THE TROUBLE WITH PITCHES...

My scheduled guest, Lindsay Ashford, was unable to visit today. My apologies. We'll catch up with her later.  

I've only gotten serious about my writing the last few of years.  Don’t get me wrong, I've been a writer most of my business life and have written numerous articles for  newspapers, industry styled periodicals, radio copy, and developed seminars. And while I've told stories all my life, written down many of them, it’s only been a recent thing for me to consider fulfilling a dream of writing novels and having them published. 

I have several friends who are authors and who have been a big encouragement to me. They've taken an interest in my writing and try to help me improve. One asked me to give a brief blurb about one of my stories. I’m thinking, brief? You see, me and brief—especially in fiction, we have problems and we’re not exactly close friends. I thought, hey, I could do this. After all, I wrote several 90,000-word books so how hard can it be? I hunkered down and got to it.

Three days and seven drafts later I gave her what I thought was brief. 

Ahem, need I say it was in need of a major blood transfusion when I got it back? Then she added the word “concise”, sigh…I thought two pages was concise. She then gave me a helpful clue; think of the back cover of a book. 

Two days and twelve drafts later I hand her the blurb. 

Her response? Sia, just how big do you think a book cover is? 

Oh-oh. 

The next day and we won’t mention the draft count, I handed it back to her. Good word count, however…then came all this stuff about character goal, motivation, conflict, word choices, and yeah, it was still bleeding to death.

My friend is tough and has pushed me to be the best I can be and not to give up. She also thinks one should always practice pitches—who knows when you might meet an acquiring editor? I have a lot of respect for her. So, you know whom I went to when I was preparing a 50-word pitch for an editor. This time it only took me one day and four drafts—I had been practicing. I got it back, “close but not quite.” 

I growled—hey it impressed my dog.  I went for a walk, did the dishes, polished my nails and sat down, determined to get this thing right.

My final draft? 

“Wow, you got it!” Shock, followed by the wet noodle thing, and then elation.

Now, if an editor does more then just read the manuscript and says thanks but no thanks? 

I’ll tell you what it feels like to win a lottery. 

Monday Musings: How Important Is Having Editor?

This week Over Coffee will be about different aspects of our writing careers, whether it's procuring a good editor, investing in writing conferences, or building a online presence.

Most authors come into contact with editors. There are all sorts of editors from acquiring editors to copy editors. They have all have an important role in an author’s career and the quality of their writing. They work with non-fiction and fiction authors and these professionals edited everything from articles to books.

Although I know several editors and their roles in publishing a good book, there was much I didn’t know. So I researched. With so many opting for self-publishing, or working with small indie presses, the need for a good editing is vital for your finished product—your novel.

In a publishing house, the acquiring editor is the liaison between authors, staff, and readers. They act as project managers. Their job is to make sure your work the best it can be. They take into consideration the overall picture of your story.  They contemplate your genre, writing style, and the demands of the market. All this involves a lot of ripping, tearing, and rebuilding of the manuscript. It’s not an easy process for authors or editors.

Once you sign your contract, the editor will read the whole manuscript. These editors read for story structure and may come back with a list of changes of necessary for your manuscript. This may be commenting on your setting, characters, conflict, pacing, plot, and word choices. You, the author, then revise your story according to these comments. It may take several revisions before both you and the editor come to agreement. Once all that is worked out the manuscript moves to another editor.

The copy editor is the one we usually think of when we think editor. Copy editors get the manuscript and read or *proof* it for grammar and punctuation, word usage, spelling and typos. They also check for consistent formatting of chapter headings, and more. This process may take more than one pass to get everything correct. Then it’s sent back to the author to do a final edit. Meanwhile THE editor finalizes all the pieces farmed out to various staff members (the design editors, the copywriters who might write the back cover blurb, the publicity department) approves it and now it’s off for publication.

There are a lot of extra steps in this simplified telling. I just hit the high points. One thing I have learned, not all editors are created equal. I found this out by letting a good friend who was a newspaper editor read one of my first stories. She’s very good at what she does for newspaper editing but it’s a different form of editing. Suffice to say, if ever I decide to self publish, I will be utilizing a fiction editor who has a good copyeditor around, or she can wear both hats well and I’ll be asking for references.

No wonder so many authors gush over their editor in their acknowledgements. A good Fiction Editor is worth having. They make the difference between an okay story and a great story.

• As an author, what have been your experiences with editors? 
• Would you put out a book without one?