Over the past couple of years, I’ve worked with a wider variety of editors than usual, and I’ve experienced different methods of editorial feedback.

Perhaps most common, especially for shorter work, is an email listing suggested changes or questions with references to key phrases or page numbers. Also common are notes embedded in the document, usually as comments and edits highlighted by track changes—this is my preference. I’ve also experienced variations on these methods, some of them unwieldy and time-consuming to address, others not so bad, just different from my preference.

If you’re an editor, how do you usually send your feedback? Is it different for short stories, novels, and other forms? Is it different for different writers?

If you’re a writer, what’s your preferred method of receiving feedback? Are there some that drive you up the wall?

And if you’re neither an editor nor a writer, how have you always imagined the feedback process?