Editor Interviews
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Read all the editors' answers to Duotrope's interview question: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication? Learn more.
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Here is a small sampling from our recent Editor Interviews. We have interviewed over 2,300 editors.
Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?
A: We like to ask the owner of the work if they would like me to go over any mistakes (if I haven't noticed that there are any) and if they say yes, I'll do just that and send them back the copy for confirmation.
A: Ravi Kiran communicates individually with contributors
A: Accepted authors get an editorial pass with some developmental editing, copy editing, and proofs. Authors are sent final proofs before publication. Stories that need substantive editing would get an R&R from us, as our policy is if we buy the story it needs to be fairly close to publication ready as-is.
A: Our goal is to preserve the writer’s voice while ensuring clarity, coherence, and overall impact. The level of editing depends on the needs of each piece, but authors can expect a thoughtful and collaborative process.
We believe in a transparent editing process, so authors always have the opportunity to review and approve final edits before publication. Our aim is to polish each piece while staying true to the writer’s original vision.
A: I don’t like heavy editing—either having it done to my own writing or imposing it on others. The tweaks I make are minimal. I accept very few pieces, and those I do require little to no changes. I believe in publishing work as the writer intended, with only light copyediting if needed. Authors can expect their voice to remain fully intact.
A: Depends on the manuscript some need more than others, some none at all. The author collaborates on the edits with the editor until consensus is achieved.
A: A lot. We try to get to a place that the author is happy with changes, but we get the final word.
A: I do basic proofreading of the issue, but we don't edit poems that are submitted to us. If I were to have a question about punctuation, grammar, etc., then I would reach out to the poet before publication. If a poet were to see a glaring error after publication, they could contact me and I could fix it, but I hope we'd catch it before then!
A: We do not edit a poet's work. We honor each poem exactly the way it is submitted.
A: If the piece is perfectly polished, we will just do a line edit with the author. But at Folly we have a lot of first time writers, and we often work very closely with them to polish their work. This is with their permission. Those who come into our editing and mentoring team will often be published, if not this issue then a future one. We like to build a relationship with our writers.
A: Occasionally, we’ll suggest edits to a piece if we like it but there’s something about it that stops it from being an unreserved ‘yes’. We give all of our contributors a chance to see how their work will appear before it goes live, and they approve any final edits.
A: We do not edit author's voices. If a piece doesn't speak to us the way it is, we move on. We have the best prose poets today sharing their work with us and do not want to change their voices to fit a different ideal, but value their creative choices. We only make minor edits for clarity or typos, or to change a spelling to be uniform with Canadian style.