“Sam’s Method of Editing a Book Manuscript” by Samantha Szumloz

Image credit: iStock

Let me be absolutely clear—my way of editing may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I am a novice editor, a first-time Singularity Press intern, and an incoming writer just getting her feet wet in the publishing world. I am in no place to judge the work methods of other editors because, well, we all operate differently! It would not be fair of me to put so much confidence in my practices that it excludes other processes and opinions. So, please, take my words with a grain of salt. Disagree with them, even. I am not the “Lord of Editing,” nor is anyone. 

With that being said, there may be some aspects about my editing method that you, my readers, will find insightful, perhaps even helpful, while journeying through your publishing careers. If my practices inspire one or two of you, that will be enough. You may also find that you share some of the same practices as me, and that is cool, too. I guess the bottom line here is to approach my style with an open mind. Let yourself react however you want to react, let yourself feel however you want to feel. 

So without further ado, here is my editing method broken down into steps:

1. Before looking at any of my clients’ work, I like to get to know my clients via reading their cover letters and notes regarding what they expect from my edits/feedback (if they do provide me with cover letters and notes). I personally like to make a copy of their cover letters and notes for me to highlight and annotate, just so that I can get a full sense of what they want from my services. I especially like to highlight whether they are looking for copy edits, global edits, or both. 

2. In the beginning of getting into my clients’ work, I like to make my own copies of their manuscripts so that I can make my own notes and initial reactions. I like to focus on how I personally feel about the stories before diving into my clients’ expectations, desires, etc. I explore my feelings about the stories by asking questions about the text in the margins and typing out my thoughts on what is working and what is not working. However, sometimes I am unable to do all this for time purposes. I sometimes skip straight to the actual client work. 

   
   

3. If a client asks for both copy editing and global editing from me and my fellow interns, I typically start with global editing first because it makes me pay attention to big-picture things like plot, pacing, and character development. It is also my favorite type of editing to do for a client. When global editing a piece, I mainly ask questions in the margins about the plots and characters, making sure that everything is clear and fully represented. I also make recommendations for the clients to tweak or add certain things to the text.

4. After global editing, I turn to copy editing, which deals with more miniscule things like grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure. Here, I have to look at the sentences line-by-line, which can be fun for those who are detail-oriented (like me). It can also be extremely time-consuming and strenuous for the eyes. So I make sure that I take five minute breaks between pages. If I detect phrases that sound wrong, clunky, or repetitive, I encourage my clients to play around with the phrases’ structures and word choices in the margins. Whenever I make a critique, I always try to frame it as a suggestion, not a sharp-tongued analysis. 

5. Lastly, if I am working on manuscripts with my interns (which is 99% of the time), I look at their comments and add to whatever they said about the manuscripts. I typically agree with them on their perspectives or answer any questions they have about the stories at hand. 

And that’s it! Do you have a special method of editing manuscripts? Let us know in the comments!