Hiring a copyeditor can be the best decision for your messaging.
Yes, a copyeditor will help you maintain your credibility by finding the spelling, structural and punctuation errors you may have missed as you put your piece together. But if you get your copyeditor to do what they do best, they’ll make your message better in other ways.
Remember the classic newspaper editor?
They had the corner office in the busy newsroom. They moved quickly. They talked quickly. They could tell in half a second if a headline was on point or off base. And if they sat down to review a piece, the writing and the writer both got better.
That’s what you get when you hire a strong copyeditor.
Hiring a copyeditor is like giving your ideal prospect a sneak peek.
A good copyeditor will assume the sensibility of your prospect as they go through your piece. They’ll set their minds and mindsets to mimic how your ideal prospect would approach the content; and they’ll adjust their patience levels accordingly. If your prospect is time-starved and impatient, your copyeditor will read it that way the first time through. Alternatively, if your ideal prospect is meticulous and interested in the details, your copyeditor will assume that persona for the initial read.
With your ideal prospect’s persona in their head, your copyeditor will give you honest feedback and tell you what your prospect probably won’t.
In this way, hiring a copyeditor is like setting yourself up for “non-catastrophic failure.” Educators tout non-catastrophic failure as paramount for students to improve resiliency and make better choices as they grow up so actual catastrophic failures don’t hurt them long term.
Hiring a copyeditor will put your ideas in the crosshairs.
Some thoughts sound better in your head than they will in someone else’s. And if that someone else is your ideal prospect, you run the risk of confusing them. Or worse, you run the risk of turning them off for good. And what a shame that would be before you even got started.
Whoever stress-tests your messaging should be as hard on it as your most challenging prospect will be. If you’re hiring a copyeditor to be that first reader, be prepared for the real-world stress-test you want. They’ll question your claims and press you for explanations. They’ll call out your headlines and subheads for being uninteresting. And they’ll flag sections that don’t serve the story you’re telling.
But unlike a real-world stress test which ends in radio silence if your target audience isn’t buying into your message, a good copyeditor will take the time to help you make your message stickier. Yes, you’ll get honest reactions. But you’ll also get suggestions for improvement and reasons for those suggestions. And like a young scribe meeting with the newspaper editor, you’ll improve as a writer and you’ll see it on the page.
Hiring a copyeditor may not be great for your ego.
If you believe you put the perfect piece together and you’re looking for validation, perhaps hiring a copyeditor isn’t for you. But then you’re at the mercy of your ideal prospect who won’t have a copyeditor’s time, inclination or desire to help you make your piece better. Instead, they’ll say nothing and move on forever. And the investment you made finding your ideal prospect and getting in front of them will have been wasted That’s a tough and unnecessary pill to swallow.
A final thought about hiring a copyeditor.
If you think your copyeditor is being hard on you or your work, it’s only because they care about your reputation as much as they care about their own.