On any given day in any given Facebook group for writers, you’ll find posts asking about everything from comma placement to catchy phrasing.
Social media can be an incredible resource, especially when you need speedy input from as many people as you can find. Writers want to help each other, and that’s a wonderful thing. But editing requires expertise.
If you’re asking for editing help online, make sure the answers you get really do help.
At the end of this post, I’ve outlined some tips to help you make the most of your crowdsourcing. But first, here are some of the dangers you might encounter if you don’t know what to look for. Each example is inspired by a real scenario I’ve seen in a comment thread, but the names and examples have been anonymized to maintain the privacy of the writers and commenters involved.
Common problems with crowdsourcing
FORGETTING ABOUT DIFFERENT FORMS OF ENGLISH
Ahmad: What do you think of the line “It was a value she hoped to instil in her children”?
Jessica: I love it, but “instill” is misspelled.
Jessica in New York thinks she’s caught a typo, but Ahmad lives in Toronto—and “instil” is the correct spelling in Canadian English.
Oliver: I can never remember—is it “the band is playing” or “the band are playing”?
Afua: It’s “are”!
Afua’s in the UK, where collective nouns often take the plural verb. But for Oliver in Australia, the singular is more common.
When you’re browsing through social media quickly, it’s easy to view questions from the lens of your own experience. Jessica and Afua were trying to be helpful, and from their own perspectives, they weren’t wrong. Nevertheless, Ahmad and Oliver would have introduced errors into their own books if they’d taken their advice.
NOT KNOWING ABOUT STYLE GUIDES
Esperanza: Do you think “dull” works here? “She thought back on all the jobs – the dull, the dreary and the downright dismal – that she’d held over the years.”
Michel: It’s quite similar to “dreary”; consider another word. It would also flow better if you added a comma after “dreary”.
Sofia: Make sure you also change your en dashes to em dashes and remove the spaces!
People love to argue about the serial (or Oxford) comma. But here’s the thing: it’s just a matter of style. The Chicago Manual of Style uses it. The Associated Press Stylebook doesn’t. And a publisher (or indie author) may make a conscious choice to deviate from a style guide. Consistency is key, and that’s something a copy editor will track. If Esperanza is following a style guide that doesn’t use serial commas, she doesn’t need to add one here.
As for Sofia’s suggestion, there’s overlap with the issue of variation between countries. Spaced en dashes – like this – are preferred by New Hart’s Rules, the UK style guide that Esperanza’s using. Sofia’s Canadian book followed The Chicago Manual of Style, so she used unspaced em dashes—like this—but that’s no help to Esperanza!
IGNORING CONTEXT & EDITORIAL DISCRETION
Priya: My stylistic editor suggested changing “Smiling, she walked into the room” to “She smiled as she walked into the room.”
Luke: It’s fine the way it is!
Luke’s right: the original sentence is fine the way it is. But what Luke doesn’t know is that Priya has already used that same sentence structure three times in a single paragraph. Editing is about more than what’s right and wrong: a stylistic edit addresses clarity and flow. So even though the sentence was grammatical, Priya’s editor recommended making a small change to ensure that the reader could stay focused on the story instead of the repeated sentence structure.
Eli: Which sounds more realistic for a twelve-year-old? I wrote “Yeah, she was totally sus,” but my editor suggested “Yes, I thought she seemed suspicious.”
Marta: Definitely the first! That’s how my twelve-year-old would say it.
Marta’s probably right—if the character is speaking casually. But Eli left out a key piece of information: in this scene, the twelve-year-old antagonist is trying to impress the school principal and deflect blame onto someone else. Because of that, the editor thought the character might choose to speak more formally. (This example is for demonstration purposes. In a real edit, if an editor suggested a change of tone like this, they’d likely add a note to the author to explain why!)
LACKING EXPERTISE IN THE AUTHOR’S STYLE
Min-ji: I want to get rid of the double “had”; what do you suggest? “But the tiger had had quite a fright.”
Jane: “But the tiger had experienced quite a fright.”
Andrei: “The tiger saw a scary sight.”
Samuel: “But the tiger was terribly scared.”
Writing a rhyming picture book gives you additional layers of writing craft to consider. In the example above, Min-ji is writing a book in anapestic trimeter (dadaDUM dadaDUM dadaDUM). Everyone’s eager to help, but none of the suggestions will work with Min-ji’s book!
In Jane’s suggestion, “experienced” doesn’t fit the metre:
Min-ji needs dadaDUM dadaDUM dadaDUM
Jane’s line is dadaDUM daDA daDUM dadaDUM daDUM.
Andrei’s line is in perfect iambic tetrameter: daDUM daDUM daDUM daDUM. But that’s not the metre Min-ji needs.
Samuel’s line does fit the metre! dadaDUM dadaDUM dadaDUM. But there’s a problem: Min-ji’s first line, which she didn’t share with the group, ends with “light.” Samuel’s suggestion ends with “scared,” so it won’t fit her rhyme scheme.
Related: So You Want to Write a Rhyming Picture Book?
Before you crowdsource suggestions for your rhyming book, be really honest with yourself: is your expertise in rhyme and metre strong enough to let you sort the suggestions that work from the ones that don’t? Even if it is, do you want to do that work, or would you rather get ideas that you know will fit?
How to get more reliable feedback
If you have a one-off question, try directing your question to a more targeted audience. For example, if the answers require an understanding of the context, you could follow up with beta readers or critique partners who are already familiar with your story. If the answers require industry knowledge, consider asking somewhere like Ask a Book Editor, where you’ll be able to see which responses come from editors.
If you do choose to crowdsource your editing questions, you can maximize your chance of success by providing as much information as you can:
What form of English are you using? (American, Australian, British, Canadian, etc.)
What style guide are you using? (If known)
What’s the context? (Character, audience, context, surrounding lines, etc.)
What metre are you writing in? (If applicable)
Of course, the very best way to get editorial feedback is to hire an editor!
Related: How to Choose an Editor
If you’ve already had your book edited, don’t be afraid to ask your editor about their follow-up policies in case you have questions or lines you’re struggling with. There’s no substitute for feedback from someone who’s read your book.