Bryony Leah Editorial | Romance Editor Interview
If you’re reading this post, you probably love reading romance. At its heart, the genre is about empowering women, creating safe spaces and having fun. But what exactly goes into editing a romance book? Well, I had the pleasure of speaking to Bryony Leah from Bryony Leah Editorial about her editorial process, the romance genre and how she works with her authors. Whether you are an aspiring romance writer, a bestseller author or a fervent reader of the genre, read along for a fascinating insight into Bryony’s process and her advice!
Bryony offers copy-editing, line-editing, proofreading, manuscript assessments alongside bespoke editing for unique projects! Though she is open to all, she specialises in the romance/erotic fiction and romantasy genres.
Below are just a handful of the books that Bryony has passionately and diligently edited, with her full portfolio, along with client testimonials, available on her website.
Bryony’s Editorial Process
Bryony’s editorial process takes a deeply focused, sentence level approach, beginning with free samples to gauge the suitability of the author/editor match. She brings a genuine love of the story she is helping to craft!
‘I offer professional line editing, copy editing, and proofreading for authors of UK and US fiction, which means I edit books at a sentence level rather than at the story level (i.e. I polish the text, not the plot – story-level edits are carried out with a developmental editor, and they’re generally the first stage of editing), so my process involves a lot of deep-focus work directly in a manuscript.Every edit begins with an email: the author introduces themselves and their book, and if it seems like we’ll be a good fit, I’ll offer a free sample edit so I can put together a personalised quote for the work. Not only does this allow the author to get a feel for my editing style before making a decision, but it also enables me to see the depth of editing required and to figure out a timeline for the edit. We’ll agree upon the terms, a booking deposit will be invoiced, and once everything’s confirmed on the schedule, I’ll be waiting eagerly for the manuscript to arrive on our start date (or often the night before, if I can’t resist sneaking a peek at my emails!).Before I start reading, one of my first tasks for every copy edit is to set up a style sheet for the book. This is a separate document that acts as a sort of story bible, containing mostly technical information for the author, publisher, and other collaborators to reference, as well as all crucial story details, character information, formatting preferences, word lists, and more. It’ll look pretty empty in the beginning, of course, because I fill this in while I work through a manuscript, but virtually every small editorial detail gets included in a style sheet, so they’re often 10+ pages long by the end of an edit (and romantasy style sheets can quickly get huge with all the worldbuilding info – especially when it’s a series!).’
Then, the edits begin, with Bryony meticulously working through the manuscript, with attention paid to regional differences, subtle inconsistencies and continuities at every moment.
‘My first read of a manuscript is where I make the bulk of my edits. I’ve been editing books for more than a decade now, so many of the changes I make are second nature to me, but it’s honestly surprising how much of professional editing involves double-checking information you already know, just in case. This is especially true of any regional differences, because I work on US and UK fiction, so it’s a constant game of mental parkour jumping between style guides and spelling variations!Although I’m not a developmental editor, I absorb the story as much as any reader would while I work, and I’m lucky enough to work with lots of awesome indie authors who appreciate my real-time reactions in-line, so I try to include plenty of those while editing. As a writer myself, I know how important it is to have the things you’re doing well highlighted on the page – and how validating it can be to have someone you trust say, ‘Hey, I see what you did there, and I loved it because …!’. Plus, if I’m sitting there giggling and grinning or editing through tears at the emotional bits (I love a book that makes me cry!), I want you to know that!After completing the first read, I’ll go back through the manuscript for a second pass, and this is where I’ll also polish up all the in-line comments I included during my initial edits, adding in explanatory notes where needed. I find it a really fun part of the work to learn an author’s unique writing style throughout the course of an edit – their quirks and their phrasing and the rhythm of their voice – and I usually have a better handle on those things during my second pass, so I’ll occasionally re-edit sections where I might’ve unknowingly removed one of those quirks along the way. Also, during this second pass, I’m more familiar with the characters, so I’ll be better able to catch any more subtle inconsistencies like the moment where Netty was ordering a latte in Chapter 3 even though she told her granddaughter she only drinks tea, not coffee, in Chapter 23, for example!’
‘Once I’ve finished the edit, I’ll produce two versions of the manuscript for my authors: one with all my edits tracked for review, and a second with just my comments left in for ease of reading. I’ll tidy up the style sheet and return all three documents (along with a love note – I mean, a super professional and not-fangirly-at-all email!) over to the author, who’ll then review everything and come back to me with any minor revisions in their own time if needed.
The very final step, of course, is to mark the book’s release date on my calendar and get my pre-order in!’
The Romance Spark is something we all experience as readers when we get lost in the pages of our favourite book, often from the very first page. For Bryony, editing a romance is not too dissimilar.
‘Sometimes, an email will arrive with so much personality and a really concise overview of the story that I’ll already have a good feeling about the author’s ability to write immersive romance, but the sample edit stage is where I get the first true glimpse of a manuscript. I always ask for an excerpt from the middle of a book for my samples, so if there’s sizzling tension between two characters and I feel like I’ve just walked into the room at a moment I really shouldn’t have (hehe), that’s always a great sign!’
Aspiring romance authors, listen up! Bryony kindly offered the most common issues that appear in a romance manuscript that you can watch out for in your own and how she supports an author through them!
‘A lack of interiority is a big one – if we can’t understand why a character’s saying one thing but doing the opposite, or if a scene reads more like a script with heavy dialogue and no internal monologue, for example, then it’s difficult for us to connect with the characters, and that makes it equally difficult to fall in love alongside them. Likewise, if the steamy scenes read like stage directions without any sensory detail or emotional callbacks, they’re unlikely to have much of an impact on readers.’
‘The good news is, these are usually just signs a scene needs more development, not a total rewrite, and I find the best way to give feedback in these cases is to comment on any ‘problem’ areas in-line with thoughtful questions that prompt the author to see things differently, hopefully inspiring fresh ideas. It’s really important to me to keep the tone of all my queries friendly and fair, because this is the author’s heart project at the end of the day, and since creativity is subjective by nature, there really are no rights or wrongs, only ways of better aligning with current audience/market expectations.’
Creating a romance to remember
From getting the chemistry and energy between those two characters just right, to working with introspective or chaotic narrative styles, Bryony’s prioritisation of working with an author’s vision is truly something to be admired, particularly when it comes to evaluating character chemistry.
‘I think to write truly great chemistry you have to be very skilled in your craft. Not only is so much of on-page chemistry unannounced, appearing in the energy of a scene rather than more explicitly in the narration, but it also relies heavily on the author’s ability to bring strong characters to life – making them fully rounded enough to feel real to the reader, so that we can understand their actions and their motivations and the reasons why they’d be a perfect match for the love interest, even if they don’t yet know it themselves. (And this is a difficult skill to master too, because at all times, your characters’ rationalisations still need to feel sensible. If the on-page attraction is off the scale, what’s stopping them from believing the love interest feels the same, realistically? Flimsy reasoning will only frustrate your reader – and not in the sexy slow-burn kind of way!)
Reactions also have to feel true to your characters. The golden retriever-type love interest is probably more likely to fumble his words and blush around his crush than the crisp-suited CEO who refuses to let his composure slip but for the clench of his hand or the involuntary tic of his jaw … or is he?’
Bryony’s role in helping tell the story examines the worldbuilding and timeline elements closely.
‘As I offer line editing, copy editing, and proofreading, I’m not usually involved in the stage of editing where worldbuilding is developed. However, it is my role to ensure consistency throughout a book, especially when it comes to worldbuilding terms and timelines. So, in that sense, I help authors integrate their worldbuilding by advising on whether fantasy terms should be stylised in lowercase or capitals, for example, or keeping track of the family tree so cousin Earnest from Chapter 5 doesn’t reappear again in Chapter 18 as cousin Edgar, and making detailed notes on the locations mentioned throughout the manuscript so I can question if the castle with four turrets came under attack somewhere between pages 145 and 189, because it suddenly only has three! I also love any opportunity to go off on a research tangent, so I particularly enjoy fact-checking historical fiction – even more so when I learn something new I wouldn’t have known otherwise!’
An author’s voice and narrative is at the heart of every romance book and every reader will have their preference that compels them to keep reader. When asked, this is how Bryony responded:
‘Personally, I love it when an author’s voice feels a bit less succinct than the shorter, sharper narrative style that’s become common in contemporary romance. I read a lot of manuscripts, so it’s refreshing to get drawn in immediately by a voice that isn’t afraid to max out a paragraph! That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy shorter, sharper narratives – I definitely do, and it takes enormous skill to give the reader just enough information to bring a scene to life without lingering on the less essential details – plus, it allows for a faster pace of storytelling, and that’s also incredibly useful. I’m naturally a bit of a lingerer, though, so I love an introspective voice, or a more chaotic style that runs off on regular tangents! In all honesty, it’s not easy to pinpoint what exactly makes a voice feel compelling when there are so many different narrative styles that hook me in!’
Being able to collaborate with an editor is one of the main considerations for an author when choosing who to share their manuscript with. Bryony treats every manuscript with exceptional care, adapting to an author’s voice and vision to create the best possible romance book.
‘Adapting to an author’s unique style is something I pride myself on – I think it’s not easy to achieve, and it comes with a lot of experience, but it’s one of the more crucial considerations when line and copy editing – and the reason why it’s so important to work with an experienced professional.
I prioritise clarity and voice over proscriptive style/grammar rules always, because if the plot and the characters are what keep readers moving forwards through a book, then the voice is the vessel they’re traveling on, and we don’t want to let any distractions interrupt that journey!’
Final Questions: Reflecting on a career as a romance editor
What is the most rewarding/your favourite part of what you do?
‘I grew up escaping into stacks of library books Matilda-style and read every single word of each book from cover to cover (yes, even the copyright pages!), so nothing feels more like wish fulfilment to me now than seeing my name in the acknowledgements pages of books I’ve edited – especially as it’s usually there alongside some incredibly kind words, like further proof the authors I work with are the best people! It’s become a bit of a ritual for me to buy physical copies of the books I’ve worked on, and last year I had to buy two new bookcases to fit them all on! Seeing them proudly displayed here in my office every day is deeply rewarding, and I’ll never take for granted all the wonderful people I’ve met thanks to this lifelong love of words!’
If you could give every aspiring romance writer one piece of advice, what would it be?
‘Don’t ever hold back out of fear. One of my favourite Sylvia Plath quotes is, ‘The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.’ I think that’s incredibly important to remember, especially in this era of social media where being visible often feels more important than the writing itself, and one session of scrolling can make you feel like you’re a hundred steps behind ‘everyone else’. The fear of ‘getting it wrong’ or not being ‘good enough’ can – and will – dull your creative spark if you let it. But that’s the thing: you don’t have to let it.’
Bryony, her portfolio, her rates and contact details can be found at her website and make sure to send her all the bookish love over on her Instagram.