This week’s Freelance Friday is by writer Angela Swanlund who has recently delved into the other side–Fiction Friday. So we get the best of both worlds in today’s post. You also met her in another post; Freelance Writer Gone Mad: The Trek into Novelhood.
This is a recount of things she’s been experiencing in getting her novel ready to publish.
Mistake One – Ego
Because I’ve been a web content writer for many years, I felt fairly sure my book wasn’t in need of all that much editing to begin with. A novel rarely gets written from start to finish without the author taking breaks. The longer the break – the greater the risk that you’ll deviate from the story line, or change the general feel and flow of the book when you begin again. You may or may not catch these issues yourself, even after a proof reading.
Mistake Two – Word Omission
I’m personally amazed at how much faster my brain thinks than my fingers type. I’m also amazed how my mind can add words that may be missing – and my eyes can completely skip over the omission. I’ve quite literally sat here and read over a sentence two or three times before it ever dawned on me it was missing a word – especially little words such as “and, the, at, etc.”
Mistake Three – Part Timers
Again, as a web content writer, I‘ve made several friends in the business. These people are all accredited, professional, trained writers. It seemed logical to me to call on them for proofing. Why pay an Editor when I have friends who quite likely have more experience anyway? The problem with this is, my friends all have “day jobs”. Even the ones who no longer write professionally have daily obligations. Unless someone can afford to devote several weeks to a novel, and focus exclusively on it – start to finish – you’re shooting yourself in the foot and wasting their time. They will have the same problem editing as you had writing, each time they take a break – the potential for drastic flow and story line alterations increase.
What Can An Editor Do For Me?
An Editor is paid to devote 100% of his/her time and attention to your book. Because they’re being compensated for their time – there’s little need for them to be “multi-tasking”. They will take on the project – start to finish – with as few breaks as possible. Because their eyes are “fresh” and their mind doesn’t already know the story – they’ll catch omitted words and grammatical errors. They’re trained to spot punctuation errors and will fix these as they encounter them. Punctuation errors are as annoying to a good Editor as white lint on a black shirt is to you – they can’t help but notice it.
Isn’t Editor Shopping Somewhat Like Lawyer Shopping?
Yes. Everyone wants to work, and everyone wants to be paid for their work. If you walk into practically any Lawyer’s office with retainer fee in hand – you’ll be told they think you have a case. The same is true of most Editors. Pay their fee, and it’s a rare day you’ll be told your book isn’t worth the effort of editing. The only way I personally know of to avoid this is by submitting your novel to several review panels, and getting it’s “worthiness” evaluated long before you ever approach an Editor.
Review Panels
These services range in price and accuracy greatly. Many writing communities offer public opinion arenas for free where you can get some pretty honest reviews. There’s also many paid services on the internet. Some critique based on a 3 chapter sample and a brief synopsis, some evaluate based on the first chapter… some want your entire manuscript. I’ve seen services as low as $40 for a single chapter evaluation – all the way up to $1,200 for a full manuscript evaluation. Personally, I believe the 3 chapter sample and synopsis of the story line is sufficient for a reliable review. If you can’t get your submission by a review panel – there’s no need to progress on to paying an Editor just yet.
Patti’s thoughts: As one of those part timers working on the book, I have to admit we simply didn’t have the time to devote to being editors. As a group we all decided that it’s best left to those who edit for a living. We did, however, get the book broken down into a scalable size; this thing was massive before we got a hold of it. So don’t be afraid to have writer friends give it a look and help you cut down to size, but when it comes down to getting serious, this is often best left to those who do this as a career and can devote the time and energy it needs.
And…the other writers and I have had a blast being a part of this. It not only gave us experience for when we want to enter the publishing realm, it’s also helped us hone our skills of writing and self editing.
I want to personally thank Angela for letting me a part of this.
For more information about Angela, visit her at Angela Swanlund.
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