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Editor recommendations

Justforthefun

Justforthefun

Literotica Guru
Joined
Jun 13, 2012
Posts
1,336
I have just submitted my first story to the site. In my excitement to get the story out there I opted not to use an editor and immediately regretted that action. Picking from the list of editors has been a little overwhelming though. Even after eliminating those that show poor grammer and/or spelling in their quotes, the list is still quite long.

So, I am interested in recommendations of editors that specializes in gay or bisexual male stories for my future submissions. Thanks.
 
When you've actually written them, post a request here on the individual stories, giving wordage and genre. This is the most likely way of getting editorial help on the Web site. I occasionally do one-shot stories--and specialize in GM--but my list is full for ongoing stories from writers here.
 
Justforthefun said:
I have just submitted my first story to the site. In my excitement to get the story out there I opted not to use an editor and immediately regretted that action. Picking from the list of editors has been a little overwhelming though. Even after eliminating those that show poor grammer and/or spelling in their quotes, the list is still quite long.

So, I am interested in recommendations of editors that specializes in gay or bisexual male stories for my future submissions. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I spent an hour reviewing editors for a short story I planned to submit to literotica, and finally decided to query a number of them. Out of the 5,000+ volunteer editors here (556 pages with ten editors per page) I chose six I thought might be good fits. Of those six only one responded and that response did not give me warm fuzzies as to the editor's interest or competence.

I realize this is a volunteer program, and that, most likely, the volunteers have day jobs, too. But that does not excuse ignoring a message. Courtesy demands a response even if it is, "Not interested.

I don't make a living from writing, but I have been published and been paid for my efforts. The professional editors, publishers, and agents I've contacted over the years have all been courteous enough to respond to queries. Disapointment is part of writing for publication, but the disapointment should be the rejection of material, not the rejection of common courtesy and manners.

So, I can empathize with your dilema. I get the impression the "editors" here enjoy their volunteer postions more when they have the opportunity to pretend to be better than the rest of us.

But, I'm just a grumpy whiny old man, so what do I know? Guess I'll just follow the example set by the volunteer staff.
 
Welcome to the legion of Lit. writers who have been shafted by the broken VE system here. The best way to find someone to edit here is to post directly to this forum (giving genre and wordage) and/or contacting those who have posted to the monthly thread on the sticky at the top of this forum.

And, yes, if you have someone who is hard to get to communicate with you from the get go, you don't want them as an editor.

The best you can count on here is a second pair of eyes reader--which is at least helpful. And the best bet on finding someone half capable of editing is to check the stories they have in the story file here. If they write in the genre of your story, that's also a good sign.
 
Duckinacup said:
I spent an hour reviewing editors for a short story I planned to submit to literotica, and finally decided to query a number of them. Out of the 5,000+ volunteer editors here (556 pages with ten editors per page) I chose six I thought might be good fits. Of those six only one responded and that response did not give me warm fuzzies as to the editor's interest or competence.

I realize this is a volunteer program, and that, most likely, the volunteers have day jobs, too. But that does not excuse ignoring a message. Courtesy demands a response even if it is, "Not interested.

I don't make a living from writing, but I have been published and been paid for my efforts. The professional editors, publishers, and agents I've contacted over the years have all been courteous enough to respond to queries. Disapointment is part of writing for publication, but the disapointment should be the rejection of material, not the rejection of common courtesy and manners.

So, I can empathize with your dilema. I get the impression the "editors" here enjoy their volunteer postions more when they have the opportunity to pretend to be better than the rest of us.

But, I'm just a grumpy whiny old man, so what do I know? Guess I'll just follow the example set by the volunteer staff.
Click to expand...

Some do just as you say.
 
Duckinacup said:
I spent an hour reviewing editors for a short story I planned to submit to literotica, and finally decided to query a number of them. Out of the 5,000+ volunteer editors here (556 pages with ten editors per page) I chose six I thought might be good fits. Of those six only one responded and that response did not give me warm fuzzies as to the editor's interest or competence.

I realize this is a volunteer program, and that, most likely, the volunteers have day jobs, too. But that does not excuse ignoring a message. Courtesy demands a response even if it is, "Not interested.

I don't make a living from writing, but I have been published and been paid for my efforts. The professional editors, publishers, and agents I've contacted over the years have all been courteous enough to respond to queries. Disapointment is part of writing for publication, but the disapointment should be the rejection of material, not the rejection of common courtesy and manners.

So, I can empathize with your dilema. I get the impression the "editors" here enjoy their volunteer postions more when they have the opportunity to pretend to be better than the rest of us.

But, I'm just a grumpy whiny old man, so what do I know? Guess I'll just follow the example set by the volunteer staff.
Click to expand...

You're wrong - Nobody owes you a reply. Professionals are paid for their time - folks on here donate it - you have no rights here. Also don't you sense a certain irony in your coming on here blasting everyone on the VE list on the basis of your experience cold calling five people? I bet that hour you spent painstakingly searching for a suitable editor didn't include five minutes checking through this forum for best practice regarding getting one.

I'm glad I saw this little missive. If you'd emailed me I'd have probably offered to edit your piece - Pilot is right about VE=Glorified proofreader - in my case anyway, but at least I'd have saved you the embarrassment of submitting a lexicon of spelling errors.

So you've been published and paid have you? My claim to fame is that I'm the guy who placed Russell's teapot. We should have lunch sometime :)
 
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Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I had never even looked at these forums before posting my work. I will definitely make use of it for future stories. I was a little too excited about just getting the first story out there, even though I knew it should have been run through an editor. Now that I have "popped the cherry" I won't make that mistake again.

I was a little overwhelmed this morning when I saw that my work had been viewed nearly 9,000 times in 24 hours! The feedback I received was positive and helpful. I'm looking forward to writing more.
 
Justforthefun said:
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I had never even looked at these forums before posting my work. I will definitely make use of it for future stories. I was a little too excited about just getting the first story out there, even though I knew it should have been run through an editor. Now that I have "popped the cherry" I won't make that mistake again.

I was a little overwhelmed this morning when I saw that my work had been viewed nearly 9,000 times in 24 hours! The feedback I received was positive and helpful. I'm looking forward to writing more.
Click to expand...

Next time you have something to post and you want an editor you can send it to me if you like. I don't write Gay stories, but I don't have a problem with editing them - You can check one out called All Creatures, which I helped polish up, and of course my own stories are there for you to read. I use punctuation and everything.

Hardly needs saying that the comments below weren't made with you in mind.
 
Thanks for the offer, Bert_Fegg. I'll hold you to that when I finish my next story.

I was actually thinking that having an editor with no interest in writing / reading (for pleasure) Gay stories might have its advantages. A detachment from that part might bring other problems to light a little easier.
 
Justforthefun said:
I was actually thinking that having an editor with no interest in writing / reading (for pleasure) Gay stories might have its advantages. A detachment from that part might bring other problems to light a little easier.
Click to expand...

But why would you find such an editor through Literotica, a writing/reading site?
 
sr71plt said:
But why would you find such an editor through Literotica, a writing/reading site?
Click to expand...

Think about it. There are some editors who don't write and who don't read for pleasure when they're editing.
 
sr71plt said:
But why would you find such an editor through Literotica, a writing/reading site?
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to imply that the editor in question wouldn't also be a reader / writer of erotica, just that particular genre. Things such as pace, flow and substance outside sex scenes might be easier to critique by someone not distracted by the "naughty bits".
 
Justforthefun said:
Thanks for the offer, Bert_Fegg. I'll hold you to that when I finish my next story.

I was actually thinking that having an editor with no interest in writing / reading (for pleasure) Gay stories might have its advantages. A detachment from that part might bring other problems to light a little easier.
Click to expand...

Might be an idea to enable PM's in the meantime. Also there's no right or wrong way to go about selecting an editor on here - even if some ways work better than others - You have to bear in mind that nobody on here is ever going to be on the NYT bestsellers list, no matter how much of their shit is on Smashwords :) People are on here to have fun doing what they enjoy - anyone who was that good at it would be too busy with book signing tours to post here.
 
Justforthefun said:
I didn't mean to imply that the editor in question wouldn't also be a reader / writer of erotica, just that particular genre. Things such as pace, flow and substance outside sex scenes might be easier to critique by someone not distracted by the "naughty bits".
Click to expand...

Ah, that clarifies it. Thanks.
 
Bert_Fegg said:
Might be an idea to enable PM's in the meantime. Also there's no right or wrong way to go about selecting an editor on here - even if some ways work better than others - You have to bear in mind that nobody on here is ever going to be on the NYT bestsellers list, no matter how much of their shit is on Smashwords :) People are on here to have fun doing what they enjoy - anyone who was that good at it would be too busy with book signing tours to post here.
Click to expand...

Are you implying I haven't edited anything that was on the NYT bestsellers list? (because I have--as a few on the forum know, because they've seen the list of mainstream books I've edited). :D

He's looking for an editor, not a writer.
 
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sr71plt said:
Are you implying I haven't edited anything that was on the NYT bestsellers list? (because I have--as a few on the forum know, because they'll seen the list of mainstream books I've edited). :D

He's looking for an editor, not a writer.
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Whatever - Anyone who was that good at it would be too busy earning money at it to do it for free on here - And I hate to sound like captain pedantic but you might want to edit your comment to read "They'll have seen &c. &c."
 
Bert_Fegg said:
Whatever - Anyone who was that good at it would be too busy earning money at it to do it for free on here - And I hate to sound like captain pedantic but you might want to edit your comment to read "They'll have seen &c. &c."
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I have made a big chunk of money from it and I do it for free here on occasion (but I wouldn't be associated with the VE program on a bet). So, there you go on those sweeping assumptions.

And no, changing the "they'll" to "they've" is the best fix (which I've done now). I've consistently posted here that no one can edit him/herself--and that includes me.
 
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sr71plt said:
I have made a big chunk of money from it and I do it for free here on occasion (but I wouldn't be associated with the VE program on a bet). So, there you go on those sweeping assumptions.

And no, changing the "they'll" to "they've" is the best fix (which I've done now). I've consistently posted here that no one can edit him/herself--and that includes me.
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I don't want to get into any kind of discussion about this, but this is the internet - anyone can make any claim they like - since I have no knowledge of anything you may have edited you can hardly criticise me for my scepticism. On the other hand does either of us really care what the other thinks? I'd hope not - again this is the internet :)
 
Yes, most can just self-declare on the Internet. In my case I am vetted with the moderators of this forum--and a few other posters know who I really am and have had access to my listing of mainstream books edited--as well as to my multiple degrees in editing and publishing. You can check with the moderator still active with this part of the forum, or you can remain skeptical, as you wish. In neither case does it bother me. My credentials are what they are no matter what you choose to think.

You could also vet with the moderator yourself if you actually have editing credentials. This is why I keep apart from the VE program. There's no vetting. It's purely a self-declaration program, and I'm willing to bet that most of those who are declaring aren't any more knowledgeable about editing than those asking for the edit. That said, as I've already posted, another set of eyes is added value right there. And what the two can do together is usually good enough for posting to Literotica.
 
Bert_Fegg said:
I don't want to get into any kind of discussion about this, but this is the internet - anyone can make any claim they like - since I have no knowledge of anything you may have edited you can hardly criticise me for my scepticism. On the other hand does either of us really care what the other thinks? I'd hope not - again this is the internet :)
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Hey Bert. Haven't seen you around for a while. Glad to see you. :)

Anyone can claim to be vetted as an editor on Lit. It doesn't mean much when they're a jackass to 99% of Lit authors and editors.

:rose:
 
Oh, surely I'm only a jackass to the 32 percent of the Lady V with a functional brain. :D

Have you vetted your editorial credentials to the forum moderator, V? (didn't think so. Might explain to all the writers looking for editorial help here why you're so defensive about the VE program.)
 
sr71plt said:
Oh, surely I'm only a jackass to the 32 percent of the Lady V with a functional brain. :D

Have you vetted your editorial credentials to the forum moderator, V? (didn't think so. Might explain why you're so defensive about the VE program.
Click to expand...

Why would I want Lynn to vet me? She's the forum moderator, not the owner who is also the story site editor. You know, the owner/editor whom you constantly run down on the threads. If I was going to get vetted, I would go through Laurel.

I've edited 40+ stories on Lit and an erotica novel. I defend the VE program because of writers like you who constantly complain that it sucks and is entirely broken. It isn't "broken." It just isn't perfect, and probably never will be because this is a free site. As I've mentioned repeatedly, I had to disable my VE profile because I couldn't handle all the requests from authors. So, no, the VE program isn't broken. It just isn't perfect.
 
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