Behind the Edit - March 22, 2026
Working With an Editor: A First-Timer’s Complete Guide
Most writers think the hard part is finishing the draft. Then they meet an editor. Suddenly, there are questions about structure you thought you had solved, sentences you loved that are flagged for cutting, and margin notes that make you wonder if your writing makes sense to anyone but you. If that sounds terrifying, good — it means you care.
But being humbledis not the same as being a bad writer. The writers who come out of the editorial process the strongest are not the ones who had the least to fix — they are the ones who showed up prepared, stayed open to feedback, and understood what the process was actually for.
This guide covers every stage of working with an editor, from finding the right match to revising your final draft. When you are ready to publish a novel, practical, honest advice to help you make the most of the collaboration.
What Does an Editor Actually Do?
Before you start searching for an editor, it helps to understand that editorial work is not one single thing. There are four distinct types of editing, each suited to a different stage of your project and a different set of needs. Confusing them, or hiring for the wrong type, can mean spending money on work that does not actually address your manuscript’s biggest problems.
If you are unsure which type of editing your project needs, do not guess. Send a short sample of your manuscript to two or three editors and ask for their honest assessment. A good editor will tell you clearly what stage your manuscript is at and what kind of support would benefit it most.
How to Find the Right Editor for Your Project
Finding an editor is easy. Finding the right editor is harder. The fit between a writer and an editor in terms of communication style, subject knowledge, and editorial approach has a significant impact on the quality of the final work. A technically skilled editor who does not understand your genre, tone, or audience can do more harm than good.
Renée Smith
Founder & Editor
Hi, I'm Renée! I'm a professional editor and proofreader based in Sydney, Australia. I work with indie authors and publishers to transform manuscripts into polished, professional books through comprehensive fiction editing and formatting. As someone passionate about empowering authors, I love sharing insights from the editorial trenches. Through Behind the Edit, I'll regularly post practical advice on writing craft, editing, and the indie publishing journey. New posts added regularly. Enjoy!
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- Start by defining your project scope clearly before you search. Know what kind of editing you need and what your budget and timeline look like before you approach anyone.
- Seek out editors with direct experience in your content type. A fiction developmental editor and a business copyeditor bring entirely different skills and instincts to the table.
- Always ask for a sample edit on a short excerpt, typically 500 to 1,000 words, before committing to a full project. This single step will tell you more about a potential editor than any portfolio or testimonial.
- Check credentials through professional memberships such as the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), or the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) through verified client references and a clear track record of published work.
- Curated platforms like Reedsy connect writers with vetted editorial professionals and are a practical starting point if you are new to the process and unsure where to look.
Trust your instincts during the selection process, too. If an editor communicates clearly, asks good questions about your project, and demonstrates genuine engagement with your work from the first exchange, that is a strong positive signal.
How to Prepare Before the Editing Process Begins
The quality of an editorial engagement is not determined solely by your editor. How well you prepare before the project begins shapes everything that follows. Writers who invest time in preparation get more useful feedback, experience fewer miscommunications, and spend less time on back-and-forth corrections.
- Submit the most complete, finalised version of your draft that you can. Editors are not there to fix a rough outline; the more developed the work, the more targeted and useful their notes will be.
- Write a clear project brief for your manuscript that outlines your goals, your target audience, your intended tone of voice, and any specific areas of concern. Do not assume your editor will intuit these things from the text alone.
- Agree on all practical terms before the project begins: timeline, number of revision rounds, deliverable format, and payment structure. Get this in writing, even informally, to protect both parties.
- Flag your deliberate stylistic choices upfront. If you write in a particular dialect, use unconventional punctuation for effect, or have genre-specific conventions your editor may not be familiar with, say so explicitly; otherwise, they may be edited out.
Be honest about the areas you find most difficult. Whether that is structure, transitions, dialogue, or concision, telling your editor where you struggle allows them to focus their attention where it will have the greatest impact.
Receiving Feedback: What to Expect on Your First Round
Nothing in the editorial process trips first-timers up more than receiving feedback. Opening a heavily annotated document for the first time, full of queries, suggested cuts, and rewritten sentences, can feel like a gut punch, even when you know that it is coming. How you respond in that moment matters enormously.
- Read through every note once in full before you respond or begin making any changes. Editorial feedback is cumulative; early comments often provide context that explains or qualifies later ones.
- Step away from the document for at least a day before you react. Distance does not mean avoidance; it means giving yourself the perspective to engage with the notes as a professional rather than as a defensive writer.
- Learn to distinguish between structural feedback, which almost always needs to be acted on, and stylistic suggestions, where you retain creative authority and have the right to push back.
- Ask questions whenever a comment is unclear, feels unjustified, or contradicts something you did intentionally. Good editors not only welcome this dialogue, they expect it.
- Reframe your relationship with heavy feedback. A thorough, challenging editorial report is not an indictment of your writing ability; it is evidence that your editor has read carefully and is taking your work seriously.
The writers who grow most from the editorial process are those who can hold two things at once: the confidence to defend their choices and the openness to admit when something is not working.
How to Revise Effectively After an Edit
Receiving the editorial feedback is only half the work. What you do with it determines the outcome. Many first-timers either accept every change automatically, which flattens their voice, or reject comments that feel uncomfortable, which defeats the purpose of hiring an editor at all. The revision stage requires judgement, not just compliance.
- Always address structural and big-picture feedback before working on sentence-level changes. Rearranging or cutting significant sections can make earlier line edits redundant, so tackle the foundations first.
- Work through the document methodically, section by section. Jumping between edits at random increases the risk of introducing new inconsistencies across the entire manuscript.
- Keep a change log as you go, noting which suggestions you accepted, which you modified, and which you declined, along with a brief reason for each decision. The change log is particularly valuable in projects with multiple revision rounds
- Avoid the temptation to over-revise. The editorial process should produce a stronger version of your existing manuscript, not prompt you to rewrite it from scratch. If you find yourself rethinking everything, take a step back.
Once all revisions are complete, do a final read-through as a reader rather than a writer. This helps you catch any new inconsistencies, awkward transitions, or gaps introduced during the revision process itself.
Common Mistakes First-Timers Make When Working With an Editor
Even well-prepared writers make avoidable errors in their first editorial relationship. Most of these mistakes stem from misaligned expectations or communication gaps that you, as the writer, could easily have resolved up front. Being aware of them in advance significantly reduces the chances of making them yourself.
Submitting an unpolished, structurally incomplete draft and expecting the editor to resolve fundamental problems. This wastes budget, delays the project, and typically results in a less targeted edit.
Responding defensively to feedback, treating editorial notes as personal criticism rather than professional analysis. Your ability to think unconstructively makes productive collaboration almost impossible.
Accepting every single suggested change without evaluating whether it genuinely serves the work. Editors are expert readers, not co-authors; the final voice must remain yours.
Failing to communicate the project’s goals, audience, or context clearly, which forces the editor to make assumptions that may not align with your intentions
Skipping the sample edit stage out of impatience or to save time, and then discovering mid-project that the editorial approach is not the right fit for your work.
The most successful editorial relationships are built on clear communication from the very first exchange. Every minute spent aligning expectations at the start saves hours of confusion and frustration later.
Final Thoughts: Embrace the Editorial Process
Working with an editor for the first time is one of the most valuable things you can do for your writing, and one of the most instructive experiences in a writer’s professional development. It will challenge you, occasionally frustrate you, and ultimately make your work significantly better than it would have been on its own.
Go in prepared. Define your needs, brief your editor thoroughly, and permit yourself to ask questions throughout the process. Stay open to feedback, even the notes that sting and approach revision as a deliberate craft rather than a reluctant obligation.
Your editor is not there to change who you are as a writer. They are there to help you become a clearer, stronger, more intentional version of what you already are. That process starts the moment you decide to take your work seriously enough to share it.
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