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How to Work Through Copy Edits
You’ve hired a copy editor, or you’ve received copy edits back from your publisher. If you’ve never had copy edits before, or maybe you’re not even sure what they are (in which case, I recommend you read this article), they may seem confusing or even frightening, but I hope to make things clearer to you here.
First, don’t feel bad. Confusion or anxiety is a common reaction when an author receives copy edits, even if they have had them before. Most editors work with Track Changes in Microsoft Word, so you get your manuscript back with any number of strikeouts, red marks, comments, and typically a bunch of lines along the left hand side of the page (this is all called “markup”). If you receive a printed copy back (not sure they even do that these days, but just in case), you’ll see all that, plus possibly a lot of proofreader’s marks you don’t understand.
How are you supposed to know what to do with all of that?
Prepping to Deal with a Copy Edit
My very first, and most important, recommendation is to breathe. Before you do anything to the manuscript, prepare yourself for working on the edits. While it might look like an insurmountable mountain right now, it’s really not so bad, and with a time and little effort, you can get through it just fine.
After you’ve breathed, my recommendation would be, if you received an accompanying editorial letter (which may or may not come with a copy edit), start there. Read the entire letter without making any changes. Then, read all the comments in the manuscript itself. Again, don’t make any changes at this point! This is all about getting the lay of the land.
This is a good time to take notes. While note-taking is important with a developmental edit, I think it can also be helpful when processing copy edits, if there’s anything in a letter or the comments that you need to keep in mind going forward. Depending on the progression of the edits you’ve received on this book, you may find you have more or fewer notes than anticipated.
What are you supposed to be taking notes about though? This all depends on the level of editing. If you’ve had a developmental edit (and you totally should have!), then you may have a lot fewer issues to take note of, but you might find that the editor mentions you’ve got some errors in POV or verb tense, for example. Keeping track of that, so you can keep it in mind when you actually start editing, is important.
If you are getting some type of combination edit, such as the combo I sometimes offer, with developmental and copy edits in the same round, please see my previous article regarding on what to do with an editorial letter. It will provide you with lots of tips!
Dealing with Feelings
Once you’ve read all there is to read…how are you feeling? Are you feeling a sense of relief that things don’t seem quite so bad? Or are you feeling miffed that the copy editor doesn’t seem to know what they’re talking about? Hint: If it’s the latter, it’s normal. Every writer who has had a copy editor thinks that at some point. So, what do you do with those feelings?
First, ask yourself, from a neutral position, if the copy editor really had any ill intention. Good copy editors are there to help you make your story better. They aren’t trying to hijack your story, despite all the rumors you might have heard to the contrary! Yes, there are some wanna-be writer copy editors out there, who think they know better and try to change everything you wrote, and if that’s what you got, then there are a couple of ways to handle it:
If you hired them, depending on the level of concern you feel about them trying to change your voice or take over your story, you may choose not to hire them again.
If they were provided for you by your publisher, and depending on the relationship you have with your acquiring editor, you might be able to talk to them and express your concerns.
But before you take any drastic steps, take a few days to think about things and be really honest with yourself. I remember one of my copy editors seemed to be a little heavy-handed with one of my books. They seemed to have ideas for changes that I hadn’t thought of, so clearly that’s not what I wanted to do, right?
After a few days of stewing, though, and really giving it some thought, I was able to honestly ask myself if their suggestions made things better. In the cases where, rewording a sentence or a line of dialogue made it read more smoothly and still fit my voice, I often (sometimes grudgingly) ended up agreeing with the copy editor and accepting the changes.
On the other hand, if you take a few days to let the emotions settle and you still think they took too many liberties, then see the ways you can handle it above. And then, in this manuscript, take the good stuff and reject what you disagree with.
In the end, my goal of this recommendation is to just make sure you don’t automatically reject suggestions in the heat of the moment, without really contemplating whether or not the editor’s suggestions will improve the reader experience or not. If your upset is just a knee-jerk reaction, then you should probably rethink that.
Working Through the Copy Edit
Once you’ve done the above, it’s time to get to the nitty-gritty. Going through copy edits, even as easy as Track Changes makes it, can be tedious and will take a while. You literally have to touch every single change made, choosing whether to accept it or reject it. And in the case of things like a replacement of a word, you’ll have to accept the deletion and the replacement word. Not trying to scare you, but to make sure you know what to expect.
To make things a little easier, start by going through the comments on the manuscript again to see if you can eliminate any of them. For example, check to see what the comment is referring to, and if it’s an explanation you understand and a change you agree with (and will eventually accept), then delete/resolve that comment. That will help start to clear the clutter.
Once you’ve made that pass through the comments, start back at the top. If you’re not sure how Track Changes works, see this article for a detailed explanation. There’s no way around this, just start at the top and work your way through, accepting or rejecting each change.
Here are some recommendations for making things, if not easier, then at least manageable:
Go slow. Really look at each change and make sure you don’t drift into auto-pilot, accepting one change after another without really looking at them. This can get ugly really fast if you make mistakes.
Take breaks. This is a slow and tedious process and tends to make authors stare intently at the screen for long periods of time. Breaks will decrease the chance of eye fatigue, issues with poor posture or tension, and will help make sure you don’t get into the auto-pilot thing mentioned above.
A word of caution, because I can hear some of you hollering at your screen, asking why you can’t just “Accept All Changes” and get it over with. Well, you could. That’s always an option. But if you’re going to choose that option, then you better only do so with the utmost trust of your copy editor. After all, we are human. While our job is to catch your mistakes, we occasionally make them ourselves.
By accepting all changes, you run the risk of accepting something that shouldn’t have been accepted or that you disagree with. If you do choose this route, you will need to read your manuscript again, in full, very, very carefully, to ensure no more issues were introduced and that the copy editor didn’t miss something. However, I definitely don’t recommend this option. Instead, no matter how tedious, just go through edits one at a time.
How to Make Copy Edits Not So Sucky
Consider the copy edits a learning opportunity. Here’s another time you might want to take notes. If you find that your editor has corrected the same thing repeatedly throughout the manuscript, like how you punctuate dialogue, for example, that might be a good thing to study for the future. If you find you keep slipping in and out of the incorrect verb tense, that’s a great prompt to try to learn to do it better in the future.
Writers should always be learning, and having a copy edit of your manuscript is a great teaching tool in the proper way to handle writing mechanics.
Dealing with Disagreements
Finally, did you know you don’t have to agree with everything the copy editor requests you change? Maybe they suggested a rewrite for a sentence that doesn’t fit what you’d envisioned or doesn’t fit the way a character speaks, for example.
In the “old days,” we used to “stet” those changes. Stet is a Latin word, meaning “let it stand,” and was the publisher’s signal to leave it as you wrote it. These days, working in Track Changes, you likely can just reject the change. It’s that simple!
However, as I mentioned when dealing with an editorial letter, be sure you’re not rejecting suggestions without really giving it some careful thought. If you don’t understand why a change is being request, and the editor doesn’t explain it with a comment, feel free to ask if you have access to them. It may be a grammar rule or a publisher’s preferred style that you just aren’t aware of.
Also, be sure you know how your editor wants you to work, if you’re working with a publisher. Maybe they don’t want you to reject changes, but, instead, want you to comment on them, stating your case for why you want to keep it.
But if you’re an indie author, who is planning to self-publish, then feel free to reject it once you’ve ensured that there isn’t a good reason for it. (And you don’t need to justify yourself…at least not to me. It’s your book and your words, and you have the final say.)
I hope that all of you experience a copy editor who is clearly on your side, wants the best for you and your book, and with whom you can create a long-lasting working relationship. I still love to tell the story about how one of my copy editors (none of whom I ever had the pleasure of meeting…or even knowing their name), saved my heroine from receiving a “bouquet of floors.” Even writers who eventually become copy editors need copy editors.
Work with me!
Whether preparing to self-publish or to start the submission process, I’m here to help! You can Request a Quote today. If I think we might be a good fit, I’ll provide a 3- to 5-page sample edit of your manuscript to show you what I can do for you!