As a writer, you’ve got one shot to make a good impression, and you want it to be the best impression and the best representation of you and your work. Are editors going to accept your article for publication when it is cluttered full of misspellings and bad punctuation? Even if you have an interesting topic, probably not. The more copy ready you are as a writer, the better. The less time an editor has to take to correct your work (and even rewrite it), the more often that editor will ask you to write again.

So as a writer, you must morph into your own editor and be copy ready if you want to get published and continue getting published.

Being a writer and an editor are two entirely different skill sets that not everybody possesses. Writers are creative and inventive. I imagine a more bohemian type of person whose creativity oozes from their unkempt hair all the way down to their mismatched painted toenails. Editors are precise, thoughtful, critical . . . ready to catch everybody else’s mistakes. I imagine a person at a neatly-kept desk, round spectacles, equipped with a red pen, excited to circle each and every comma splice.

Is every writer a flower child and every editor the strict librarian type? Of course not! I’m just having fun stereotyping. But that exemplifies the two very different skill sets that society often confuses. Writers work with words and get their creative thoughts down on paper. Editors take apart each of those creative words and analyzes them into coherent, formatted, grammatically-correct publications. It’s a battle of creative vs. critical.

I used to consider myself “editor” first and foremost. But because I rewrote so many articles received from writers when I was editor of ParentLife Magazine, I feel that I was able to hone my writing skills. Now I feel equally competent in both areas. The benefit of being able to do both is when I am “editor,” I understand the creative writing process; I understand the heart and soul that the writer has put into her words. When I am “writer,” my text is extra-copy ready and formatted to industry-standards.

If you are a writer and do not have the skill set to be an editor of your own material, no worries! All you must do is invest in a good, experienced editor. In order to have the best shot possible at getting published in today’s very difficult publishing industry, you must put yourself ahead of the game and make sure your work is copy ready by hiring an editor. Think of it as a “team” approach. You need both players to have a winning team.

If your material is extra copy ready, it will . . .

Stand out on an editor’s desk full of hundreds (and maybe thousands) of other writers trying to get their manuscripts published.

Catch the attention of editors who love your topic and can understand your true intent because they are not bogged down with grammatical mistakes and are able to read your “voice.”

Continue getting you published because editors will want to work with you if your texts are copy ready. That means less work for them!

Know your strengths and weaknesses. If you have amazing, awesome ideas but have no clue how to format a manuscript or where to insert commas, that’s OK. Contact an editor to work with you on your manuscript before submitting it for publication. In the end, it’ll be worth your investment of time and money in doing so.

And if you need an amazingly talented editor . . . contact me today! (Shameless plug!)

Happy Writing!