How to Become a (Better) Editor: 13 Editorial Tips

当我第一次开始为HubSpot的营销博客编辑文章时，我诚实地认为这将是easiest我工作的一部分。

I imagined it would go something like this: I'd open a clean, nearly ready-for-publication Google Doc, skim it for the occasional missing comma or broken link, and be done with the whole editorial process before I had time to finish my coffee.

As any editor is well-aware, this couldn't have been further from the truth.

In reality, I'd argue editing takes up about 30% of my work week — and, while it requires different skills than content creation, it's anything but easy.

If you're new to the editing process, don't worry. There are plenty of strategies you can employ to ensure you're editing efficiently — which could mean anything from giving thoughtful feedback to a new writer upfront so your job is easier down the road, to keeping key websites handy to check a writer's math or embed an infographic into a post.

在保持完整性的同时，有哪些方法可以更有效地编辑？在这里，我与过去和现在的HubSpot编辑进行了交谈，以培养13种方法以成为更好的编辑，无论您是编辑自己的作品还是其他人的编辑。

How to Be a Better Editor

1.找到一个安静的空间来进行编辑。

Don't try to get your editing done in a meeting, or when you're around chatty coworkers. Multitasking like that can make us far less effective at our work and increase mistakes and stress. And when you're editing, you're trying to抓住those mistakes — so you want to be extra diligent.

取而代之的是，找到一个可以插入并完全集中在您面前的碎片上的地方。当您到达那里时，请关闭那些讨厌的电子邮件和社交媒体通知，并将手机放在飞机模式下（或者更好，请将其放在书包中）。

如果您正在努力进行一篇需要超过几个小时的仔细编辑的写作，请考虑阻止因休息时间分隔的集中时间。否则，您可能会失去焦点并开始丢失事物。

In fact, a study by the Draugiem Group found that the employees with thehighest productivity spent 52 minutes working，然后休息17分钟。休息是确保在编辑别人作品时始终处于最佳状态的关键。

2.确保主题与您的内容策略保持一致。

您可能会很想挖掘碎片的肉，然后开始精心编辑它。但是，作为一名编辑，将内容放入语境before you dive into the details.

First, take a quick skim of the working title, the layout, and the main ideas covered in the piece. Think to yourself:这个主题是否与我们的内容策略保持一致？我们的读者和买家角色会关心它吗？

如果您担心这篇文章与您的读者感兴趣的话题无关，请考虑如何调整角度。您可能需要与作者合作并将其发送回去，要求进行重大重组，然后再花费时间进行编辑以确保其与读者产生共鸣。

您还需要反思该作品如何适合您过去写的内容，尤其是如果作品是博客文章。像Google这样的搜索引擎可能会将第二篇文章视为复制内容并在搜索中惩罚您。

Even if Google doesn't consider it duplicate content, competing for keyword ranking against another post from your own blog will hurt your SEO strategy. The questions to ask yourself here are:我们过去是否全面介绍了这个主题？它会添加任何新有趣吗？

如果两个答案都是肯定的，您可能会考虑更新和重新发布原始草稿。我们在Hubspot上做了很多事情 - 例如，如果读者在“ Instagram主题标签”上提供完整的草稿，但我知道我们已经在Instagram营销上有很多，我将看一下旧的Instagram作品，并考虑他们是否应得完整的重写，或者我是否可以将作者的一些部分添加到作品的末尾，然后链接回作者的网站。

3.首先阅读内容和想法，第二个语法。

在阅读整个文章之前，切勿开始研究详细的编辑。从整体上进行反思很重要，以便您可以确定可以使内容和想法更强大的地方。似乎我们在这里增加了时间，但是请相信我，这会为您节省一个lotof time and pain in the long run.

如果您曾经开始逐行编辑一条线条，只是意识到它需要完全重组，那么您就会知道我的意思。

这里的关键要点是认识到作者何时需要更多作品。

HubSpot内容总监Corey Wainwright说：“有时候，作者在准备好进行编辑之前就发送了一篇文章。”“学会识别这些实例可以节省大量时间，因为否则您开始重写该作品，这对你们中的任何一个都无济于事。”

如果您注意到该作品的流动不佳，或者需要收紧简介，或者文章中没有足够的积分来满足您的质量标准，那么最好通过将该反馈通过电子邮件比尝试自己修复。

如果作品需要大量的编辑帮助，那么作者的写作可能不适合您的出版物 - 您将通过直接告诉撰稿人来节省很多时间。

此外，以前是HubSpot营销博客编辑的Carly STEC告诉我：“开发了多个编辑阶段。Rather than trying to solve everything at once when you’re editing, look for something specific each time you read through it. For example, you might read through it once looking for spelling errors and then read through it again to catch any brand style guide violations."

4. Check for places where the author can fill in the blanks.

除了提供更大，更广泛的反馈外，您还应该阅读该文章，以确定您可能想要（或需要）作者帮助的较小改进。这里有一些问题要问自己：

• Are there any structural inconsistencies in the piece? For example, if they included an image in every section of the piece except for one or two, you might ask them to find an image for those sections for consistency.
• Are there any points that need more, better, or any evidence?Statistics and data can elevate the quality of your content并使读者更有趣。
• Are any sources missing citations? (这是一个很大的。)

As you read, take notes on these points in an email draft to the author. Once you're done, make sure you clean up the notes so they're comprehensible, and send them along before you edit any further.

5.在您的编辑中也包括积极的反馈。

Aja Frost, former editor of HubSpot's Sales Blog, urges editors to remember the importance of positive feedback, as well.

She says, "Try to call out the strong aspects of the post — not just what needs to improve. Comments like 'This is great,' 'Love how you explained this,' 'Excellent transition,' etc. take just a second to write, but have a大的impact."

"Positive feedback balances out your constructive comments, makes the writer feel excited about starting their second draft, and ensures they'll keep doing the things you appreciated."

积极的反馈可以确保您的作家不会被他们收到的所有建设性反馈所燃烧，尤其是在他们的写作生涯开始时。此外，它可以帮助您指出您的内容likeabout their writing and what you hope to see more of in the future.

最终，积极的反馈与建设性一样有用，以确保您最终将作家推向“零编辑”，这意味着他们不需要编辑之前检查他们的工作在您的网站上发布。

6. Bookmark helpful websites for quick referencing.

如果作品的内容，想法和结构都准备就绪，您可以掌握编辑作品的精力。在这里，我喜欢保留一些网站添加书签以供参考。这是我喜欢的。

• 您公司的样bob全站app式指南：何时要仔细检查如何拼写或提及某物。
• Percent change calculator：用于检查数学。
• Your favorite keyword tools: For identifying top keywords for the content so you can use them in the title, headers, and relevant anchor text.
• 嵌入代码生成器：用于为任何原始图形或信息图表创建嵌入式代码。（学习如何使用here。)
• Click-to-tweet：用于在博客文章中添加点击点链接到可推文引号。（学习怎样here。)

For more ideas, read this blog post for theultimate list of websites every blogger应该添加书签。

7.将有用的代码片段近在咫尺。

除了为有用的网站加书签外，最好拥有所有有用的HTML或您倾向于使用的其他代码的段子。

For example, you might notice that we add borders around many of our images on the blog. To add these borders, I need to add a specific snippet of code into the source code of the blog posts I write and edit.

To make this process easy, I created a Google Doc with all relevant code snippets and then bookmarked it. When it comes time to add them to the source code of my blog post, I simply pull up the Doc and plug in the snippets as need.

（（Download our free guide to HTML hereto learn some simple and useful HTML coding hacks.)

8. Read the piece out loud.

大声朗读不仅仅是good for memory retention— it's also a great way to find errors in a piece of writing. You're more likely to find clumsy sentences and other things spell check won't necessarily catch if you hear those errors out loud.

Best-selling author David Sedaris uses this verbal approach to fine-tune his writing.根据Fast Company，，，，Sedaris tests his works-in-progress by reading it aloud to live audiences because it helps him notice imperfections in the text.

正如他读到的那样，他会从混淆或误导性的措辞到在同一段落中听起来像是相似的单词或单词。

塞塔里斯说：“我曾经讨厌一本书出来或出版了一个故事，我会像'该死，我怎么不抓住那个？'”“但是当你大声朗读时，你总是总是抓住它。”

大声朗读将有助于您在第一次回合中捕获这些错误，这将为您节省时间。

9.使用“查找并替换”以快速修复常见错误。

如果您要为新作家编辑，那么她的所有初稿都可能会开始看到类似的错误。另外，如果您要编辑自己的作品，您可能会知道自己最有可能犯的错误（例如“您”和“您的”和“您的”或“另外”编写“过于频繁地”）。

知道这一点，您可以在发布作品之前进行“查找和替换”，以纠正这些小滑动。与手动寻找这些实例相比，这是一种更快的方法。

To do a "Find and Replace," hit Control + F on a PC (or Command + F on a Mac), type in your problem word or phrase and click "Find," and let your browser take you to the word or phrase. Then, look through each instance of that word or phrase and swap it out with the right thing when needed.

如果您要为新作家编辑，请记下您在整个Google Doc中写作中注意到的一致错误，这样她就可以在写作时向其介绍并学习如何为自己解决这些错误。

I used my own "Caroline's Editing Doc" as a new writer to scan my writing for consistent issues before sending along to my editor, to ensure she wasn't always editing for the same mistakes.

10. "Find and Replace" HTML snippets to quickly clean up a post's formatting.

You can use the same principle when you're cleaning up the formatting of a piece of writing for a blog post or other piece of online content. Skip the time-consuming manual work and find specific pieces of code using "Find and Replace."

For example, if you're finding rogue tags or other troublesome code in the source code, you can use "Find and Replace" to replace them with something else or strip them out completely.

Simply hit Control + F on a PC (or Command + F on a Mac), type or paste in the code, and click "Find." Under "Replace," either fill in the code you want to replace it with, or leave it blank to strip out the code completely. When you hit "All," it'll be gone.

11. Do two rounds of edits, and send a follow-up email with the most important edits.

Lindsay Kolowich, who was previously HubSpot's Marketing Blog Manager, told me: "Do at least two rounds of edits: one to zoom in and the other to zoom out. If you're detail-oriented like me, you'll be tempted to line-edit the piece the second you start reading it."

She continues, "I'm not telling you不是这样做，但我鼓励您再次阅读该作品一旦你已经从你的系统can give the (frankly more important) feedback about higher-level details like overall narrative and structure. If you can resist the urge to line-edit on the first read, even better."

“在深入研究细节之前，先阅读高水平可以节省大量时间，尤其是如果最终需要重写的大部分作品。”

此外，Kolowich说：“抽出最重要的反馈来发送电子邮件。如果您使用像Google文档这样的协作文本编辑器来提供反馈，那么您建议的编辑和评论最终会彼此拥挤，而在最重要和最不重要的反馈之间没有明确的区别。”

她补充说,“它可以是非常有用的为you and the writer if you pull out the most important feedback (usually on structure, narrative, flow, and/or any major red flags) and send it along in an email once you're done editing. Yes, it takes extra time, but it helps both you as an editor reflect on the piece as a whole after line-editing it,andit primes the writer for some of the bigger feedback that will likely take longer to address."

"If you work with the same writers time and time again, these emails serve as a great record of feedback they've gotten in the past and can help you identify patterns and specific areas for improvement."

12. Copy and paste the piece of writing into Microsoft Word to find spelling and grammatical errors.

您看着一篇文字的精心亮着都没关系：您常常will使用拼写检查查找其他错误。

如果您的写作软件有咒语检查，请使bob电竞官方下载用它。我们还建议将内容粘贴到Microsoft Word（长度渗透）中以进行最终检查。

Just remember to give the document a few extra seconds to process your piece once you've pasted it in there, as Word takes a little longer to "read" your piece and uncover any mistakes. Then, you can go through it and assess any red or green squiggly lines you see.

Alternatively, take a look atThe Hemingway ApporGrammarly对于其他两个有用的咒语检查资源。bob体育苹果系统下载安装

13.知道内容何时good enough.

I know as well as any other editor that letting go of perfectionism is hard. But it turns out that perfectionism, while helpful in certain contexts,可以成为生产力的主要障碍。

There will always be something you can do to improve a piece of writing — and it can drive you crazy if you let it. You might think of "done" as spending every possible minute improving, polishing, and refining a piece until it's whittled to perfection.

But what are you sacrificing by making more, minor improvements? And are those sacrifices realistic? Are they worth your time? At some point, you need to ask yourself: When is "good enough" good enough?

Of course, knowing what the threshold for "good enough" is easier said than done. Here'sa helpful formula给你一些指导：

• The piece successfully solves the problem, addresses the need, or conveys the message intended.
• It is clearly and distinctly on brand.
• 工作质量与先前工作水平相一致。
• It has been thoroughly yet objectively scrutinized by other qualified individuals.
• 偏好的最终决定已留在创作者的手中。

Make sure that you complete the most important editing and proofreading tasks. Then, once you've refined a piece enough to move on ... just move on.

13.向后阅读。

Carly Stec suggests reading backwards if you're feeling uninspired or you've noticed you often miss typos when editing: "It's easy to gloss over errors when the sentence or phrase feels familiar. To avoid this, read the content backwards to put more focus on each word individually. This approach should help you spot typos you may have missed otherwise."

14. Edit for the way people consume web content.

Karla Cook, who was previously the Editor of HubSpot's Marketing Blog, urges editors to remember the platform on which you're publishing when you're publishing blog posts: namely, web pages.

她说：“编辑人们阅读Web内容的方式：Web副本与打印副本相同 - 作为编辑，您应该求解与副本本身一样多的视觉流程。有足够的段落断路？对于读者可能遇到的问题而言，结构很容易导航吗？”

Additionally, Cook urges, "In a similar vein, you also need to ensure the copy is skim-friendly. If someone was to dive into a random paragraph, could they figure out what was going on based on context?"

“作为一个编辑,你需要澄清的领域ial uncertainty that could arise from jumping into the middle of a piece: e.g., if a paragraph starts with: 'This is the best thing ... ' does the reader know what 'this' is referring to?"

15. Keepthis pre-publish checklisthandy.

Before you hit "publish," it's time to do a final once-over to make sure you've checked all the boxes. While this seems like another extra step, remember that this is an investment of time that'll save you from having to return to the piece later to make edits and adjustments.

But there are a lot of little things to remember before you publish a piece of writing — which is why my colleague Pam Vaughan createdthis online editing and proofreading checklist。使用它来确保检查所有重要的框before您打了出版物，以便当一件写作发货时，它就可以永远发货。