Sample Edit

My editing philosophy is that it is my job to help authors build their relationships with their audiences. Good editing bridges writers’ thoughts and ideas with readers’ needs. I have succeeded as an editor if a writer walks away feeling heard and readers never know I was there.

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There was a great story lurking in this sample column that just needed a little polish to bring it out! It was a pleasure to work on.

Here’s a little bit about my process.

For individual articles, here are the key questions I ask during the editing process:

• What’s the connection to the audience? Why do I care, why now and what’s next?
  • For this article, I assumed a certain publication date and focused on something at the forefront of the public consciousness right now.
• What’s the structure (flow, tension/resolve, chronology, wrap around story, web accessibility)?
  • A current events hook adds timeliness but is general enough this can be relatively evergreen with a few tweaks.
  • I added “chapter” headings to give the story structure and inset quotes to help guide the eye when reading on a screen.
• What’s the readability?
  • Before:  710 words; 20.6% complex; average 19.8 words per sentence. Flesch Kincaid – 45/11.9; Gunning Fog – 14.6; SMOG – 11.7; Colman Liau – 13.7
  • After: 665 (excluding headings and inset quotes); 17.9% complex; average 18.5 words per sentence. Flesch Kincaid – 52/10.6; Gunning Fog – 12.8; SMOG – 10.5; Coleman Liau – 12.9 (Still room to improve, but much better!)
• What’s the promotion and repurposing potential? 50% of content is creating it, 50% is getting eyes on it! I’d picture collaborating with the social media team on these aspects.
  • Possible Headlines/subheads (for social sharing and web, depending on digital platform):
    • When gathering wasn’t safe / How one Supreme Court case paved the way for the right to associate
    • It wasn’t always legal or safe to gather – and not because of COVID / How the civil rights movement set the precedent for the right to associate
  • Social media ideas
    • Quote graphics using the two inset quotes
    • Use historical images of the period to create a slider-style story
  • Repurposing ideas:
    • Create an animated video, storyboard or graphic novel (or all 3!)
    • Use historical images to create an interactive timeline
    • Create a choose-your-own-adventure version where users can choose which character (Patterson, Carter or Harlan) to follow and see the potential implications of different outcomes

My process would vary a bit with each writer’s preferences. They’re the authors, and as the “translator,” I’m there to shape their expert ideas into an accessible finished product. This edit reflects the process with a fairly open and flexible contributor, but I’d still likely suggest the edits in two passes: one for hook and structure, and a second pass for readability. Of course, it’s always a matter of balancing mission and relationships. I’d envision proactively working with contributors to build a common understanding and buy-in for an accessible storytelling style as follows:

Medium-term content strategy development:

• Develop an article brief to guide concept development.
• Develop a tone and style guide.
• Incorporate storytelling components: characters, unique voices, personal narratives and other content styles.
• Build audience: Who is already reaching the audience(s) we want to reach and how can we leverage those people/orgs as messengers?
• Define CTA(s).

Longer-term content strategy steps:

• Develop audience personas.
• GSOT exercise to define goals, strategies, objectives and tactics (recurring).
• Invest in discoverability (SEO, earned media, inbound marketing).