I hired a sensitivity reader to edit my manuscript, and I’m grateful for their suggestions.
I was prepared for a harsh critique after reading an article from another author who said sensitivity readers “corrupt literature” and they “sullied” her memoir to “suit their agenda.” My editor had also warned me to brace myself, that their words may make me feel as though I was insensitive and obtuse.
But I went ahead. This is not about me and my feelings, and it’s not just about one issue. Of Kevin Anderson & Associates 32 “targeted categories,” my book considers more than a dozen: multiple cultural identities; mental health issues including self-harm; bias, colourism, racism, ageism; LGTBQIA; grief/trauma; inappropriate touch; refugees/asylum seekers; and transgender, nonbinary, and two spirit identity.
Currently the publishing industry uses terms like “sensitivity reader,” “authenticity reader,” “targeted expert reader,” and “cultural accuracy reader” interchangeably to describe the people who do this important work. KAA uses “cultural accuracy editor” to describe their role.
KAA let me know that “a cultural accuracy editor strives to provide authors and their editors with generous, helpful, reasoned comments based on their knowledge of craft as well as their personal, professional, academic, and/or trained expertise in the areas they are tasked to look at. However, the onus is on the author to do the work to understand their comments—that is, it is their job to be humble and sit in the position of student… a sensitivity review is not an attack or a roast.”
It never felt like a roast to me. I found their comments balanced, nuanced, informative and helpful. I will incorporate all the changes—and I’m happy to say there were less than a dozen to consider.
As Juno Dawson pointed out in her 2022 Opinion piece on this topic in The Guardian, “I’d urge authors to welcome them into their process. After all, don’t we all want to release our book into the world safe in the knowledge it’s as rigorously edited as it can be?”
Words matter. Let’s choose them carefully.