An Inside Look at the Author-Editor Relationship

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When I first saw Randy’s post on LinkedIn looking for Christian creatives to share how their faith intersects with their work, I felt a nudge from the Lord to respond. I’m a freelance book editor and designer, and while most people associate creativity with design, it’s also connected to good editing, which is largely artistic as well.

One of my first loves is words and I’m obsessed with them. What they say, how they sound, the way they look. Prior to 2019, I edited and designed all sorts of materials for the companies I worked for. Things like training manuals, business documents, and articles. It never occurred to me to go into business for myself until I was at a crossroads in my career and the Lord told me the direction I should head. Now I edit fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, and I love it!

Most of the clients I work with are first-time indie (self-publishing) authors, and we often end up working together from the first stage of editing all the way to publication. Because I tend to work with authors who have almost no knowledge of the industry, many of them are surprised to learn what editing actually is and how my role in editing works.

What Is Editing?

Before I can dive into my role in the author-editor relationship, it’s important that I first define editing and its four levels as there are a lot of misconceptions around what I actually do.

An editor wears three hats at all times when working on a manuscript. They wear the hat of the author to respect their artistry and vision. The editor wears the hat of the author’s intended readership, who shapes the language used and the types of value in the book. And the editor also wears the hat of a business professional to guide the author in making their book as solid of a unique, marketable product as possible.

As an editor wears these hats, they identify an author’s strengths and opportunities in their manuscript in relation to their vision and readership, and provide solutions to bridge any gaps between the author’s goals and the current state of their manuscript.

How these solutions are presented depends on the level of editing provided. Solutions may be high-level recommendations written in a report for the author to use as guidance during the revision process or the solutions are hands-on manuscript corrections made by the editor.

The Levels of Editing

The four levels of editing should occur in the sequence described below because each level zooms in closer and closer to the manuscript, from examining the entire story to checking the individual words on each page.

The first level of editing is called developmental editing. It’s a big-picture examination of your manuscript that fills out its shape, making it compelling, impactful, and oh-so-believable. Dev editing looks at things like plot and character or argumentation and research (for nonfiction), so that your reader wants to keep reading to find out where you’re taking them.

The second level of editing is called line editing. It zooms in closer to the paragraph level, adding color and vibrancy to sentences. Line editing hones voice and expression so that readability, flow, and intrigue are maximized. This level makes readers experience life-changing revelations based on your teaching style or wonder what your characters are doing in real life.

The third level is called copyediting. At the sentence level, copyediting amplifies the clarity of your voice and expression by applying consistency to spelling, grammar, and timeline or factual details so readers are fully immersed in what you have to say. Copyediting also prepares your manuscript for design.

The fourth and final level is called proofreading. After your manuscript has been typeset and designed, proofreading hovers at the word level, catching any straggler typos and design inconsistencies so readers experience the best possible version of your book.

My Role in the Author-Editor Relationship

My role as an editor is primarily collaborative, though the scope of collaboration an author and I have is largely dependent on the level of editing I provide as well as the author’s needs.

Developmental editing and line editing require the most collaboration. I need to have a solid understanding of an author’s goals, intent, and skillset so I can give them useful feedback and attainable solutions. Proofreading requires some collaboration, mainly about the author’s priority of corrections and how to record them. And copyediting can go either way for an author who may or may not have stylistic preferences about all sorts of tiny details.

Additionally, an author’s needs impact the degree of our collaboration. Nonfiction editing allows me to take on a lot more of the hands-on changes for an author who isn’t interested in learning craft compared to fiction editing, which instead requires me to have a greater hands-off approach (by writing more comments and queries) to help the author ensure their highly nuanced and delicate fiction voice remains intact. (An author’s nonfiction voice is nowhere near as complex and is easier to replicate when suggesting changes in their text.)

Also, authors short on time or struggling with overwhelm sometimes can’t handle adding certain tasks to their plate, and I step in to take care of certain editing-adjacent activities that, if not completed, would otherwise limit the full scope of the edit I’m providing.

All these things can only happen if we communicate—that is, really listen and do our mutual best to articulate our thoughts and expectations. This is why the four levels of editing are one of the things I always explain when I’m contacted for editorial help. I don’t want to provide a copyedit or proofread when a client is expecting a developmental edit.

How I Cultivate Collaboration as an Editor

To encourage a communicative, collaborative environment means I approach a number of things in my author-editor relationship in a very specific way.

Editorial transparency is one of my core values. While an author has knowledge and skill about the subject they’ve written, I have knowledge and skill in fortifying their story or argument’s internal consistency and impact, and I make sure that my recommendations and changes are supported by one, if not two or three, factual reasons.

This means that my editorial style is thorough and comprehensive, especially since my design and project management experience often informs my recommendations and changes. I try to explain things as straightforwardly as possible so that the author I work with understands what’s going on and is fully empowered to make a decision after hearing all sides of an issue.

One thing I learned early on as an editor—that all serious, good editors learn—is that technical correctness is not always correct. Using editorial judgment is one of my favorite parts of editing because it involves embracing artistic license so an author’s voice shines as brilliantly as possible. I apply editorial judgment in the usual ways, like phrasing and solutions, but also with what I do and don’t touch so that I respect, preserve, or even enhance an author’s own artistry in light of their goals and vision.

I also make a point of telling the authors I work with that I have zero power over their manuscript. They can alter my edits, rewrite them, or cut them. Whatever they wish. This excites and scares some authors because they get to hold onto the creative reins of their book, but they also don’t want to make a mistake and have all their hard work present as unprofessional. A part of collaboration means looking out for my author, so if they remove an edit that resolves a problem, I’ll add a comment restating why I recommend keeping such a change and then leave it up to them.

When an author truly feels comfortable sharing what is and isn’t important to them, when they really understand that I’m their ally in creating the best version of their book possible, we end up working off of each other’s strengths and coming up with ideas, tweaks, or changes together that neither of us could have legitimately arrived at alone.

How My Faith Impacts My Editing

God will always know the author I’m working with much better than I ever will. And God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives. Because I want to help the author I’m working with in the best way possible, I invite the Lord into my editing work.

God gave me this gift and I need His help to use it in the way He wants. Words are so, so powerful, and trust is paramount in the author-editor relationship. When I partner with God during my edits, my suggestions and changes flow better, smoother, lighter. I also ask Him for help with writing complicated or sensitive queries and finding solutions and recommendations. What I view from my experience as a professional, kindly written query or an appropriate suggestion to fix a plot hole may not be the right approach for the author or their manuscript. But Jesus knows what’s perfectly perfect, and it’s my responsibility as a Christian to seek Him for guidance so I can give my very best.

Another way my faith impacts my editing work is how I approach querying and adding comments to a manuscript. Communicating the truth—unbiased, objective facts and solutions—about a manuscript must be handled carefully. A lot of people think that telling the truth means giving reckless, unfounded opinions, but that’s not correct. It’s honesty and clarity wrapped in grace, compassion, and agape love (Colossians 4:6, TPT).

If I don’t use love, wisdom, and sensitivity in how I approach my work, my efforts have profited me nothing and frustrated (or even hurt) an author. Nor have I represented Christ well as His ambassador. Yes, hearing the truth sometimes hurts. But there’s a way to do it in a professional, kind manner that leads to a fruitful outcome. So I always approach my edits in the way that I would want my own manuscript to be edited.

Final Thoughts

I am a Christian first and an editor second. This means that I keep God first in my business and I treat clients the way I want to be treated. It’s as simple as that!

Because my role in editing is to teach an author how to see their work simultaneously as both an artist and their target reader, I get the privilege of witnessing how a manuscript grows and evolves with an author’s new insights and expanded skillset. Seeing an author’s confidence and pride in their final work is truly one of the best parts of my job.

About Kristin Bradley

As a freelance book editor and designer, I help authors create quality written and designed content that fits their unique vision and readership. If you’re a fiction, nonfiction, or children’s book writer, I can help you ensure your words and ideas have clarity and impact.

In addition to developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, and proofreading, I also offer book design and self-publishing support services. I also have a BS in Nutrition and Dietetics, which has turned out to be surprisingly useful in my work.

When I’m not working on a client’s project, you’ll find me writing my middle grade novel, thinking about words, studying the Bible, or aiming for one of my fitness goals.

If you’d like to discover more about the ins and outs of the editing process or want no-nonsense writing craft guidance by an editor, subscribe to my new Substack newsletter launching shortly and connect with me on LinkedIn.