Editor Confessions: 6 Common Editing Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

A man confessing his editing pitfalls while typing on a typewriter

Editing goes far beyond correcting apostrophe usage and giving texts a final polish. Effective editing ensures that content is clear, coherent, consistent, concise, correct, and convincing (yes, that’s 6 Cs). That’s a lot resting on an editor’s shoulders, so it’s no wonder we often succumb to editing pitfalls.

Below, we spill the beans on common editing errors. This is not to criticise or play the blame game but rather to help editors (and writers) hone their skills and perfect their craft. Our goal is to help you recognise and understand six of the most frequently occurring mistakes and, most importantly, arm you with the knowledge to avoid them. Also, keep an eye out for our Confession Corner, where we share some real-life editorial sins.

Table of Contents

    1. Knot Spotting Typos and Spelling Errors

    Typos and spelling errors are the most basic yet easily recognisable editing and writing mistakes. They take many forms, including:

      • The letter switcheroo, like ‘teh’ instead of ‘the’
      • Tricky spellings of words with single and double letters, like ‘disappoint’
      • Homophones, such as ‘they’re/their/there’
      • Missing words
      • Double spaces

    Why do these pesky errors come up so often? We might be in a rush when typing, maybe we’re fatigued from hours of editing, or perhaps our brains efficiently ‘autocorrect’ for us as we read. Regardless of the cause, we can soon lose credibility if these mistakes escape our eagle eye because they’re so rudimentary.

    Pitfall Prevention

    Fortunately, with easy-to-make errors come easy solutions: Always use spellcheck tools. Grammarly is a go-to choice; however, you can’t rely exclusively on spellcheckers. Try to recognise when you’re reading too quickly and slow your pace. We also recommend embracing the editing best practice of multiple readings and taking a break between editing sessions.

    2. Comma Chameleons: Grammar and Punctuation Mistakes

    While many errors are simply carelessness in action, grammar and punctuation mistakes often occur due to a lack of information or understanding. For example, knowing how to use an apostrophe with plurals, when to use a dash rather than a colon, or how to punctuate direct speech correctly. Common grammar errors include sentence fragments, incorrect subject-verb agreement, dangling participles, and mixing verb tenses.

    Where typos largely don’t impact meaning, grammar and punctuation errors can harm readability and even change sentence meanings. Take the example of the innocent, ‘Let’s eat, Grandma’ vs the macabre, ‘Let’s eat Grandma’.

    Pitfall Prevention

    To avoid disasters like this, you can:

      • Read aloud to identify awkward phrasings and poor readability
      • Read up on a topic and extend your knowledge base, especially if you find yourself guessing or hoping for the best

    3. Not Using Style Guides: Being Unfashionably Inconsistent

    A style guide lays the foundation for consistent punctuation, capitalisation, formatting, and referencing. For instance, take editing figures in a textbook. Should it be ‘Figure 1’, ‘Fig.1’, or ‘fig. 1’?

    Maintaining consistency across a website’s blog posts, a PhD dissertation, or a YA fantasy saga can quickly turn into a game of spot-the-difference without a style guide to unambiguously direct your choices. When content lacks consistency, it immediately comes across as disjointed and unpolished.

    The culprit? Unfamiliarity with style guides, overlooking their importance, or forgetting to apply them consistently. Granted, in some instances, there may not be a style guide to begin with, which means you might have to draft one.

    Pitfall Prevention

    Here’s what you can do to combat consistency crises:

      • Research and read: The obvious solution here would be to familiarise yourself with the specific style guide, like APA, Chicago, or MLA. 
      • Create a cheat sheet: Many handbooks can be lengthy and complex. We suggest compiling a ‘cheat sheet’ on grey areas or important points you often forget. 
      • Design your own: In situations like social media editing or copy editing for websites where you don’t follow a formal style guide, it’s essential that you create one for yourself. Share it with writers and fellow editors, if applicable.
      • Automate with tech: Tools and software can save you time and effort by automating formatting tasks. They range from advanced software like Adobe InDesign to free tools like Reedsy Book Editor and readily accessible Microsoft Word or Google Docs features.

    4. Passive Voice was Implemented by the Editor

    In essence, passive voice involves swapping the position of a sentence’s subject and object. Instead of Johnny throwing the ball, the ball is thrown by Johnny. While the passive voice has its place in some situations, it’s often (over)used without the writer or editor even realising it (like in this very sentence).

    Some of the main arguments against using passive voice are:

      • It makes for wordier sentences
      • Sentence structures are unnecessarily complex
      • The tone is more impersonal
      • Actions are less immediate, impactful, and engaging

    This pitfall creeps into our work when we prioritise formality over readability. For many, it becomes an acceptable habit we learn for academic language at school or university.

    Pitfall Prevention

    To avoid this faux pas, start by identifying the main verb in the sentence, then ask yourself whether the subject (the ‘doer’ of the action) comes before or after the verb. Often, the subject is absent altogether. It’s also helpful to watch for common passive constructions, like sentences starting with ‘It is…’ and ‘There are/were…’. In addition, tools like Grammarly and Hemingway Editor excel at pointing out the use of passive voice.

    5. Not Reading the Room: Refusing to Adapt to Your Audience

    When it comes to writing, one size definitely doesn’t fit all. Being inflexible or having a poor understanding of your target audience and content platform are vital editing mistakes to avoid. Maybe you have academic editing and technical writing review techniques down to a fine art, but what works here won’t cut it for blog post editing.

    Refusing to adapt to your readers’ interests and expectations often happens without you even realising it. Unfortunately, the repercussions can be major. Recurring stiff Instagram captions may sway the public’s perception of a brand, readers might lose interest in a blog with long walls of text, and a too-casual tone can erode an academic’s credibility.

    Pitfall Prevention

    There is a cure for inflexible editing: channel your inner detective and investigate the content platform and its best practices. Also, find out what makes your target audience tick, what appeals to them, and what alienates them. 

    Be prepared to adapt your:

      • Tone and register
      • Diction and vocabulary
      • Sentence and paragraph length
      • Formatting
      • Multimedia choices

    6. Solitary Confinement: Overreliance on Your Inner Editor

    Relying exclusively on your own editing abilities can become problematic. Regardless of how seasoned an editor you are, we all have our blind spots. Familiarity with the text can cause you to read what you expect to see and not what’s actually on the page.

    While self-editing is an essential part of the writing process, we don’t recommend being the only one to edit the piece. Even if you’re editing someone else’s content, you still shouldn’t edit without others’ input. Editing isn’t a ball-and-chain task you have to do by yourself—rather, it’s best done as part of a collaborative effort, working off each other’s editing feedback.

    Common errors associated with relying on your inner editor too much include:

      • Inconsistencies or plot holes
      • Biased perspectives
      • Poorly supported or illogical arguments
      • Rambling or disjointed passages
      • Ambiguous statements
      • Overusing words, phrases, or sentence structures

    Pitfall Prevention

    One of the biggest self-editing tips we can give you is to not edit in isolation. Set aside time for others to review drafts, especially if it’s material you’ve written. Seek input from peers who understand the platform well and get opinions from those who are subject matter experts. 

    Further invaluable assistance is to get feedback from members of the target audience or beta readers. As with avoiding the previous pitfall, you should also be open to change, new approaches, and fresh ideas.

    Expert Tips to Avoid Editing Pitfalls

    After reflecting on common editing pitfalls that have tripped us up countless times, it’s important to share some overarching tips for effective editing practices and processes:

      • Focus on one type of edit per review: As much as we’d love to get everything done at once, it’s not realistic to catch all errors in one sitting. Instead, focus on one editing aspect at a time, for example, proofreading, fact-checking, or formatting edits.
      • Establish a systematic process: With the above in mind, reflect on your approach to editing and assess what works best for you. Coming up with a systematic editing process will help streamline your workflow and ensure you cover all your bases.
      • Develop a personal checklist: Drawing up an editing checklist will help ensure no stone is left unturned. It can include the steps of your newly created editing process, specific client requirements, and style guidelines.
      • Rest and repeat: Slow and thorough wins the race when it comes to effective editing. Take regular breaks to maintain your sharpness and return with renewed editing vigour.
      • Make the most of editing tools: Embrace editing with AI and speed up processes with tech tools. But remember, they’re not a replacement for your critical eye, creative thinking, and expert discernment.
      • Flex your skills: Don’t neglect context and intended audience. What may improve readability for one may not work for another, so flexibility and openness to change are vital.
      • Work collaboratively: Enlist a support team by having others review your editing and provide feedback to help you gain new perspectives on your work.
      • Learn continuously: You’re never too old or too experienced to learn and hone your editing skills. Refresh your knowledge of core grammar principles, editing best practices, and genre-specific requirements.

    From Confession to Perfection: Learning from Editing Pitfalls

    To wrap up this confession session, we need to emphasise that although many of us fall victim to editing pitfalls, there are practical ways to address and avoid them. The first step is to recognise which mistakes we’re guilty of committing. The next step is to adjust our mindset. Rather than feeling embarrassed and sweeping our shortcomings under the carpet, we should embrace them as an opportunity to learn and enhance our editing expertise.

    With a proactive approach, awareness of one’s blind spots, using the tools at our disposal, drawing on human resources, and approaching editing systematically, you’re setting yourself up for success. Now it’s your turn. Editing perfection starts with your first confession.

    Blue Leaf Team

    The Blue Leaf Editing team has over 10 years of combined editing, publishing, and book industry experience. We’re passionate about content and storytelling, and sharing our knowledge with others.