How to be a Novel Editor
Are you seeking direction on how to be a novel editor?
For those who love words, the question of how to become a novel editor can be an exciting start or an overwhelming obstacle. Here I share some tips on how to make it happen!
I quit smoking more than twenty years ago. This doesn’t make me an expert on dealing with addiction.
I broke my ankle last July and have recovered full function since then. This doesn’t make me an expert in physical therapy.
But I am an expert in storytelling and in editing works of fiction. Yes, I wrote some novels that were published by traditional publishers.

But I also have Ph.D in English literature, for which I studied how stories work; I have countless hours of professional development as a writer and editor (including classes, workshops, conferences, and more); I have been taught by mentors on the job for many years; I have watched and experienced how other editors work; I have networked with hundreds of colleagues to understand how they work and to identify best practices; I read and critique dozens of stories/novels a year to identify how they work (or how they don’t); I listen carefully to the feedback of students and clients; and, most important of all, I am willing to adjust what I know when I encounter new information.
That’s how you develop expertise in a subject matter.
Personal experience is always a great place to start (for example, you’ve written a novel or you had a manuscript edited) but it’s not the end. It’s the first step.
If you want to move beyond your own personal experience to understand how to edit for others, the self-paced package of classes, DE 1 – 6, is a great place to start.
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…
Focus on a limited number of problems in story development
Typically in a manuscript evaluation or developmental edit, I focus on what I perceive to be the three-to-five most important concerns I’ve noticed in the ms. This is the approach I teach my editing students. Editing too many problems at once overburdens the author In any given ms, there may be ten or fifteen developmental problems…
Join the Club!
New to story editing? Begin at the beginning.