1. Editors Are On Your Team
An editor’s job isn’t to criticize your work or “fix” you as a writer. It’s to help your writing communicate clearly and effectively—on your terms.
A good editor wants your manuscript to succeed just as much as you do. Every comment, suggestion, and tracked change is there to strengthen your work, not tear it down.
2. Editing Is Not About Perfection
Your manuscript doesn’t need to be flawless before you send it to an editor. That’s literally why editors exist.
What does help is revision and preparation. The cleaner your draft, the deeper and more meaningful the edit can be—but perfection is not required (or expected).
3. You Are Always in Control
This one surprises a lot of writers:
You don’t have to accept every edit.
Editors make recommendations, not demands. You decide what stays, what goes, and what gets revised further. Editing is a conversation, not a takeover.
4. Feedback Isn’t a Judgment of You
Editing feedback can sting—even when it’s kind and constructive. That’s normal.
But an edit is not a verdict on your talent, intelligence, or worth as a writer. It’s a professional response to a draft, not a reflection of you as a person.
5. Different Editors Have Different Strengths
No editor is perfect for every project. Some shine in fiction, others in nonfiction. Some are big-picture thinkers; others are sentence-level specialists.
Finding the right editor is about fit, not prestige.
Sample edits and conversations matter—and a good editor welcomes them.
6. Editing Works Best as a Partnership
The strongest results happen when writers:
Ask questions
Share goals and concerns
Communicate preferences
Stay curious rather than defensive
You don’t need to know all the editing terms—you just need to be open to collaboration.
7. Editors Can’t Read Your Mind
If something matters deeply to you—tone, audience, character voice—say so. Editors do their best work when they understand what you want the manuscript to become.
Clarity upfront saves confusion later.
8. Editing Is an Investment, Not a Punishment
Hiring an editor isn’t a sign you’ve failed as a writer. It’s a sign you care about your work and your readers.
Every strong book you admire went through editing—often multiple rounds.
9. It’s Okay to Feel Vulnerable
Letting someone into your creative work is vulnerable. That doesn’t mean you’re weak—it means you’re doing something meaningful.
A good editor understands that and treats your work with care.