Are you worried that people will think that if you work with an editor, it will mean you’re not cut out for academia? Do you hesitate to ask for help with your writing out of concern that your peers will judge you? I’ve spoken with many writers in academia who have told me that their senior colleagues consider editing “cheating.” I’m here to tell you it’s most definitely not. Tune in to learn the real purpose of editing and why the naysayers are wrong. Let’s get into it.

Cue Intro

Hello, hello. I hope you’re all doing well today. As this episode is being released on April 8th, I know a lot of you are looking forward to the end of the semester — and boy, do we all need a break!

Today’s episode is a bit of a continuation of the last episode where I discussed working with a developmental editor. If you haven’t listened yet, I’d recommend going back to Episode 19.

I want to address some of the — controversy might be too strong of a word — but some of the concerns academics have about working with an editor.

Now, most of these concerns revolve around how other people will think of them, especially their more senior colleagues. Let me give you some examples.

I had a prospective client tell me that her department chair suggested that working with an editor was cheating.

I’ve heard of a dean of a school questioning why younger generations of scholars “couldn’t do things on their own.”

I’ve heard people imply that working with an editor means you as the author are not responsible for the final product of your work.

The irony? It’s almost always men who say this — men who have wives that have “typed up” their work for them, or men who have teams of grad students doing work for them.

In academia, we romanticize the solo genius. We live in a society of rugged individualism, so it's no surprise that it carries into academia, where we believe that truly brilliant people must figure everything out by themselves, without any help.

But that’s just not how anything actually works. And because we perpetuate that myth, people feel bad about asking for help.

I’ve talked with so many scholars who say things like, “I didn’t know other people were going through this too,” or “I thought I was the only one who needed this kind of help.”

That secrecy and shame is a byproduct of glorifying the solo genius — but the truth is, everyone has help. You may not call it that, but that’s what it is.

Related to this is a fear of being seen as dumb or not fit for academia. This concern is especially strong for minoritized scholars who are already treated as impostors.

And I want to be clear — treated as impostors. I’m making a distinction here: it’s not just that people feel like impostors, it’s that they are made to feel that way by others.

When you're already navigating that, of course you're going to be hesitant to admit that you want to work with an editor or join a writing group. There's extra pressure to prove that you can do everything on your own.

And that’s another reason people hesitate to talk openly about getting editorial support — even though, by the way, working with an editor is totally normal in most other writing contexts.

Think about writers working with the big five publishers — Penguin, Random House, Simon & Schuster. They all work with editors. It’s part of the process. No one accuses them of cheating.

Toni Morrison was an editor for decades. Can you imagine if she edited your book? No one would say you didn’t write it.

The point is: editing is there to refine ideas that are already great. It’s not ghostwriting. That’s something else entirely.

And if analogies help — think about great athletes. Olympians. They have coaches, trainers, nutritionists — people helping them improve by even 1%.

You might not have LeBron James’ resources (if only, right?), but you can and should use whatever resources you have to improve your writing.

That doesn’t make you less of a scholar.

Reaching out for support — whether that’s editing, coaching, or being in a writing group — doesn’t disqualify you. It doesn’t mean you’re not good enough.

So I want to give you permission here. Not just to work with me — obviously I’m biased — but to work with any editor. To bring in the support you need.

It’s your process. It’s your project. And no one else gets to dictate what’s best for your writing.

Okay? That’s the big takeaway I want you to leave with.

If you want more details about what working with a developmental editor actually looks like, check out Episode 19.

And here’s a question you can ask yourself — even if you’re not planning to work with an editor:
What would be the best possible outcome if I did?
How would that change how I feel about my work or my revisions?

Sometimes just answering that for yourself can give you clarity about what kind of support you might need — or how to move forward.

Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll see you in the next episode.