Being candid and giving editing feedback

If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that a writer is as good as the feedback you give them.

The rest is up to them.

Learning how to develop writers has been one of the most rewarding and by far one of my favorite experiences in my career.

Today I want to give back three of my takeaways on what's within your power to help your team of writers, freelance or full-time, bring out their best work through your feedback.

1. Flag what most people tend to get wrong before the first project

   “Even the best writers I've worked with tend to make mistakes on the intro. Here's exactly what they tend to get wrong in terms of writing the intro...”

   Whenever I’ve said this to a writer it was like there was an on/off switch. All of a sudden, they’re leaning in and wanting to hear the tea spill on what mistakes others make that they should avoid.

   Anyone who's passionate about what they do will be eager to know how the competition tends to slip up so they can do better.
   
   To be clear, this is not about roasting your other writers. Do not name names!
   
   This is about providing context where you highlight common mistakes so the new writer you’re onboarding has a clearer picture on your definition of quality work.

2. Contextualize and ask open-ended questions

   Imagine this.
   
   You're assembling a whole set of IKEA furniture using a manual without illustrations alongside your partner who has a manual with illustrations and they refuse to share.
   
   Y'all are gonna be raising your voices by step 2 and ugly crying as you break up by step 3 🤣

   You can't expect writers to write the entire piece or fix that paragraph if you don't help them visualize what the end goal looks like. This is especially true if you have a lower budget and therefore can only afford more junior writers.

   You'll both become frustrated and part ways.

   Instead...

   1. Provide context for visualization: what does great look like and how do the words on the page in question stray away from this?

   2. Show them you value their voice: ask them how/what they'd do to fix it with this context in mind.

   Yes, you will spend more time in the beginning doing edits and sharing examples. But it'll pay off with dividends if you invest in your writer's development.

3. Don’t polish a turd

   This one is simple.
   Call things what they are.

   • A content piece that doesn’t match the brief at all isn’t a “simple miscommunication”. It’s a product of a writer who didn't read the freakin’ brief.

   • A redundant sentence is a redundant sentence

   • A fluffy intro is a fluffy intro

   You're doing nobody a favor with this brand of, what I call, false kindness where you avoid saying the hard things because you have a fear of not being liked and equate being candid with being a jerk.

   The issue with this false kindness is you might play it so "nice" that the following happens:

   1. The critique is drowned out to the point the writer never realized they were messing up and it’s a total surprise to them when you stop working with them.

   2. You’re burning yourself out with unnecessarily long-winded explanations for edits which lead to things potentially not being read at all or understood.

In the end this is neither nice or helpful for anyone involved.
That's not nice is it?

Great writers are NOT mind readers.

When you find a good one pour your knowledge into them. A writer is as good as you empower them to be through the time, respect, and value you give them.

What takes 2 hours today might take 45 minutes a month or two from now. From my experience, great content is the product of the long-term relationships you build with the strongest writers you find along the way. Don’t just look at the quality of the outcome. Reflect on who it was a pleasure to work with in order to achieve that outcome.

Even the best writer isn't going to be the sharpest tool for your content in their first-ever attempt at creating for your company.

But chances are, if they’re the right fit for you, each consecutive attempt will be sharper and sharper.

And if you're constantly recycling writers or depriving them of the feedback they need to grow it's just a matter of time before you trip and fall in your content hamster wheel.