C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

07/19/2010 • 1:41 PM 7

How Editing Works

Many publishing companies (as recently discussed) are suffering from a shortage of editing. The vast majority of Print on Demand (POD) books just look awful. It matters. If a book looks bad, you won’t be taken seriously.

I once met an enterprising author selling his books at the mall. He had the right idea in many ways, but as I scanned the page, things went off the rails. The layout was crammed. The print job was spotty. The cover was sub-par. He had become his own publisher, but the product looked shabby. He needed an advisor and an editor to bring the manuscript up past the status of “hobby.”

Manuscripts are full of mistakes. You’re human. It’s normal. When you send your manuscript to a professional editor, there are things we look for. Grammar and spelling? Sure. But it goes beyond spellcheck. What about pacing? Are you writing too little here? Are you overwriting there? Are you explaining too much? Does the sequence of events make sense to anyone but you? Do you have three characters who could be one? Sometimes dialogue needs to be punched up and bad habits of passive voice identified. Niggles emerge through the editing process that need solving.

So what does this mean to you, the writer? Perhaps, most important, know that your best writing is your rewriting. When you type “The End” on your first draft, go ahead and pop your champagne cork. Then get back to work and look for problems. Revise. Get it as clean as you can.

Consider sending it to a professional editor first. It’s hard enough getting your work published. Give your manuscript its best chance.

Next: nope! You’re not done. Your editor will give you a lot of suggestions. You may or may not take all the suggestions, but you will have to go through them. Now you rewrite, correct, juggle, stomp your feet and revise some more.

Done? Not yet. Now you share the manuscript with your chosen readers. I’d suggest three to five proofreaders to catch the last of the typos. You don’t want haters. You want someone who knows that this street doesn’t hook up with that street. You want someone who reads slowly and notices things, like your heroine started out three inches shorter or the villain’s eye color changed to blue and then back to brown. You want helpful, book-loving people.

Get their comments and corrections. Do your final polish as quickly as you can because you’re aging and this process takes a long time. You’ve got to ship it out there in the world. Submit, get rejected and resubmit. Submit simultaneously, five manuscripts at a time at least.

Then, if you’re very lucky, an agent or editor will pick it up and be captivated by your story. If you’re very lucky indeed, they’ll make you an offer for publication* and you’ll get to go through the editing process again (though we hope it will be far less traumatic this time!)

*BONUS TIP:

Don’t get too excited about your advance. For a first novel, the advance is best described as “piddling.”

That cash should all go to the promotion of your book, anyway.

Editing Tips Part 1: Story bible (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: How to tell when your manuscript is ready (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: Five editing tricks and tips (plus editing marks) (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: Use a spill file as you edit (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: How I edit (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Editors, writing tips, editing, editors, manuscript submission

07/13/2010 • 9:00 AM 0

Five Tips on Finding an Agent or Editor (and get published.)

1. Go to the bookstore.

2. Find books like your book.

3. Check the acknowledgements and the author’s website to identify their house, editors and agent.

4. Now you have some idea where to submit and a nice opening to your query letter. “I’m submitting to you because your association with of X’s excellent book…”

5. Check the agent’s website and make sure you confine yourself to their requested parameters for submissions.

BONUS:

Try to get a sense from their voice on their site. Does this person sound like someone you could marry? Yes. It’s that serious.

Filed under: agents, agents, editors, get published

06/14/2010 • 11:45 AM 0

How to talk to an Editor (pleasantly)

Rule #1: Most important in this or any business: Be the pleasant solution, not the grumpy problem.

Scenario:

You write a piece for a magazine. They edit it (gently I hope) and before they send it off to the printer, they send you a dummy in the form of a pdf file. Depending on the mag, they may also require a fact check and copies of all your notes etc.,…

Though the editor has gone over the story and it looks like the magazine page, go over it carefully. Ultimately, my name’s on the piece, so I have to be happy with it. However, this is not the time for you to make major changes. It was supposed to be close to perfect when you sent it in. There will be a few notes here and there, sometimes so many you’d think the copy editor went at their keyboard with oven mitts. Usually it’ll be details.

Correct the mistakes. How you talk to the editor is based on what relationship you’ve built up over time. I have an editor I’ve worked with for a few years now and, like many jobs I’ve had, I sometimes suspect I don’t get fired because I amuse them. Be yourself, only better. Don’t assume familiarity too quickly, but build the relationship so you get assignments. Do a great job so you earn the next job, too, of course.

I just got a pdf tonight for a health mag I write for. One of my precious/funny anecdotes had been deleted from the story. I don’t decry the loss because that’s an editorial choice I can live with. The length often gets cut not because of the content but because magazine and newspaper content is just the stuff they’re trying to fit between the ads. (In newspapers, they crassly call it “The News Hole” which also gives you an insight into the perceived value of reporters’ hard work.)

Below is a copy of what I’d consider typical of a reply to an editor (I know really well) with a few things I want changed in the pdf. Sometimes it’s a lot more but this editor edits clean so my suggestions are minor.

See? Freelancing can be fun.

EXAMPLE:

My Queen,

Looks good. Just a couple of quibbles:

1. If you have the space, MSG is another migraine trigger that would be good to mention. Alert the populace!

2. Under For the joy of it, the phrase “hanging around” is used too close together. How about: “As long as we’ve been on the planet…”

3. The paragraph starting “Poke an animal with a stick” appears to have a double indent making it non-uniform and so it is deviant and must be crushed…sorry, my upbringing in a Catholic girl’s school is showing.

Okay, that’s three quibbles, but that’ll do. Any other objection I have is microscopic and really revolves around my sublimated resentments about not yet winning the lottery, not controlling my world and…I’ve said too much…back to writing about the existential horror of it all. Did I mention that we’re all just genetically programmed meat machines awaiting the heat death of the universe? Probably. I put it on outgoing my voice mail message, too.*

Chazz

The Impossible

BONUS:

*I know this editor well and joking around a lot opened the door to writing a couple of humor pieces for the mag, as well. Early on? Much more formal, short, to the point and business-like…because, hey man, whether you like it or not, this is a business.