have hit the top of their Kindle category, or placed in a writing competition, or that they have interest from agents makes my day!
That's wonderful! As a fellow freelancer, it's so exciting that we get to use our gifts and experience to benefit others in their endeavors. Speaking of writing competitions, I know sending a manuscript off can be nerve-wracking for some writers. How can authors know when they’re ready to start the developmental editing process?
If you’re a beginning writer and after extensive revisions you can no longer see what might need to be fixed or changed, that would be the time to work with a developmental editor. You may not always need to work with a developmental editor as your writing skills grow, but I think it is a great investment early in your writing career to find solid developmental and line editors. They can help you learn a lot that you can apply to subsequent projects. Developmental editors can also help more advanced writers with planning before or as they write, and this can be very useful for series writers who need help orchestrating a large project.
I agree; the author/editor relationship is integral to the publishing journey. Is there anything specific that self-publishing authors should look for when searching for and hiring editors?
Obviously, it helps to work with an editor who has experience with self-published authors. Editors who work primarily with writers who want to be traditionally published don’t necessarily understand what self-publishing involves. It’s important to choose someone with whom you think you’ll have a good rapport. An editor has to get into your head to some extent and try to understand where you are coming from, so make sure that you’re compatible as people.
Well said. The self-publishing and traditional publishing processes are very, very different. One thing I value about the self-publishing journey is that while traditionally published authors are often assigned editors, indie authors get to build their own team–and this gives us a chance to find people we genuinely connect with. On that note, what are the key aspects of a healthy professional relationship between author and editor? Is there anything that lets you know it'll be a "good match?"
Clear communication is something you need for a fruitful editor/writer relationship. A willingness to share information and ideas and be open is something that you need in order to make the collaborative aspect of the editorial relationship work. Your editor doesn’t have to know everything about your life and publishing plans, but when you are open to feedback and willing to share your goals and struggles, we will often have advice or ideas for you. If you choose to not share, there’s less information for us to draw on to assist you.
I can often tell through correspondence if I will be a good match for a writer. When a writer approaches me with a professional email and is willing to ask and answer questions about their work, it indicates to me that they are taking their writing seriously, which is very important to me. I also have my own goals as an editor that help me determine whether I am the editor best suited to help a writer. I prioritize working with writers who want to be professional authors and who have multiple ideas for series and books.
That's a fantastic point about the importance of authors being willing to answer questions and staying open to feedback on their projects. It benefits the collaborative process and ensures both parties are on the same page regarding goals for their work. When it comes to knowing what to share, what type of information should we, as authors, have prepared to send over with our manuscript?
When you’re approaching editors, have a synopsis ready and be prepared to answer questions about your target audience, publishing goals, and any deadlines that you have to meet. Once the editor has your manuscript, they may ask you for additional notes, an outline, a story bible, or the style sheets from a previous editor that pertains to your manuscript. Each project is different, but these are some of the basic things you may be asked to discuss or provide.
This is so helpful! When working with a deadline, it's easy to forget that it's not only the manuscript that's sent over–it's also any relevant story and style information. But it's not just the author who might be feeling the pressure of fine-tuning their story; editors have their work cut out for them. How can authors make editors' jobs easier?
First make sure that your manuscript is in the best shape possible and is complete. I sometimes get manuscripts from writers that have significant formatting issues, or even parts of sentences cut off, and I’ve had experiences with writers telling me that they’ll add missing parts later. Don’t waste the editor’s time and goodwill, and your time and money, by making the editor point out obvious errors and omissions. When we have to spend a lot of time doing that, we can have less bandwidth for the problems that require intellectual acuity.
Format your manuscript so that it’s ready to be edited. The standard for most publishing scenarios is 1” margins, double-spaced, 0.5” custom indents (do not use tabs) with 12pt serif font and left alignment for the first lines of chapters and scene breaks. Keep your manuscript simple and avoid experimenting with fonts and chapter headings and colors and Word styles. Your manuscript is not a complete book—it’s a working document—so there’s no need to try to put a “book” overlay onto it and doing so can sometimes result in compatibility issues for other Word users. Keep things simple and focus on the writing.
I had no idea about the 0.5" custom indents. I'll definitely file that away in the brain cabinet for next time! Moving on to after editing takes place, what should writers keep in mind when reviewing feedback?
Great question. Separate out how you personally feel about the comments and view them in light of how they’ll help you reach your goals. Writing a novel is hard, and it’s not something any of us were raised learning how to do as children. You’re learning how to perform a complex series of tasks and create a commercial product for an audience. There are going to be things about writing a novel that you don’t grasp or fully understand at first. Sometimes writers have just enough knowledge about an aspect of writing to be defensive about feedback but not enough to improve their writing. Be open to what you don’t know and ready to consider the opinions of others.
Always remember that the feedback editors give you is not about you, it’s about the content you’re producing. Dealing with feedback is more difficult for some writers than others, understandably. We’re all different. But, in my experience, the writers who make the greatest strides are the ones who can handle feedback and constructive criticism well and grow from it. Some of this ties in with your earlier question about finding the right match: this is why you want to be compatible with your editor! It is sad to see someone pass up opportunities to improve their writing because they are more invested in being defensive; however, as I like to remind some of my clients, these writers are your competition. Mental strength, resilience, and a thick skin are all huge competitive advantages for someone who wants to be a professional author.
I couldn't agree more. While creative work is often very personal, if someone can really process and capitalize on the information provided, they're already one step ahead! Speaking of handling feedback, when it comes to tackling revisions, is there anything writers should remember during the process?
I’ll touch on two of the most important things: you must know your audience and eliminate excess words. Ideally, you would know your target reader before writing your story, but if you haven’t figured that out yet, do so before you revise. Knowing to whom the story is addressed is going to affect your word choices, the level of complexity you write into your story, and the references and setups you use in your story. Your target reader affects everything about your work.
I’m a firm believer in the ten-percent rule of revision. Most manuscripts have at least ten percent that can be removed. If you feel like you’ve cut your piece down to the bone, look again. I can guarantee you that you can take out even more. I’ve never worked on a manuscript that couldn’t have more words taken out of it. Remember: quantity does not equal quality with writing. In fact, it is often the opposite. Only leave what is pertinent to the story and meaningful for your chosen reader to know to understand the story.
That is excellent advice. If I could go back and change one thing, I'd start writing with a target reader in mind. Having that concept cemented during revisions has already made such an improvement in my work. Do you have any favorite resources you love to recommend?
I often recommend books, articles, or videos that are pertinent to the specifics of the project, but for self-publishers, Amazon book listings are one of your best sources of information. You can see how other authors present themselves in their bios, scrutinize their blurbs, and read their reviews and a sample of their work. You can learn a lot simply from scrutinizing your competition. I’d say this is especially important for extremely competitive categories like romance and fantasy.
As you’re poking around, see if you can identify the target reader. Are the blurb and cover effective in targeting that audience? What did the author get right? What did they get wrong? The reviews will show you right away if expectation met reality for some of the readers. Look at the bestsellers in your genre. What patterns do you see? What do readers gush about in their reviews? What did they absolutely hate? Pay particularly close attention to what readers dislike, and don’t discount their feedback, no matter how silly you may find some of it. These reviewers are providing you with free insights into the market.
That makes complete sense. I remember hearing that a 3-star review is one of the most valuable reviews an author can receive because the reviewer is giving both positives you can build from and critiques you can improve on in your next project. Thank you so much for these insights! On the other side of things, for anyone looking to become a professional editor, what steps would you suggest?
Editors come from a variety of backgrounds. It is very helpful for fiction editors to have a degree in English, Creative Writing, or Comparative Literature or a regional literature. It’s not a must, but it will provide you with the strongest foundation for the writing and analysis part of editing. If you have a degree in a liberal arts subject that required extensive reading and writing, that also sets a good foundation.
Editors read and write all day long, so if you haven’t been a heavy reader since childhood, and if you don’t have one of these types of degrees, you need to start reading. A lot. Much more than what the average person would call “a lot.” Read widely and analytically. There are many people who enjoy reading who don’t scrutinize what they read; they’re reading for entertainment. When you’re an editor, reading is part of your job. You need to sit up and take notes, either real or mental, about everything you read. This is also a must for writers.
I suggest finding a niche. Trying to be an editor who can do all things for all writers just makes you an editor who can do a decent job at several things. It’s better to be an editor who specializes and is able to really deliver for a specific type of client and project. Niching down allows you to go deep in a way that generalist editors can’t, and choosing a niche that you genuinely enjoy helps keep the enthusiasm alive.
There is not a specific degree or training program that will teach you exactly how to become an editor; there are programs that will teach you some of the skills editors use. I recommend seeking out resources that will help you with the niche that you’re targeting and looking at the backgrounds of other editors for ideas about certificates and training. Look into groups and organizations for editors. Find a way to reach out to or meet other editors and ask them questions. Editing, like bookselling, is more like a trade than a regular job: you learn through practice and mentorship. No school is going to turn you into an editor. You have to want it and make it happen.
Finally, practice! Once you’ve spent some time working on your skills, find friends or acquaintances who are writers and ask if you can provide any assistance. See if you can help other writers with free beta reading; this is how I started several years ago. I did free beta reading for months before ever charging a dime. You have to put yourself out there and start practicing.
That's another thing I love about this industry: it requires a passion for the craft. Whether you want to become an editor, a cover designer, a character artist, or an author, it all comes down to that–wanting it, and making it happen. This brings me to our bonus question! What’s your favorite piece of advice you’d like to share with authors?
For genre fiction writers, there is one thing you must keep in mind at all times, from conception and outlining to revision, and that is your target reader. Your reader and their wants should always be at the forefront of your mind when you’re writing. It’s not about you. You are serving the reader. Without readers, you will have no writing career, so treat your readers well and deliver what they want.
Another extremely important thing to keep in mind is that you are creating a piece of commercial entertainment content. I think it helps to move beyond the thinking that you are producing a static object called a book. You are selling a story and an experience, not just a book. Your competition is not just other writers, it’s social media, YouTube, TikTok, and streaming services. Break out of the mental construct of focusing just on books and look at the larger entertainment landscape, and you are more likely to craft content that readers will want to engage with. Reading takes effort and there are many other forms of entertainment that are easier to consume; your work needs to be so compelling that a reader would rather spend time in your world than watch Seinfeld reruns or scroll endlessly on Twitter.
I have taken so many notes! Thank you so, so much for interviewing with me! It's incredibly valuable getting an inside look from a pro in the industry. This is a wealth of knowledge for both authors and aspiring editors alike, and I'm so happy we got a chance to connect and collaborate on this resource!
It was my pleasure, Lizabeth!
Connect with Jean:
For those of you looking to work with a thorough and detail-oriented developmental editor who will get you geared up to tackle revisions with confidence, you can reach Jean through her website or directly at thewordforager@gmail.com . She looks forward to hearing from you!
Firebirds,
Have you worked with a developmental editor on your manuscript? If so, what advice would you share with fellow authors taking this first step into the professional editing process? Let's make the comments below a resource for aspiring authors!
*Disclosure: This interview is not sponsored, and neither party receives compensation for this post. As of the original date of posting, I am not earning income from any links or collaborations.