The Editor Knows

Your Editor

This is your editor writing. I have a few issues I'd like to discuss with you. Please take notes; there will be a test.

I've been at this editing business for novels for fifteen years, for business purposes, over forty years. I'm good at what I do. With the explosion of self-publishing and those sites catering to such, my skills seem to be in jeopardy. Writers, anxious to get their amazing works on the internet and putting cash in their bank accounts, are bypassing the step of editing.

Most publishing houses, be they brick and mortar or e-print, use editors and copy editors or proofers for a very prudent reason. When you write anything, as the author, you have a tendency to overlook the mistakes you make. I know--I'm also an author. I can look at the same mistake four or five times and not see it.

To the point; if I, as your editor, tell you something you have written is in need of changing, whether it be grammatical or textual, I will give you the reason and hope you take the suggestion to heart. Please don't come back to me with, "Well, I've seen all kind of books that do the same."

That is the quickest way to ensure you don't get a second contract. I do a line edit for every manuscript I'm assigned. Every single line is read and considered. Don't 'dumb-down' your reader just because someone else does. It is the author's duty to write well and entertain.  

If you are not writing because you love and can't 'not' write, you're in the wrong business.

Sable Angel