how i tackle editorial feedback

With tears in my eyes. jk. ish.

How does editorial feedback work? First I send my manuscript in Word doc format to my US and UK editors. I think it’s generally more common for writers to work with one “lead country” editor, but I work with two. Feedback time varies, but for my team, it usually takes 6-8 weeks to hear back on a 90k-word manuscript

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. That timeline shortens if we’re in a rush or when I’m sending smaller samples, like I am with my WIP

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I have learned, through trial and error, that I prefer written feedback. I don’t mind having phone calls or in-person meetings about a project, but I find the feedback is much more organized and distilled when it’s written out. If I do receive feedback via a phone meeting, I’ll take notes for myself. I revisit these notes often while problem solving, so it’s critical for me to have something to look back on, regardless of who has written them.

Me after turning in a new draft

Hard vs. easy feedback

Generally speaking, I receive two kinds of editorial feedback—what I’ll call hard and easy. Hard feedback is written out in bullet points or paragraph form in emails (or given verbally). Easy feedback is made in a Word doc with the comments function.

Early drafts mostly get hard feedback. Hard feedback is the big-picture stuff, issues that require a lot of problem solving and edits to many chapters, if not the entire book. Examples include the narrator’s voice not working, not enough or too much action, pacing too slow or fast, logic problems, etc.

In later drafts come easy feedback. Easy feedback is what I label line edits, issues that can be fixed within a sentence or paragraph. Easy feedback is often prescriptive—in a good way! It requires little thinking and is more about execution. We like easy feedback. 😬

Process

Sometimes my knee-jerk reaction to external feedback is: NUH-UH. It’s a natural instinct to feel defensive about our work—the important thing is not to act on said defensiveness. I give myself time to process any feedback before responding to it. Many times I have been sure within the first 30 minutes of receiving it that someone else’s point is dead wrong, but once I’ve thought things over for a few hours and gained perspective, I usually realize my editor is right. Build in time to allow for emotional distancing. It also helps to remind myself that my editors and I want the same thing: the best finished book possible. They want me to sound smart and nuanced. We’re on the same side.

Organize!

If you’ve been a reader here for more than 4 minutes, you know I’m a big proponent of organizing my work to make it less daunting. This is especially true when it comes to revisions. Getting feedback on a 400-page document is overwhelming. I make it easier on myself by creating a checklist.

If the edits needed are a manageable list—let’s say fewer than 20 items—I will likely just catalogue them in a Word doc. The day I discovered the checkbox function in Word was life-changing. For those who don’t know, go to the menu bar > Developer > Check Box. You’re welcome. Every time I make an edit, I get to check a box. Don’t underestimate the dopamine hit in doing so.

For the truly huge revisions, I bring in the big guns, aka Excel. To understand how neurotic I actually am, see the screenshots below. These were some of the edits required for draft 5 of TMH

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. I took all the feedback my editors gave me and logged each item into this spreadsheet so I wouldn’t miss anything. You can see I sorted the edits by category. Each category was a bigger-picture issue I needed to resolve. The items designated as “waiting” were notes I needed clarification on. The ‘Notes’ column is my editors’ notes copied and pasted in.

Next are some of the edits for draft 6 of TMH. In draft 5 I finally, blessedly, nailed the story, so most of draft 6 edits belonged to the easy category.

Revise

Some of you are undoubtedly feeling MORE overwhelmed, rather than less, after looking at these spreadsheets. If I find myself feeling that way, I’ll start with the easy stuff. These edits take minutes to make, allow you to check a lot of boxes, and let you feel like you’re cruising. It’s the same concept as looking over yesterday’s work to ramp up to new writing. I’m trying to trick myself. I dip a toe in the shallow end, then work my way into the deeper stuff. Walk the path of least resistance.

Doing the easy stuff first does not always make sense. If some of your hard edits will require you to delete all of Chapter 15, for example, there’s no point in making line edits to that chapter beforehand. I try to get a feel for the work ahead of me before I attack. That way I don’t waste my time.

I don’t have to resolve every issue the way my editor suggests, but I do need to have either a) a different solution to the problem or b) a conversation with my editor about why I think the issue is not actually an issue. I rarely choose route B—probably with less than 5% of edits. I never straight-up ignore a piece of feedback, even if I disagree with it. IMHO, that’s unprofessional.

Proofread

Once every box has been checked, every revision made, it’s time to proofread. For this, I refer you back to my post on self-editing. I always do a read-through on printed paper and a read-through aloud (sometimes combining them into one read) before sending out a new draft. After that, it’s time to share, celebrate, and wait for more feedback. Then the cycle begins anew!

Thanks for reading,

1. While the use of the word manuscript sounds douchey and self-important, it’s industry lingo—what publishing people call a book before it’s published.

2. work in progress

3. This Might Hurt