How fast can you edit?
A burning question for editors – how fast can you edit?
There is a limit to how fast you can edit.
Editors often ask me how they can edit faster. Some even boast that they’ve found techniques that allow them to go 15% faster! Or 25% faster!
And . . . okay. I get it; the faster you edit, the more editing you can do and therefore the more money you can make.
When you’re a newer editor, it definitely takes you longer than when you’re more experienced. After all my years of working with authors, I can spot head-hopping immediately; a newer editor may have to consciously scan for it. So I understand the desire to get better, and therefore faster, at the work.
And certainly I’m a big fan of automating the parts of the process that a macro or specialized software can do more consistently and faster than a person can. I mean, I love find + replace for hunting down extra spaces after periods and between words. If I had to find all those myself it would take ages and I’d probably miss a few.
But. You are not a machine. If a machine can do what you do, then a machine WILL do what you do and you’ll be out of a job.
There is a limit to how fast you can edit (whether developmental editing, line editing, or copyediting) and still do good work. I’m talking about work that requires the knowledge and judgment of a human. Editing takes as long as it takes.
So stop focusing on the question of how fast can you edit.
What we need to do is charge enough to cover how long it takes. That’s hard, so editors often think going faster would be easier. But at some point you’ll hit that wall where you just can’t go faster and still produce good work. Instead of splatting against that wall, I urge you to step back a bit and commit to doing the hard work of charging what you’re worth.
Other Helpful Content
The Editorial Blooper Reel
Back when I edited a custom magazine, I assigned and edited a package about an upcoming event (similar to a business conference) which included profiles of some of the attendees and speakers, a how-to-get ready checklist, a travel piece on side trips to take at the location, a celebration of highlights of the event over…
Using information products to boost your bottom line
People like to pretend that you can write a book and make passive income from it. You can’t. If you write a book and stick it up on Amazon and never do anything to promote or market it, you’re not going to sell any copies. Okay, you might sell three or four to people who…
The Fine Art of Copyediting Fiction
When copyediting fiction, it’s common to run up against issues that pit author preference against standard editing approaches. For example, in a story I wrote some years ago, the main character’s neighbor is referred to as “3-B” as that is her apartment number and the MC doesn’t know her name. Fine. She can be referred…
