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How long do you give an editor?

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SFCTaleSpinner

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Feb 23, 2014
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I seem to have lost contact with my editor. It's been nearly 4 weeks since I sent her my story. I sent her an email 3 days ago asking (politely) for a progress report, but I haven't heard anything back.

How long should I wait before I think about going elsewhere for editing, or just publishing the story as-is?

I hate to think that she's actually gone to the trouble to edit my story, only for all that effort to be wasted because I published without waiting for her response.
 
If an editor doesn't answer to your email, it's time to move on.
 
In addition, work out estimated time for everything up front and if the editor doesn't meet those or message about why not, don't give it too long before considering that a dead link and moving on.
 
SFCTaleSpinner said:
I seem to have lost contact with my editor. It's been nearly 4 weeks since I sent her my story. I sent her an email 3 days ago asking (politely) for a progress report, but I haven't heard anything back.

How long should I wait before I think about going elsewhere for editing, or just publishing the story as-is?

I hate to think that she's actually gone to the trouble to edit my story, only for all that effort to be wasted because I published without waiting for her response.
Click to expand...

I've had that experience. I emailed one and didn't hear back for 3 days, because I had a rejection. So I emailed another, but put my story in anyway because I was confident it would be ok. (I panicked)

Then I heard back from the second one! And I had put my story in, but she wasn't fussed about it at all! I'm now working with her on other stuff...
 
This site is nothing but flakes that I can tell, if you don't hear from the "editor", you never will, you probably won't find anyone else either so crack open that thesaurus.
 
I think "this site is nothing but flakes" is a bit harsh. Some really do want to help but don't realize what it takes. But yes, if the editor can't complete the work as promised they should stay at least contact the author and let them know. Personally, I have a 12/12/24/72 schedule that I work with. 12 hours or less to respond to a request from an author wanting me to edit. When sent to me, 12 hours or less to notify author that I do in fact have the submission and will look at it within 24 hours or less. And finally 72 or less to get the finished product back to the author. Which is basically a 5 day plan of action from start to finish. So far the longest I have taken from request to finished product has been 36 hours.
 
I've tried to get an editor; I've reached out to two dozen "volunteer editors" and only received one response, she said she was too busy. I even reached out to Lit and said "What's the deal?" and their response was "Try some others."
 
Duleigh said:
I've tried to get an editor; I've reached out to two dozen "volunteer editors" and only received one response, she said she was too busy. I even reached out to Lit and said "What's the deal?" and their response was "Try some others."
Click to expand...
Try reaching out to kenjisato, a volunteer editor, with your request. He responds promptly and does a good job of correcting my grammatical errors. Makes my work better for his efforts. He does the grammar, punctuation, and similar clean up. I've not asked for input on overall thematic assessments. He had done short and long works for me and gets them back very quickly - two to three days at most.
 
ImmanuelMal said:
This site is nothing but flakes that I can tell, if you don't hear from the "editor", you never will, you probably won't find anyone else either so crack open that thesaurus.
Click to expand...
I know of at least one, who responds and is attentive to editing my work: kenjisato
 
kenjisato is the workhorse for sure. Love the guy; can't get enough.

I'm trying to live up to his example myself, but I suspect I get a little more involved than he does. I still don't make plot/character suggestions unless specifically asked to, but I do drop comments when there seem to be internal contradictions or confusing omissions. To me, the lines between pacing, flow, and internal consistency are very blurry. Grammar is the wild card. It can disrupt basically everything, or just be a free-floating nettle.

Even assuming you find a reliable editor, the major issue is that turnaround estimates are worthless until the editor actually starts looking at the piece. I admit as much up-front when I reply to a writer. I've had 5k word stories that needed a lot of attention, and others of the same length that I could turn around in an evening.
 
I did a fair amount of editing on here for a bit. and i understand the timeframe question- but issues went and go- both ways. You need to work out up front what you are seeking from an editor and at least ask about an expected timeframe. Remembering a longer story will take longer. There are lots of "types" of edits, and they run from a full deep edit, to a simple "does this read ok edit." Have an idea of what you are seeking, and understand that a Volunteer program means that the people editing are still living real life. HOWEVER-- having said that, if you contact your editor a few times and they don't reply, I'd say that's an indicator to consider other options. MW
 
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Two editors are "editing" my story right now. Both promised to help me but after sending them the story I have had no response to my mails. I have had dozens of same kind of experiences. Maybe they enjoy doing that or does not understand what kind of a job it is. Once one responded me that he couldn't do the editing with his phone so he has to wait untill he is on his computer. Never heard since. How someone would even think editing a story with a phone?

I think I just start to publish without editing or stop publishing. It takes more effort to play with those editors than write a story. I think that the editor should tell if he or she can not do it in a two weeks period. If that is okay for the writer they can proceed but then both knows what is or isn't going on. Total ignorance to the writers messages or telling something that is not true is wasting the writers time.
 
rampe said:
Two editors are "editing" my story right now. Both promised to help me but after sending them the story I have had no response to my mails. I have had dozens of same kind of experiences. Maybe they enjoy doing that or does not understand what kind of a job it is. Once one responded me that he couldn't do the editing with his phone so he has to wait untill he is on his computer. Never heard since. How someone would even think editing a story with a phone?
Click to expand...
Hey! At least you got some kind of response. I asked over two dozen "volunteer editors" for a simple look at my work and received only one answer and that was to tell me that she was too busy to take a look and we proceeded to swap emails for a while which took more time away from her projects (that she listed) than a quick look at my story would have taken. The rest? Crickets. So, I try to post the best that I've got and take my lumps.
 
I don't know if it is good to have an answer and because of that wait for a month. I have confronted the other side too. No one answers. That is not nice feeling also. Maybe the best negative answer is that one doesn't have. Then you can go on.
 
They do need to revamp the VE program no doubt.. there needs to be a database type thing of editors that actually edit and people just saying send me your story or for names not active anymore
 
MarieWriter said:
They do need to revamp the VE program no doubt.. there needs to be a database type thing of editors that actually edit and people just saying send me your story or for names not active anymore
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I totally agree.
It's crazy hard to find an editor here, and to be honest if they don't want to do edit, why still be on this page? It only confuse writers (like myself) who wait for answer for weeks. :(
 
MarieWriter said:
They do need to revamp the VE program no doubt.. there needs to be a database type thing of editors that actually edit and people just saying send me your story or for names not active anymore
Click to expand...
TOTALLY agree! I was just looking for a beta reader and contacted dozens of "editors" and received only one answer, and that person was too busy

I suggest that whoever can send a quick email to all VEs (Volunteer Editors) and ask for a response to the question, do you wish to continue? then purge the list of anyone who doesn't respond.
 
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