The Deceptively Simple Key to Being a Better Editor

by Dania Sheldon

Whether you’re embarking on a career in editing or are already underway and wondering how to improve, the options can feel both exciting and daunting. But rather than inviting you down one of these many paths in the exhilarating labyrinth of possibilities, I’m going to beckon you up a small hill to a place from which you can gaze down at the whole maze, and where you can always pause when you need to regain your bearings.

What is this grassy knoll that we can easily lose sight of, especially during the first flush of plunging into those many byways?

Honesty.

This is a short article, not a sermon. What I will argue for here is the crucial importance of always making honesty your home base – with prospective clients, with existing clients, and, most importantly, with yourself.

I am going to assume you’re a jobbing editor, working to support yourself and perhaps others. If you’re establishing yourself as a freelancer, it can feel tempting – even imperative – to try for whatever project comes along. While “fake it till you make it” might be a helpful mantra if you’re overcoming a fear of public speaking, don’t adopt it as an editor. Be confident in your abilities, but don’t oversell yourself in an area where you’re currently not good enough to do a professional job or your knowledge base is insufficient. 

“But,” you may say, “when I’m just starting out in this career, how do I gain that experience, build my portfolio, if I don’t go beyond my comfort zone?” By being honest with prospective clients. If you’re lacking in some respect, but you believe you have what it takes to do a good job while learning through the work, then say so. You may be surprised at how often you land the contract, not least because you’ve demonstrated honesty from the start.

Once you’re working with a client, all sorts of things can happen. The manuscript might be tougher than it seemed from the sample they submitted. Maybe a long-time client has sent you a rush request that you really don’t want to turn down. Or perhaps you’ve mismanaged your time (it happens to us all) and can’t meet the deadline. A family member has fallen ill. You have fallen ill. Whatever the reason, there’s going to be a delay. And whatever you do, don’t tell a fib. Be honest about what is going on. This doesn’t mean baring your soul or divulging private information; put your professional pants on, convey to the client your dilemma or predicament, propose a solution, and request their input. Nine-plus times out of ten, the client will understand that “stuff” happens, appreciate that you’re being upfront instead of rushing and producing poor work, and negotiate a new deadline with you. If they won’t allow for human error, then perhaps the working relationship is not one you wish to continue. 

Being honest with yourself underpins all of this. Resist the urge to cover up your blunders – in judgement, in editing (fess up if you missed changing Noble to Nobel!), in time management. Avoid overestimating your abilities. If your gut tells you that you’ve not done an excellent job, go through the manuscript again; don’t shrug and say it’s “good enough” if you know it isn’t. Even better, before that happens, be honest with yourself about needing a break when you can feel your concentration just isn’t there. Make a cuppa something, look up at the sky, and maybe have a wander up that grassy knoll that’s always just a stone’s throw away from your doorstep.

© 2024 Dania Sheldon

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Dania Sheldon is a freelance editor, writer, researcher, and indexer. She holds a doctorate in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford and has over 25 years of experience editing widely in the humanities and sciences, as well as non-academic fields and genres. As a writer, she was a finalist in two categories of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards for The Book of Lua: Stories and Wisdom from a Little Cat with Mobility Challenges. She has also co-authored three books with acclaimed writer Daniel Friedmann. In 2017, Dania received the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence. You can find her online at daniasheldon.com or with her cats at home on Gabriola Island, BC.

This article was copy edited by Matthew Long. He is a freelance editor based out of Hamilton, Ontario, with over 10 years of experience working with non-fiction material. He is currently the chair of the publications committee for Editors Canada, and he is the project manager and editor-in-chief of the Edit Like a Pro series. Learn more at https://www.whatstheidea.ca/what-we-offer.