Editorial Feedback for a Fee: Buyer Beware

Looking for feedback on your shorter work—a single essay, short story, or a few poems?

Maybe you’ve workshopped the piece or shared it with a peer. Maybe you’ve submitted the piece a few times and received a few standard rejections. And now, you aren’t sure how to revise and move the work forward. You want an experienced editor to read it and say, “It’s working. Keep sending it out.” Or, “Let's take a closer look. There are a few things that could use a fix. Try this.”

You can hire an independent editor to review your work, but that can get expensive—rates typically range between $75–$200+ per hour. Plus, independent editors usually prefer to review manuscripts and book-length works over shorter, one-off pieces.

But there’s another option: An increasing number of literary magazines and journals are offering editorial feedback for a fee.

Journals provide this service for a few different reasons. First, editors really do recognize that writers want and need supportive, thoughtful, and actionable editorial guidance. It’s also an opportunity for them to educate writers about their journal and what they’re looking for. Second, the fees collected from editorial feedback are a source of revenue for journals, which have limited ways to raise money; those fees can also provide additional income for editors who are often unpaid volunteers or low-paid staff.

The quality and cost of the editorial feedback provided by literary magazines vary widely. Most charge a flat rate anywhere from $15–$200 to review a single short work or a group of poems. This can be a relatively quick and inexpensive way to get feedback from an experienced editor. But buyer beware: Not all journals provide a clear and detailed explanation of who will be doing the edit and what the feedback will include.

Here’s what you should look for when seeking a journal or magazine that offers editorial feedback.

A quality journal

Carefully review the journal that’s offering the editorial service. You want to find a well-edited and curated lit mag with high-quality writing. This is your first exposure to the editor’s work product. It’s like taking a new car for a test drive.

What they publish and review

Be clear on what the journal publishes and what genres and length of work they edit for a fee. The publication’s content, the editorial service offered, and what you want reviewed should align. To go back to the car metaphor, they should make and sell the car you want to drive.

Who is giving the feedback

You should know who is on the editorial team and have access to their bios. Google them and look at their website if they have one. Investigate their editorial experience, looking for how much, what kind, and where it was done. See if they teach and lead workshops (which would include giving feedback) and look for student testimonials. If they describe how they approach editing, that’s great information to uncover. Should you read their published work? Sure. If they write in your genre and you are impressed by their work, that’s a positive data point. But not all writers are good editors. The first thing to look for is strong editorial experience.

What the feedback includes

You are looking for “actionable” feedback—the editor’s reflection on what’s working in the piece, what isn’t, and their recommendations for ways to improve your work. The feedback should focus on the writing craft and employ craft language, e.g., a discussion of elements like narrative arc, use of scene, summary and details, characterization, voice, structure, point of view, etc. The feedback should be about the writing, not you, the writer, and accessible, i.e., written so you can understand it and know what to do next. Ideally, you should receive an editorial letter—a few paragraphs (or more) detailing the editor’s impressions, suggestions, and line edits, with specific comments at the sentence level throughout the file.

Clear guidelines

The journal should describe its editorial service in detail, provide an estimated delivery date, and explain how to submit your writing. Editors will typically work in a Google Doc or a renamed Word document using Track Changes.

Let’s look at a journal that provides a good example of fee-based editorial feedback, using our checklist above.

SmokeLong Quarterly offers two feedback services: a Senior Editor Critique for $45 and General Submission Feedback for $30.

• SmokeLong Quarterly is a long-established, highly ranked, competitive magazine. A quality journal—check.
• SmokeLong’s editors publish and give feedback on one flash piece, 1,000 words or less. What they publish and what they review and edit for a fee aligns—check.
• SmokeLong lists the editors who provide feedback with their bios and links to their websites and published work. You know who is reading, what their editorial background looks like, and all of the editors have extensive experience with editing flash—check.
• The Senior Editor Critique option includes line editing as well as a general statement concerning larger issues, such as voice, point of view, tone, and characterization from one editor. The General Submissions Feedback option provides general comments from three editors regarding what’s working and what’s not. This feedback service is for a story that has been rejected by SmokeLong. The journal gives you the specifics and describes both editorial services as actionable feedback—check.
• You can find the information about their editorial services and a submission form on the journal’s Submittable page. They try to respond within seven days. Clear guidelines—check.

Considering what independent editors charge and what SmokeLong Quarterly provides for editorial feedback, the journal’s fees of $30 and $45 seem quite reasonable. Plus, the journal’s guidelines state that they financially subsidize this program to make it reasonably priced and accessible and to provide income for their editors.

The editorial feedback process should feel good. One, you are paying for it—no reason to pay for pain. Two, you’ve shared your work with a professional. The editor should show you and your work respect. The goal is to leave the process feeling fulfilled, to know what’s working in your writing, and to have constructive ways to revise and improve your work.

Good editors don’t bite. So if a journal’s editorial service checks the boxes and the price is right, give it a go.

Andrea A. Firth is an essayist and editor for Brevity Blog. She often teaches and writes about submitting and publishing in literary journals and on the web. On the first Wednesday of each month she leads a co-working session called Submit It Now! hosted by Svetlana Litvinchuk, Chill Subs Director of Events, which gives you time to work on submitting your work with the support of peers in the Zoom room. Plus, Andrea starts each session with a review of a topic or questions related to the submission process. Last month she reviewed editorial feedback for fee, in December, she’ll talk about writing contests. You can register for Submit It Now! here. It’s FREE!