My Job As An Editor

Hi there, my fellow writers!

If you have read any of my previous stories or posts, you might know by now that in addition to being a writing and self-published author, I have also been working to build my editing business over the past few years.

But how does that help people? After all, I’m not volunteering for a non-profit or at an animal shelter, two of the many jobs most people would consider helpful.

I’ll tell you how.

Being A Writer

As we all know, writing is a very creative craft, like painting on a canvas or making music with an instrument. And if you are a writer, you have an uncontrollable urge to put your story into the world.

However, as we create our story, we often become blind to the mistakes in our work because we’ve spent so much time with it and know what we’re attempting to say, so our brains skip over the errors.

When Editing Comes In

For the most part, these errors tend to be more technical than anything else, such as grammar, spacing, or formatting mistakes. But sometimes, there are more significant issues relating to plot, content, structure, or flow.

As you probably already know, my job as an editor is to find these issues and either fix them myself or alert the author.

How I Edit a Manuscript

This question gets asked a lot in many of the jobs on Upwork I apply for. And while I’m constantly tweaking my process, here is the basic breakdown of what I do.

The First Reading

I usually start by reading the story to get the vibe and style to make the appropriate edits, followed by tweaking how the document is formatted. I have an easier time working with specific fonts and paragraph alignments.

Cleaning the Basic Errors

Then, I began fixing the most technical mistakes, such as missing commas, extra spacing, etc. This way, I can see the story more clearly and won’t become distracted by proofreading problems.

Plus, it looks cleaner, and it feels gratifying to fix those issues.

Combing Through the Paragraphs

After that, I go through the draft paragraph by paragraph, rearranging, rewriting, or eliminating sentences, replacing certain words with better substitutes, and other things.

And this is where I have the most fun.

I get to both correct the writing and exercise my creative muscles, making sure the writing sounds correct and flows smoothly without taking away the author’s voice, which I always work hard to keep, and then seeing how your tweaks have added to the overall flow and structure it the story.

It is pretty satisfying.

One Last Look Through

To finish, I will comb through the document one last time to ensure I didn’t miss anything. After all, I don’t want to turn in an incomplete editing job and embarrass both of us.

How I am Helping People

How this helps people is that although I’m not volunteering for anything, I help authors create a polished piece of writing ready to publish, which can significantly affect their careers.

Plus, if everything goes well, we get to create a long-term work relationship that benefits both parties. Not to mention, the reviews make me grin and fill me with butterflies.

My Perspective

As an author myself, I know how important that is. I like my writing in my books, Vocal stories, and Medium/Substack posts to look as professional as possible. It’s also reassuring to have reliable people to help you.

And as a reader, I can see when a self-published author didn’t have someone edit their book. Those errors include alignment issues, spacing problems, wrong fonts, and even using the wrong name for a character several times.

I know that last one is pretty bad. It makes me cringe thinking about it. And it has happened more than once!

Even with traditionally published books, I constantly notice things I would’ve done differently (referring to you, dialogue tags, and paragraph breaks.)

Also, I enjoy making a document polished and professional-looking, like bringing order to chaos, which can be the case depending on the draft. It’s like cleaning your house. It may not always be fun, but it’s deeply satisfying when you’re finished.

To Finish Up

So, even though editing may not appear to be a job that helps people, you and I know that editors are critical in a writer’s journey. And I hope you get to find that out for yourself soon!

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