Correct me if I’m Wrong! (You Could Use an Editor)

Posted on March 18, 2008
Filed Under Editing, Something or other, Web Content |

“Correct me if I’m wrong…”

Did you ever notice how most people who begin a statement like that in NO way believe they are wrong…and wouldn’t accept correction if they were? No one much likes being corrected. When I was a kid I was never all that happy about my Dad correcting me. My three daughters seemed to feel the same about the issue whenever it came time for me to correct them.

Worse still is being corrected by your spouse! Doesn’t it just grind on you when she’s right (and you know she’s always right, right?) Our issue with being corrected, whether at home, in school, or at work stems from a little thing we like to call PRIDE. I don’t mean school pride or pride in a job well done or any other positive aspect of pride. I mean that kind of self-indulgent pride that would rather be wrong be corrected.

If your goal is effective communication, then it doesn’t matter what process your work goes through to achieve that goal. It only matters that you achieve it.

As a writer, I find myself having to deal with this sort of pride on a regular basis…both in myself and in those I work with. No writer really enjoys having his work shredded in the editorial process. But it happens…and it is often for the betterment of the work.

I have been both the writer and the editor. I have had my work “corrected,” and I have been hired to “correct” the work of others. I have learned that the message matters most. If your goal is effective communication, then it doesn’t matter what process your work goes through to achieve that goal. It only matters that you achieve it.

Perhaps you are a startup business with a limited budget. Maybe you cannot afford to outsource your web content or your sales copy. Or it may be that you are adept at written communication and feel you are the best person for the job, anyway. In any case, you would still do well to hire someone to edit your work; an objective, qualified person to read it over for clarity, correctness, and continuity.

If you do elect to hire an editor, make sure you give him/her the liberty to do their job. You may find that you disagree with some or all of their changes, and elect to keep things as they are. More likely, however, you will find the collaboration to be exhilarating, invigorating, instructive…and resulting in a more effective product.

If you are in need of editing services for your website, business blog, sales copy, ebook, letter to your congressman (not that he will listen, anyway), manual, or…you name it, then contact us. You will find us to be completely professional, honest, courteous, committed, and empathetic to your cause. If we cannot be all of those things for you, then we won’t take your money or the job.

But…I’m pretty sure we can. So, contact us here>

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