diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 13fa502..e048249 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ The optional `ensured-targets` is a list of expected file paths after building a
 "standard" version sdist or wheel.
 
 The optional `skip-if-exists` is a list of paths whose presence would cause
-the build step to be skipped.
+the build step to be skipped. This option is ignored in `editable` mode.
+The `ensured-targets` will still be checked, if given.
 
 The optional `build-kwargs` is a set of keyword arguments to pass to the build
 function.
diff --git a/hatch_jupyter_builder/plugin.py b/hatch_jupyter_builder/plugin.py
index d5c05c7..9334f09 100644
--- a/hatch_jupyter_builder/plugin.py
+++ b/hatch_jupyter_builder/plugin.py
@@ -28,20 +28,21 @@ def initialize(self, version, build_data):
         ensured_targets = self.config.get("ensured-targets", [])
         skip_if_exists = self.config.get("skip-if-exists", [])
 
+        if version == "editable":
+            build_kwargs = editable_build_kwargs or build_kwargs
+
+        should_skip_build = False
         if not build_function:
-            return
+            should_skip_build = True
 
-        if skip_if_exists:
-            return should_skip(skip_if_exists)
+        elif skip_if_exists and version == "standard":
+            should_skip_build = should_skip(skip_if_exists)
 
         # Get build function and call it with normalized parameter names.
-        build_func = get_build_func(build_function)
-
-        if version == "editable":
-            build_kwargs = editable_build_kwargs or build_kwargs
-
-        build_kwargs = normalize_kwargs(build_kwargs)
-        build_func(self.target_name, version, **build_kwargs)
+        if not should_skip_build:
+            build_func = get_build_func(build_function)
+            build_kwargs = normalize_kwargs(build_kwargs)
+            build_func(self.target_name, version, **build_kwargs)
 
         # Ensure targets in distributable dists.
         if version == "standard":