Receiving edits from an editor, beta reader, or even a friend can be both exciting and daunting. It’s natural to feel a mix of emotions: nervousness to see what your reviewer thought about your manuscript, eagerness to dive into revisions, or apprehension about the work ahead.
Feedback can come in multiple forms. If it’s feedback from a beta reader, it might be a few paragraphs long and gloss over a handful of portions of your manuscript. If it’s from a copyeditor, you might get a style sheet and an entire manuscript’s worth of punctuation and grammar corrections. If it’s from a developmental editor, you’ll likely receive an editorial letter and pages of notes. No matter what kind of feedback you get, the following tips will help you interpret it and form a plan to revise your manuscript.
Remember That Revisions Are Normal
Going through feedback can be overwhelming. After all, you just handed off your book baby to a stranger! Receiving feedback that requires you to adjust a paragraph here and there may feel relatively easy, but it is another matter entirely to hear a suggestion that, if implemented, will require hours of planning and rewriting. Just take a breather and remind yourself that revisions are a normal step in the writing process.
Recognize that feedback is not a critique of your writing abilities but a constructive assessment aimed at elevating your manuscript to its fullest potential. Every successful manuscript has been revised. It’s even safe to say that most manuscripts have gone through a plethora of revisions. Your manuscript is no different. Embrace the opportunity to learn and grow from the insights provided.
Consider Others’ Perspectives
Whether your reviewer is a professional in the publishing industry or a neighbor down the road, it’s important to consider his or her feedback, even if it differs from your own. One of the most valuable aspects of getting your manuscript reviewed is that there is distance between the novel and the reviewer. Unlike the writer of the manuscript, reviewers can look over the manuscript with fresh eyes. This means your reviewers are in a position to provide outside and objective insights that you as the creator may not be able to see. Their feedback will also reflect what other readers would notice as they read your book for the first time.
Remember, reviewers provide feedback based on their expertise and experience. Editors have been specifically trained to learn how to make your manuscript successful. They bring a wealth of knowledge about what makes a story engaging and marketable to your target audience. Beta readers are avid readers who will recognize themes you should include in your novel. And perhaps a friend will give you some great pointers.
No matter who your reviewers are, they will bring value to your manuscript. It’s important to appreciate their time and effort and truly consider their feedback.
Seek Clarity
If you’re unsure about any aspect of the feedback, don’t hesitate to ask for clarification. When reaching out to your reviewer, be specific about the areas of the feedback that are unclear or require further explanation. This might involve asking for examples, elaboration on certain points, or additional context to better grasp the reviewer’s perspective.
Once you clearly understand the feedback, you may want to brainstorm with the reviewer. Or perhaps you have implemented more changes and want his or her perspective on your next draft. Ask your reviewer if you can share new ideas with him or her based on his or her feedback. Going in a new direction with your manuscript or implementing a big change is scary, and receiving additional feedback and validation from another person so intimately acquainted with your work can be extremely motivating, spurring you to tackle the revision with a sense of purpose and confidence.
Most reviewers are happy to provide more insight or look over your manuscript again. After all, they’re now invested in your story too. However, it is a good idea to check with reviewers to see when or if they have time to give more feedback. And if working with professionals, make sure to review your contract to see how many revisions are covered or if you will need to schedule and pay for a new round.
Know What Your Feedback Will Look Like
There are multiple kinds of feedback, and depending on what that feedback is will determine how you will implement it into your next draft. Let’s talk about a few kinds of revisions.
Developmental Editing: Editors will indicate which big-picture aspects of your story need the most attention. They will provide detailed explanations of existing issues and how they can be changed. You may receive an editorial letter with a list of items to address or you may receive a document with comments in it or both. No matter what format the feedback comes in, it is important to read and digest all the feedback before you start revising. This way, you can get a clear picture of the reviewer’s overall assessment of your novel. From there, you can determine what changes you need to make and in what order they should be done. Then, you can start rewriting, cutting scenes, or shifting paragraphs around.
Line Editing: Editors will use Track Changes, which is a feature in electronic documents that allows reviewers to track the changes they make so the writer can see what the reviewers do versus their original work. You will be able to accept or reject these changes in the document. If the changes are simple, like changing a word here and there, you can accept or reject them as you read them. But if the suggested changes affect the manuscript as a whole, it’s a good idea to read all the way through the document before accepting or rejecting changes.
Copyediting: Editors also use Track Changes to make edits to the technical elements of your manuscript, such as punctuation, grammar, and stylistic consistency. Again, you will accept or reject these changes directly in the document. But since these are all changes that affect presentation and not the book overall, you can accept or reject them as you read.
Proofreading: When editors look over your typeset document, they will either leave comments directly in the document that note the errors they’ve found, or they will send you an additional document containing a list that indicates the page, paragraph, and line of the error. If you typeset the document yourself, you can use these edits to update your document. If you hired a typesetter, forward this feedback on to the typesetter, and he or she will make sure the feedback is incorporated.
It’s also important to note that there are no industry-standard ways to give feedback. So it may be smart to ask your editor what format he or she uses or to tell a beta reader that you prefer to review feedback in a specific format. Having proactive conversations like these can prepare you for the feedback you will receive.
Choose Which Feedback to Implement
Not all feedback needs to be accepted. In fact, you can choose to accept or reject whatever feedback you like. (This may not be true if you have a contract with a publishing firm. So make sure to double-check that.) However, even though you can choose how to shape your manuscript, it is important to consider the reviewer’s expertise and your publishing goals when deciding which revisions to implement.
Consider the type of edit done. For example, copyediting adheres to established rules and industry standards, meaning these revisions should typically always be accepted. Developmental edits, on the other hand, may involve significant changes to plot, story structure, or character development, which means they are open to interpretation and should be weighed carefully.
Next, think about what pros and cons come with accepting or rejecting feedback. For example, if your editor advises reducing the word count to meet industry standards, you can choose not to, but be aware that it may be more difficult to get your book traditionally published. On the other hand, if one out of ten of your beta readers has a negative reaction to a certain character and suggests changes to improve that character, you might not need to implement his or her feedback. But if the majority of your beta readers have a negative reaction to that character, implementing their feedback and changing that character may be in your best interest.
When looking over feedback, you should also think about your reviewer’s background. Does your reviewer have any credentials that would make their feedback more credible? Is your reviewer familiar with the publishing industry and giving suggestions that will make your manuscript more successful in a particular genre? Or is his or her feedback based on personal preference? For example, let’s say your manuscript focuses on a particular culture, and your reviewer has given you feedback suggesting you make changes to the description of that culture. You should evaluate your reviewer’s expertise in this area. Is he or she making this suggestion because he or she wants the story to be more familiar to him or her? Or is he or she a sensitivity reader who is familiar with the culture? If the former, you most likely don’t need to implement the feedback; if the latter, you probably should.
It’s also important to remember that your story is uniquely yours. If the feedback you receive doesn’t sit well with you, you do not have to incorporate it into your next draft. For instance, let’s say your story is about two sisters growing up on a potato farm in Idaho. Your reviewer suggests making your characters a brother and sister instead of two sisters. Your reviewer may have a list of good reasons behind this change, and these changes may make your book more marketable. However, you may choose not to accept this suggestion because you have tension with your own brother, which would make it difficult to write about a brother and sister in the manuscript. Or perhaps you’ve been envisioning this book being about two sisters for decades and simply can’t part with that idea. Either way, it’s also important to stay true to your own vision for your manuscript.
Deciding which feedback to implement is a lot of work. Make sure to evaluate each recommendation in light of your creative vision and narrative goals while also accounting for your reviewers’ expertise and industry standards.
Remember, the editorial process is a collaboration aimed at elevating your work to its fullest potential. Every piece of feedback is a valuable opportunity to enhance your writing skills and bring your manuscript closer to publication. By balancing your writing goals with constructive feedback, you can navigate the editing process and feel great about the story you put out into the world.
This article was written by and republished with permission from Ever Editing.
