So Your Book Just Got Edited…

[ursulav]

Enough people made vaguely interested noises in the editing process that I thought I’d talk about it a bit. It’s definitely the tedious, grim, discouraging bit of the process, but it occurs to me that you, O Prospective Author, may find it even more traumatic if nobody tells you what to expect!

First, two caveats. I’ve had…I think…twelve books

Comments

[archangelbeth]

Nifty!

Now I want an editor of my very own. I need to look into their flat rates. (Since I don't think I can get away with locking one in the basement when we haven't even finished finishing it yet, and it still smells rather of paint, and there's no bathroom.)

[singingnettle]

Erm...ahem...If it's not unforgivably market-y to say this...this is what I do for a living, and I do it pretty much the way Ursulav describes. Shoot me an e at my LJ addy if you want to talk about it

Thank you!

[archangelbeth]

At the moment, the funds that I was using to pay off the covers of what I've got right now... well, a friend needed $300 for car payments, so there went that. *sigh* So while I'm interested in price-quotes, I'm not necessarily flush enough to do much. At the moment. O:(

I'm also skittish in general, since the last time I had anyone "critiquing" my fiction, it was in a really awful "writing fiction" college class, and I didn't write anything for a year after. (Fanfic brought me back, woo!) So, y'know, wild author... no sudden moves... >_>

(Ironically, I've done some editing of my own as well -- though for tabletop RPG stuff, not fiction. That and beta-readers have let me limp along... *wry* )

*bookmarks this post for more reasons than one*

Oh, and there is a bathroom just up the stairs and to the left, with a shower and tub, even! O;D

Re: Thank you!

[singingnettle]

If you decide you want to pursue editing, my suggestion is that you start looking well in advance anyway. Good editors can be booked out (that is, committed to previously scheduled projects) as long as two years in advance. (Although personally I don't book out more than six months, because I think it's just silly to wait for two years to get your stuff edited. Having done this for 25 years, I'm pretty prosaic about this whole process.)

And yeah, it's kind of inherently hard to accept criticism on one's writing, I think. I've published (or rather, they've been published for me) several books and short stories and virtual reams of consumer and technical products and documentation and oh, all kinds of things, and the edits I get back tend to be pretty minimal...but I still wail (briefly and inside my head) over the injustice, the INJUSTICE, I tell you, of every one. :->

Re: Thank you!

[singingnettle]

Oh, I tried to message you back, but I'm getting a message that the post couldn't be sent because "the recipient has enabled the privacy options for their messages."

Here, you can email me at nettle at greennettle dot com instead, if you want.

Re: Thank you!

[archangelbeth]

Huh! (It's probably because I have a heck of a time remembering to look at my messages, so anything sent to me with a LJ message tends to not get seen... >_> I'm better with my DW ones!)

It's less INJUSTICE -- I've been edited and playtested on non-fiction -- and more... Well, it was a really awful class. *wry* Far less "here's some weaknesses to address" and more "I just didn't like this and nothing happens so you suck, have a C-."

Re: Thank you!

[singingnettle]

Wow, what perfectly useless feedback. I hope the people involved decided to become something that doesn't require useful communication, like politicians.

Re: Thank you!

[archangelbeth]

No, no, they were already teachers in UNH's English Department.

This is the teacher who boasted that Stephan King wanted to speak there, and they turned him down, because he was a genre hack.

[bluealoe]

If you don't mind me asking, what do you have to do to become an editor? I've discovered that I'm far more interested in editing stories than in writing them, and I've been editing friends' stories for a few years. But I can't quite figure out how to do it professionally...do you need an degree in English, or special training, or what?

[singingnettle]

Oh, god, that is such a broad question. But no, I don't at all mind your asking.

So I don't totally hijack this entry..how about if I put up a public post about it on my LJ? (Most of my posts are "friends only," but I'll leave that one public.) But I'm not going to have time to do it today, probably, because I have other things on fire.

I should just leave such a post at the top of my journal anyway, since people frequently ask me.

Gah, I started typing a short answer and realized I was about to post an essay anyway, so...yeah. Check my LJ in a day or two. I'll try to find some time to type something up tonight.

[bluealoe]

I would definitely appreciate any information you care to offer. Thanks so much!

[singingnettle]

Oh, and you will also find links to editors on the Editorial Freelancers site.

A lot of writers like the site "Editors and Predators" (or maybe it's the other way 'round; I forget) to check up on editors in whom they're interested, but my personal feeling is that it's too easy to for someone's feedback to get skewed, and I don't really like it as a resource. But that's just me.

[timprov]

Editors are a lot like auto mechanics: you're best off when someone else is paying them, and if you do get stuck paying for one yourself it's very important to do your due diligence beforehand. There are a lot of scammers out there, who not only charge a lot of money to not help books, but push authors to vanity presses that they then get kickbacks from.

You can get nearly as much out of a good writers' group, and they're free (or cheap). The downside is they're not the easiest thing to find.