A Beginner’s Guide to Working with an Editor: Part 1

July 30, 2026 |
Beginner's Guide to Working with an Editor Part 1

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If you’ve never worked with an editor before, the whole process probably feels a bit mysterious. So much so that you might be tempted to just avoid it. Afterall, you’d save some money (how much, you wonder) and avoid the unknowns.

But if you’re serious about writing with impact, about reaching your audience and getting your message across, working with an editor can be a game changer for two reasons:

  1. An editor isn’t you.
  2. An editor is an expert at making other people’s writing shine.

Although self-editing is an important part of the writing process, it’s really hard to edit your own work. Why? Because you are too close to it. It’s hard to see the gaps in reasoning from the reader’s perspective because you have it all worked out in your head. It’s hard to let go of those clever phrases that you worked so hard on but that, in the end, don’t enhance your story or argument. And it’s hard to catch those typos and missing words that your brain skips over because it knows what’s supposed to be there.

Friends and family can provide some useful feedback early on, identifying areas where they get confused or lose interest. And if you’ve got some spelling and grammar whizzes in your network, they might be able to do a sweep for typos and other mechanical errors. But relying solely on family and friends can be problematic. Some will be afraid to point out major issues for fear of offending. Others will do so with a bit too much zeal. And almost all of them will be sharing their personal opinion, whether or not they are representative of your target audience.

Professional editors offer a level of expertise and understanding that family and friends generally do not. A good editor will:

  • approach editing in a systemic way, working with you to identify the best place to start
  • respect your authorial voice and the work you have put into your manuscript
  • exercise good judgment in determining when to recommend a change and when to leave well alone
  • consider the needs of the intended audience (not just their own opinions)
  • ask questions rather than assume
  • be thorough and considerate in their feedback, offering solutions and options that you, as the author, are ultimately free to accept or reject

Editors are not out to criticize or degrade your writing by pointing out everything that’s wrong with it. They are on your side, part of your team, working with you to help ensure that your writing achieves whatever goal you set for it.

This blog, and those that follow, aim to demystify the key decisions and processes related to working with an editor so that you can feel more confident hiring an editor when you need one.

How do you know if you need an editor?

Every piece of writing, from emails to websites to published books, can benefit from editing. Every time you reread what you wrote and adjust your wording to fix the tone or make something clearer, you are, in effect, editing.

But when is it worth actually paying someone else to edit your writing for you? Like most things, it depends—on three things:

  1. your capacity as a writer
  2. your timeline and tolerance for revision
  3. how much your writing matters or what your goal for your writing is

If you know that you have great ideas but aren’t great with grammar and spelling . . .

If you don’t have time to put your writing away in a (metaphorical) drawer for long enough to come at it with fresh eyes . . .

If you know the document needs work but can’t bear to look at it anymore and would rather move on to a new project . . .

If your writing really matters (to you personally or to your business or career) . . .

. . . hire an editor.

Whether your writing matters is largely a question of personal judgment (or corporate judgment, if you are writing for an organization). The more important it is for you to reach your goal or achieve your intended impact, the more important it is to work with an editor.

Remember, every professional writer works with an editor—just like every professional athlete has a trainer. Working with an editor is not a sign of poor writing skills. It’s a sign that you take your writing seriously.

What kind of editing do you need?

Once you have decided to work with an editor, you need to figure out what exactly you want your editor to do.

Editing is a very broad term for a series of specific stages of revision, all working towards the ultimate goal of getting a manuscript ready for release or publication. If you approach an editor and say, “I’m looking for someone to edit my document,” their first question will likely be, “What kind of editing are you looking for?”

There are four basic stages of editing, known in Canada as:

  • copy editing: word-by-word editing to correct errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and usage and to ensure consistency in accordance with your chosen style guide
  • proofreading: a final review of the draft publication in its final form to catch any outstanding errors in the text, visuals, or formatting

These descriptions are oversimplified, and the stages of editing are not always so clear-cut, but they give you an idea of the different levels of revision that an editor might undertake. And they lay out the stages of revision that every important document should go through—whether you hire an editor or try to do it yourself.

Deciding when to bring in an editor is really about deciding at what stage you want or need external input. Often, people will hire an editor when they feel like they’ve taken the document as far as they can on their own.

If you’re not sure what kind of editing you need, an editor can help you figure it out. But make sure you clearly understand what your editor is—and isn’t—proposing to do with your text. A structural edit and a copy edit are two very different beasts—with different costs, timelines, and outcomes.

Of course, many manuscripts will go through several stages of editing, addressing big picture issues first before getting into the nitty gritty. Publishers will often work with different editors at different stages of the editing process, allowing each editor to come at the manuscript with fresh eyes. Others who don’t have an established roster of editors to draw from may prefer to stick with one editor throughout the whole process for simplicity’s sake.

Some editors also offer specialized services including detailed fact-checking, broad-stroke manuscript evaluations, comparative editing of translated text, and book coaching. Editors tend to be good writers, too, and may be able to help if you’re stuck at the ideas stage, knowing what you want to say but not knowing how to say it.

How to find an editor

So you have embraced the idea of working with an editor. You think you know what level of editing you need (at least to start). But how do you actually find an editor, or choose which one to work with?

Here are a few things to consider as you weigh your options:

  • Personal connection. Editing is a relationship-based process, so finding an editor that you click with and trust is important. Based on initial interactions, do you feel comfortable putting your writing into their hands and opening yourself up to their feedback?
  • Availability. Freelance editors are usually working on several projects at once and often have a waiting list. If you’ve got a specific deadline, be sure to communicate that in your initial request so the editor can let you know right away if they can accommodate it.
  • Experience. Editors come at the profession from all walks of life, bringing with them a variety of knowledge and skillsets, so consider their broader backgrounds when reviewing their credentials. Unless you’re working on a highly technical piece of writing, you probably don’t need an editor who is an expert in your field. But if you’re working in a niche genre (e.g., science fiction or academic journals), it can help if your editor is familiar with that genre’s conventions—or open to learning about them.
  • Budget. As a rule, more experienced editors tend to charge more, but all professional editors must account for their time and expertise, and the costs of doing business. Many editors will also charge more for earlier stages of editing as these edits require more time and editorial judgment.

If you don’t know an editor or have someone you can ask for a recommendation, here are a few places you can search one out:

  • LinkedIn: there is a lively community of editing professionals on LinkedIn. Many of them are on that platform precisely so that people like you will find them.
  • Online directories: Offered by various editing associations, these directories let you filter results by stage of editing, genre, region, and specific skill sets. Editors frequently work with clients around the world, so you don’t have to limit yourself to someone from your local region, although time zones are a consideration if you are hoping for some face time, and familiarity with a particular region might be important if your manuscript has a local flavour.

Got questions or want to discuss an editing project? Drop us a line, and we'll get right to it!

Posted in Beginner's guide to working with an editor, Blog

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