How to Have a Professional Relationship with Your Editor

• January 23, 2023
• 6 comments

by Sheri Hoyte, Managing Editor, Reader Views

Good authors need good editors. Finding and having a good relationship with them is in the interest of the book’s success. A good editor will be professional with an author’s work, while a good author will know how to treat the editor with courtesy and respect.

A well-edited book can make a tremendous difference to a book’s success. So, it is a given that an author and an editor must have a good working relationship.

We’ve all heard horror stories from both editors and authors about their relationships. While an editor must be objective and professional in his criticism of an author’s book, many authors do not know how to be professional in terms of working with an editor because they are new to the experience and don’t know what to expect from the relationship.

Here are a few guidelines for authors when working with an editor, to ensure you both have a satisfying and successful relationship that, in the end, will produce a book to make you both proud.

Remember, You’re Not the Editor’s Only Client

I once heard about an author contacting editors asking them to expedite editing his book so he could publish it within three weeks’ time. Now I know you don’t really think your prospective editor has nothing else to do except edit your book, right? Because if they don’t, chances are they are not a very good editor.

The time to look for an editor is when your book is nearly complete. You should have the manuscript completed overall, with maybe just a few tweaks left to make. Ask the editor to do a sample edit of a few pages so you get a feel for their style and they can get an idea of what will be required to edit the book, and be able to give you a price quote for the work. You can’t expect an editor to quote you a price for a half-written manuscript, and if an editor does give you a quote without having seen the whole book, they are either a novice who’s going to end up overcharging you, or more likely charging less than they should and regretting it; or they are desperate for work, in which case, it might be prudent to look elsewhere.

Ask the editor what their timeline and schedule are like, how long they think it will take to edit the book, and then plan accordingly. It is not unreasonable to expect to wait a few weeks before an editor can start on your book and to expect the overall editing and proofreading process to take a month or longer once the work begins. Some variation will exist depending on the length of the book, how good of a writer you are, and how many other projects the editor has to work on.

Don’t Hand Over a Mess

When you ask an editor for a price quote, you should send a complete manuscript to the editor. Be sure your manuscript is together in one piece. If you are undecided about where something should go, put it in the best place possible, and then send along a note to the editor expressing any concerns you have about content, organization, plot, etc.

Make sure you send a document the editor can edit. Word is the easiest program to use for editing books but some prefer PDFs or other formats.

Be Clear About Your Expectations

Do you want the editor only to edit the book, or do you want him to proofread it also? Do you need the editor to help you with writing the back cover, marketing materials, a press release, and text for your website? Most editors will edit your book and that is it. You may want to hire a marketing person or publicist for the rest of those items, but if you want your editor to help you with these items, let them know upfront so they can include that work in their quote or charge you hourly for it. Don’t expect them to keep doing extra little favors for free after the book is edited. Their time is as valuable as yours and they most likely have other clients as well.

Be Responsible for Your Share of the Workload

Your editor may be a talented writer, but don’t expect them to write your book. And don’t expect them to rewrite it. They will rewrite sentences as needed, but they shouldn’t have to write chapters or sections for you. (If you need that kind of work, you need to hire a ghostwriter, which  will generally cost you more than an editor, and even then, you should have someone else edit the ghostwriter’s work). Nor should you expect your editor to fix everything without consulting you. Your editor will send you back your book so you can do revisions. It’s your book and you need to be responsible for doing any rewriting necessary as well as making decisions about whether or not to take the editor’s suggestions. The editor can then edit your rewrites. If the editor helps you with a press release, the text for the book cover, or website, the same case holds—the editor can edit that text, but you as the author need to be responsible for writing it.

Respect Your Editor’s Time

By this point, you probably realize you are not the editor’s only client since they probably didn’t start editing your book the day you first contacted them. Your editor is busy—busy working on your book, or busy working on another book so they can get to working on your book. Be polite and respectful of their time.

Ask your editor how they prefer to communicate with you. If you need to call them on the phone, email them first to set up an appointment, or make a brief call to ask them when would be a good time to talk. Be mindful of their personal time. Don’t call or expect them to work on your book on the weekends or in the evening, and if they are in another time zone, remember that as well before you call them too early or too late in the day. No, 10 o’clock on Monday night is not a good time to discuss why you want to keep the split infinitives in your book—no time is a good time to discuss that anyway—but certainly not 10 o’clock on Monday night.

Keep Your End of the Bargain 

When payment is agreed upon, keep up your end of the bargain. Put the check in the mail when you say you will. If you’ve agreed to make multiple payments, then stick to the payment schedule. Your editor can’t be expected to do a good job on your book when he has to wonder whether he’s going to be able to make his mortgage payment because you didn’t pay him.

Also, be mindful of your editor’s schedule when you do revisions. If they kept to their timeframe for the initial editing, then let them know when you’ll be able to get your revisions back to them. If you tell them a week, then try to keep to that. Your editor most likely will have one or more other books to work on while you’re making revisions, so giving them a general timeline for completing your end of the work will allow them to plan ahead and juggle the other books they are working on for other authors.

These simple guidelines will help you develop a professional and lasting relationship with your editor, a relationship that will ensure your book is the best it can be.

I’d love to hear about your experiences working with editors.