Editor Needed

[Carl East]

I've recently finished my second in the series Hell's Gate and I had the good fortune to have a best selling author read the first two chapters. He told me that it had a promising start but that it needed to be edited by a Copy-Editor as in his words:

"But your writing level is fan-fiction. That is, below professional. It's not a matter of any one thing wrong, but a relative clumsiness of expression compared to professional level writing. If you have a friend who is sharp on style, he or she could go over this in the manner of a copy editor and do it a lot of good. Then you should be able to market it to an electronic publisher."

Now I happen to respect this individual a great deal and have read most of if not all his books. So I tend to take him seriously. The thing is I don't know any Copy-Editors, at least not professional ones so how does one go about getting a story edited?

Any suggestions?

Thx

Carl

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Just a Thought

I've recently finished my second in the series Hell's Gate and I had the good fortune to have a best selling author read the first two chapters. He told me that it had a promising start but that it needed to be edited by a Copy-Editor as in his words:

"But your writing level is fan-fiction. That is, below professional. It's not a matter of any one thing wrong, but a relative clumsiness of expression compared to professional level writing. If you have a friend who is sharp on style, he or she could go over this in the manner of a copy editor and do it a lot of good. Then you should be able to market it to an electronic publisher."

Now I happen to respect this individual a great deal and have read most of if not all his books. So I tend to take him seriously. The thing is I don't know any Copy-Editors, at least not professional ones so how does one go about getting a story edited?

Any suggestions?

Thx

Carl

Most writers acknowledge their editors at the beginning of their novel. I'm sure they can be contacted.

 

[sr71plt]

Most writers acknowledge their editors at the beginning of their novel. I'm sure they can be contacted.

Actually, most novelists don't mention their editors. They mention their agents more often. But more than half the time, they don't mention either one of them. You can go to the bookstore and flip pages and check it out.

 

[Carl East]

Actually, most novelists don't mention their editors. They mention their agents more often. But more than half the time, they don't mention either one of them. You can go to the bookstore and flip pages and check it out.

I would actually be prepared to pay a good editor if my story did get published, as well as mention them in the credits.

After replying to the Author I mentioned his advice was the following:

"Keep an eye out for a sharp grammarian, because there is a good market for erotica, and also for fantastic erotica. With improved style, you well might score. Maybe a retired English teacher, with a liberal mind, would be willing to go over it. Maybe you could make a deal to share the proceeds. Don't be too ready to set it aside. A writer has to be persistent."

All good advice unfortunately I know nobody like that, in fact the only editors I know of help out with stories here at Literotica. Are any of these people professionals? I don't know, if I did I would be PMing them and asking them directly.

The thing is 'Hell's Gate' is a good story, it's original and very erotic. But professional writers wouldn't say pussy, cock, cunt...etc etc they would write it with a little more finese. The reason it's writen like that in the first place was because I was doing it for Lit and that's the style that gets you a HOT or high scores. It was never meant to be turned into a novel, but what's that saying? "From little Acorns...

Anyone viewing the first part here at Lit would see it's been viewed over 24,000 times, it has to have something going for it. So if anyone out there can help me, please get in touch. If nothing ever comes from this story I'd like you all to know something important (at least me) about it.

When I lived in England I recieved an E-mail from an American woman saying how much she enjoyed my story, and she wrote it with such depth of feeling that I felt obliged to respond. From there we corresponded on a regular basis, finally progressing up to talking with head phones. We then took it further and decided she should come over and stay with me for a week. This all led to us getting married, and all because she liked my story. I now live in America and have never been happier.

So if nothing ever comes from this story, I have found more joy doing this tale than money or fame will ever provide.

Carl

 

[Lalah]

Reading a couple romance novels may be a good place to start to get familiar with the flowery descriptions of sex.

There are professional editors not tied to publishing houses, look in your phone book or maybe search online and you'll find some. It's going to cost you a bunch, but if you're really serious about this it may be the best way to go.

 

[sr71plt]

I would actually be prepared to pay a good editor if my story did get published, as well as mention them in the credits.

After replying to the Author I mentioned his advice was the following:

"Keep an eye out for a sharp grammarian, because there is a good market for erotica, and also for fantastic erotica. With improved style, you well might score. Maybe a retired English teacher, with a liberal mind, would be willing to go over it. Maybe you could make a deal to share the proceeds. Don't be too ready to set it aside. A writer has to be persistent."

All good advice unfortunately I know nobody like that, in fact the only editors I know of help out with stories here at Literotica. Are any of these people professionals? I don't know, if I did I would be PMing them and asking them directly.

The thing is 'Hell's Gate' is a good story, it's original and very erotic. But professional writers wouldn't say pussy, cock, cunt...etc etc they would write it with a little more finese. The reason it's writen like that in the first place was because I was doing it for Lit and that's the style that gets you a HOT or high scores. It was never meant to be turned into a novel, but what's that saying? "From little Acorns...

Anyone viewing the first part here at Lit would see it's been viewed over 24,000 times, it has to have something going for it. So if anyone out there can help me, please get in touch. If nothing ever comes from this story I'd like you all to know something important (at least me) about it.

When I lived in England I recieved an E-mail from an American woman saying how much she enjoyed my story, and she wrote it with such depth of feeling that I felt obliged to respond. From there we corresponded on a regular basis, finally progressing up to talking with head phones. We then took it further and decided she should come over and stay with me for a week. This all led to us getting married, and all because she liked my story. I now live in America and have never been happier.

So if nothing ever comes from this story, I have found more joy doing this tale than money or fame will ever provide.

Carl

I could tell you what are probably the best editorial services to go to (e.g., the Editorial Freelancers Association, the Consulting Editors Alliance, Book Editing Associates, or by posting to the job site www.copyeditor.com--but check credentials carefully on whoever answers your ad here), but if the work was anywhere close to the line between erotica and porn, I doubt they would help you.

If I wanted to pay a reasonably good editor for this sort of book, I think I'd look at some of the erotica publisher sites--and maybe purchase something from them and zero in on stories/books by those publishers that seem to be well edited. Then ask them directly if their in-house or freelance editors who edited these will take private clients. (Also, if one of them does and they like what they're editing, you may not have to look any farther for a publisher.)

You should be able to get a credentialed editor for about $20 per 2,000 words of copy. They'll advertise at a higher rate but generally will actually work at a lower rate than that if they are in a slack period. For an updated guide on what various services in the publishing world are going for, you can check out Writer Digest's compilation "How Much Should I Charge" by Lynn Wasnak at www.writersmarket.com.

But the Catch-22 here is that if you write a good enough story/novel for a publisher (even an erotica publisher) to select your work, you usually don't have to have it edited yourself at all. Publishers who can actually sell the work have their own editors (either in house or freelance) they themselves pay to edit the work to their specifications. I'd always first try to get it contracted without paying for my own edit.

I'd be happy to know where this good market (pays well) is for erotica, by the way.

 

[Lalah]

But the Catch-22 here is that if you write a good enough story/novel for a publisher (even an erotica publisher) to select your work, you usually don't have to have it edited yourself at all. Publishers who can actually sell the work have their own editors (either in house or freelance) they themselves pay to edit the work to their specifications. I'd always first try to get it contracted without paying for my own edit.

I'm not so sure about this. It seem to me publishers have become increasingly lazy in the editing department these latest years. I don't think they'd take an unedited manuscript unless they thought it's bestseller material.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm not so sure about this. It seem to me publishers have become increasingly lazy in the editing department these latest years. I don't think they'd take an unedited manuscript unless they thought it's bestseller material.

Sorry, I'm a professional book editor (and sometimes in-house book publisher managing editor). Publishers don't expect manuscripts to be edited by the author before submissions--in fact they don't want to hear that they have been. They want authors who can write well without editorial crutches and, if they are a mainstream publisher, they are going to have the book edited to their own specifications no matter what's happened to it before that. Sorry, but thems just the facts. What may "seem" to you doesn't match what actually happens in mainstream publishing. If you contract with a publisher who wants you to have it edited before giving it to them, run in the other direction. It's unlikely they are going to market the book either.

 

[Lalah]

Read some novels from the the last 5-7 years or so released by for example ROC, Tor, Del Rey or DAW. You'll see plenty of stuff in those books that should never have gotten past an editor.

They'll certainly work on anything they publish, but it doesn't look like they're doing any heavy duty editing anymore. We both know no one like having to re-write/re-edit a huge part of a book when the publishing process is started.

You're telling me they're going to take a manuscript that's based on a good idea but would need a complete rewrite and hand-holding by the editor and then spend their time working on it when they can just use one of the other manuscript that's already in publishable shape? Call me a cynic but I doubt this...

 

[sr71plt]

Read some novels from the the last 5-7 years or so released by for example ROC, Tor, Del Rey or DAW. You'll see plenty of stuff in those books that should never have gotten past an editor.

They'll certainly work on anything they publish, but it doesn't look like they're doing any heavy duty editing anymore. We both know no one like having to re-write/re-edit a huge part of a book when the publishing process is started.

You're telling me they're going to take a manuscript that's based on a good idea but would need a complete rewrite and hand-holding by the editor and then spend their time working on it when they can just use of the other manuscript that's already in publishable shape? Call me a cynic but I doubt this...

I didn't say all of the publishers edited the manuscripts well themselves, did I? The topic here was whether they expected the manuscript to be edited at the author's expense before they receive it. If they are a legitimate publisher they either don't or (unless you are Paris Hilton, and therefore marketable no matter what crap you wrote) they are saying "No, but if you can get it into shape you can submit again."

I'm also not saying not to pay your own editor to shape a book up before you submit it if you want to take a risk on it and can afford to lose a thousand dollars on that risk and realize that chances are thin for any manuscipt to be bought by a mainline publisher. I said not to tell the publisher you had it edited. (For a couple of reasons. One is repeated below--the other is that this is a signal to them that you consider the book already in shape and they may have a problem dealing with you--because, dollars to donuts, it's not in the shape they want it to be in--they have their own styles and designs and in-house rules that their entire line is going to follow.)

Most mainline publishers are shopping for long-term author prospects, not just a one-off good idea. Unless you are a marketable name in your own right, they don't need to look twice at an author who had to have someone else shape their idea into a book. They have their pick of well-written good-idea manuscripts. On the rare, rare, rare, rare occasion they consider the idea brilliant even when the manuscript sucks, they might say "Try bringing it back when it's in good form." But (A) that's really just a "no thank you at this point" and (B) they don't expect the author to come back and in 99% of the time the author won't be back.

And no publisher who is going to actually market the book thinks it has come to them in publishable form. They are going to have it edited and set up to their specifications and all of the anedotes of seeing mistakes in published books are just that--anecdotes that just show that there is no perfect copy and never ever has been.

You can come up with just about any position on anything if you are only "supposing" it.

 

[Lalah]

Read my post again, there is no supposing in it. You pretty much all agreed with it.

I'm not so sure about this. It seem to me publishers have become increasingly lazy in the editing department these latest years. I don't think they'd take an unedited manuscript unless they thought it's bestseller material.

--They've become lazy at their editing.

This is subjective, but you yourself admitted they don't always do a good job.

--I don't think they'd take an unedited manuscript unless they thought it's bestseller material.

I admit I probably used the wrong words. I didn't mean everyone should get their manuscript edited before sending it in. I meant the original poster should. From what he's been told by an author he respect his manuscript is in need of work he is not currently equipped to do himself. It should have read as "they wouldn't take a manuscript in heavy need of editing."

 

[sr71plt]

Read my post again, there is no supposing in it. You pretty much all agreed with it.



--They've become lazy at their editing.

This is subjective, but you yourself admitted they don't always do a good job.

--I don't think they'd take an unedited manuscript unless they thought it's bestseller material.

I admit I probably used the wrong words. I didn't mean everyone should get their manuscript edited before sending it in. I meant the original poster should. From what he's been told by an author he respect his manuscript is in need of work he is not currently equipped to do himself. It should have read as "they wouldn't take a manuscript in heavy need of editing."

OK, I give up. I hope Carl chooses wisely.