Why giving better-quality feedback to freelancers means better project quality

Yellow balloons with smiley faces

It would be fabulous if editorial freelancers always submitted amazing work. But unfortunately this doesn’t always happen. Whether for reasons within the freelancer’s control or not, sometimes an editorial project manager (EPM) will be presented with work that is below the expected standard.

Bad feedback versus balanced feedback

In such situations, it’s easy for the EPM to jump to the idea that they need to send ‘bad feedback’ to the freelancer.…

Read More

Sending difficult feedback on a messy editorial project

A black and white photo of a woman hiding her face behind a piece of paper with a face drawn on it with marker pen. The drawn face is winking and has a wry expression.

At some point (hopefully very rarely), every proofreader and copy-editor will find themselves working on a project where it seems that somebody, somewhere, at some point, dropped the ball in a big way.

As a copy-editor, you might discover that the developmental editor seems to have let through major inconsistencies and that swathes of detail are missing.

Read More

When editorial project managers expect too much

A man sitting at a desk and shouting into an old-fashioned dial telephone.

I recently received a thought-provoking comment from a fellow freelance editorial professional who has been working alongside me on a project I’ve been managing. The projects I manage are often very large (hundreds of thousands or even millions of words), and there are inevitably hiccups that arise and have to be resolved. So I found it interesting when the other editor commented that I am more understanding than some other editorial project managers about these kinds of hiccups.…

Read More

Capitalising on feedback and embracing fragility

Monetising feedback and embracing fragility

Not long ago, I met up with three old university friends who are all employed by (or have been employed by) large public-sector organisations. Their work environments (the support and demands of a corporate structure; the necessity of wearing shoes with rigid soles) couldn’t be more different from mine (the freedom to improve or damage my business unchecked by rules set by others; an office six metres from my bed).…

Read More