When is it polite to contact your editor?

[driphoney]

I recently made contact with an editor and he/she replied back almost immediately, which was so sweet. So, now I've sent my stuff off for a quick look-see just to see if they might be interested. I haven't heard back. This is not for actual editing, just to agree to edit. Since I'm new at this I fear I sent it off to cyber-space and maybe not to him/her. I replied directly back to the e-mail sent to me.

Any advice? How long is it polite to wait? I don't want to be a pest, but need to know if he/she got it.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

I recently made contact with an editor and he/she replied back almost immediately, which was so sweet. So, now I've sent my stuff off for a quick look-see just to see if they might be interested. I haven't heard back. This is not for actual editing, just to agree to edit. Since I'm new at this I fear I sent it off to cyber-space and maybe not to him/her. I replied directly back to the e-mail sent to me.

Any advice? How long is it polite to wait? I don't want to be a pest, but need to know if he/she got it.

Thanks.

I can share my experience. Last week I edited a story (non-Literotica), added some developmental ideas, and shot it back to the author. When there was no response after two days, I sent a follow-up to ensure he'd received it. He replied that he had and thanked me for my help; he'd merely been really busy at work. So, in my view a follow-up to ensure receipt is no harm, no foul. Of course, you may catch someone in a snippy mood...

 

[sr71plt]

Whenever I send an editorial attachment, I request confirmation of receipt and follow up within a couple of days if I don't get a response. (I have had clients "send" me material before that they thought I was working on but that I never received). Seems no harm for you to request confirmation of receipt.

 

[driphoney]

Thanks

I'm on day three. My nerves are shot, a Margarita is looking really good right now. Why do we get so attached to a bit of writing?

Oh, and as I've been trolling, you two are just about my favorite posters. I love reading your comments, though I often wonder why you sometimes bother! And I love your stories, too! How do you turn me on even when your subject is not my thing? Hmmmm..... good writing.

Thanks so much for the quick reply.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm on day three. My nerves are shot, a Margarita is looking really good right now. Why do we get so attached to a bit of writing?

Oh, and as I've been trolling, you two are just about my favorite posters. I love reading your comments, though I often wonder why you sometimes bother! And I love your stories, too! How do you turn me on even when your subject is not my thing? Hmmmm..... good writing.

Thanks so much for the quick reply.

Thanks for the compliment. You certainly don't need to be chewing your nails over whether the material was received or not (so go ahead and clear that up by e-mail). It will probably take more time to receive and evaluation, though.

 

[Guest]

I'm on day three. My nerves are shot, a Margarita is looking really good right now. Why do we get so attached to a bit of writing?

Oh, and as I've been trolling, you two are just about my favorite posters. I love reading your comments, though I often wonder why you sometimes bother! And I love your stories, too! How do you turn me on even when your subject is not my thing? Hmmmm..... good writing.

Thanks so much for the quick reply.

You're welcome, and thanks in turn for the kind words.

As to why your nerves are shot... welcome to the club. My opinion is that, more than any form of writing except perhaps poetry, fiction is an expression of the author him/herself. It's hard to separate criticism of the work from criticism of self.

But it does get easier with time.

 

[driphoney]

Got it sent

I expect to have to wait whenever an editor takes me on. It won't be pleasant, but what option is there? I'm also waiting for promised feedback from a Lit author and she's had me hanging on the end of a line for a couple of weeks with occasional (unsolicited) e-mail promises to get back to me! Her opinion is valuable to me and she always gives generously with her feedback, so the wait is killer.

So, this is just piling on, but not that big a deal. If the editor doesn't want to touch it, I'm fine with that, just need to know to look elsewhere.

dh

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Great Question

I recently made contact with an editor and he/she replied back almost immediately, which was so sweet. So, now I've sent my stuff off for a quick look-see just to see if they might be interested. I haven't heard back. This is not for actual editing, just to agree to edit. Since I'm new at this I fear I sent it off to cyber-space and maybe not to him/her. I replied directly back to the e-mail sent to me.

Any advice? How long is it polite to wait? I don't want to be a pest, but need to know if he/she got it.

Thanks.

Maybe it's just me, but I try to provide updates to my progress nearly daily... "Hey, seen the first 8 Word pages, hope to be done by XX".

Just me though, a standard doesn't exist as far as I am aware.

I encourage my writers to be verbal, can't say how many times the wires were crossed and stories were returned only to be "lost". Whatever that means, I'm sure they were attached yet weren't received?

So keep in close contact, keep up with the progress, be *aware*.. just my two cents worth.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I expect to have to wait whenever an editor takes me on.

Okay, I think I can... I THINK I CAN...

I can try. PM me. In the middle of one, still have my "regulars", but maybe I can help on this one. Maybe... love that word.

 

[driphoney]

You all are really the best!

Thank you so much!

I did as sr suggested and got a fast reply back. I was informed that my .doc came in as gobbl-dee-gook, so I 'practiced' sending it to my 'real' e-mail address. Of course, my Word is mine, so it read it fine, but I have been sending bits of this thing to all sorts of computers (biased friends and family, rated PG!) with no problems. So, I've re-sent it and asked for a reply when it got there.

Here's hoping it arrived safely! (This sure has distracted me from worrying that my story is just crap and will be hearing about it shortly!) lol

dh

 

[Guest]

Thank you so much!

I did as sr suggested and got a fast reply back. I was informed that my .doc came in as gobbl-dee-gook, so I 'practiced' sending it to my 'real' e-mail address. Of course, my Word is mine, so it read it fine, but I have been sending bits of this thing to all sorts of computers (biased friends and family, rated PG!) with no problems. So, I've re-sent it and asked for a reply when it got there.

Here's hoping it arrived safely! (This sure has distracted me from worrying that my story is just crap and will be hearing about it shortly!) lol

dh

Just a thought--make sure the file extension is .doc and not .docx (if you're using Word 2007). If it's .docx, resave the file as Word 97-2003 compatible.

 

[sr71plt]

I would have thought that if you and the editor had corresponded before, the editor would have e-mail a "nonreceipt" message when they received one that was garbled. Communication is a two-way process.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... I was informed that my .doc came in as gobbl-dee-gook, so I 'practiced' sending it to my 'real' e-mail address. Of course, my Word is mine, so it read it fine, but I have been sending bits of this thing to all sorts of computers (biased friends and family, rated PG!) with no problems. So, I've re-sent it and asked for a reply when it got there. ...

I've had that when receiving documents. The solution was to resend in .rtf (Rich Text Format) which (almost) anything can read. Oddly my reply in .doc from MSWord2003 worked fine.

 

[driphoney]

That's what I did eventually

And it was received just fine as an .rtf.

So, now we wait for the verdict. Key up the Jeopardy music ......

Again, thanks.

dh

 

[OX2]

At least you've gotten a response from an editor. I sent out to two of them last week and didn't get a reply. Still waiting, and since I am at a bit of a block on the Story I'm not too concerned.
I had an editor for "the Breeder" but the other stories were short enough not to need them. The new story is pretty long, and i get caught up in it so I need help.

Looking forward to your story.

 

[driphoney]

I would give you the name of mine, but....

If my story is crap, then he/she would not want to be connected to it, which is completely understandable!

Though I ended up not following this advice, after looking at the huge list and having 30 minutes of fun with my husband laughing at some of the very poor grammar of SOME of the VE's, I stumbled on the annual awards page. Ah Ha! The very first people listed getting LitE awards are the VE's. Well, if enough writers like them enough to submit their names, then they must be pretty good, right? So, I checked out a couple of years worth. Techsan won and checking out his page I decided he would be a good choice, he seemed nice. Then I figured out he died! So sad! Some of these editors appear to be worked to death and abused, so they have very firm words for submitters. Completely understandable.

Well, I'm a scared little rabbit, so I was too intimidated to bother these well known and overworked editors with my simple little first effort, so I went looking again. I checked out the pages of any potential editors to see if they were writers and have a history on this site AND have participated somewhat recently. Then I picked the nicest sounding one who hopefully would help me without completely slaughtering my frail ego.

Edit: by 'little' I mean in complexity, a simple girl/guy syrupy romance (well, hopefully!) but the sucker's big by Lit standards and I was too clueless to think of just begging for help chapter by chapter.

So, if you haven't used my technique, maybe it will work for you.

 

[_Lynn_]

At least you've gotten a response from an editor. I sent out to two of them last week and didn't get a reply. Still waiting, and since I am at a bit of a block on the Story I'm not too concerned.
I had an editor for "the Breeder" but the other stories were short enough not to need them. The new story is pretty long, and i get caught up in it so I need help.

Looking forward to your story.

Posting a new thread here in the EF often will net an offer from an editor.

Give some details about your story.
Genre and word count is important information to know.
Mention what kind of help you're looking for ... grammar, punctuation, flow, etc.

Good luck.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Care To Help?

I have been looking. Driphoney sent it to me before seeing my earlier post where I was looking to edit shorter stories (this is 138 Word pages, more than I can bite off and chew since I edit for others and this would tie me up for several weeks with the limited time I have to offer).

However, the writing is very, very good. Few errors, no typos so far, so if anyone can spare some time to help perhaps we can dole this out in sections.

Very good dialogue, nicely written in my estimation. Main problems are paragraphing.

Any takers for this talented author?

 

[_Lynn_]

I have been looking. Driphoney sent it to me before seeing my earlier post where I was looking to edit shorter stories (this is 138 Word pages, more than I can bite off and chew since I edit for others and this would tie me up for several weeks with the limited time I have to offer).

However, the writing is very, very good. Few errors, no typos so far, so if anyone can spare some time to help perhaps we can dole this out in sections.

Very good dialogue, nicely written in my estimation. Main problems are paragraphing.

Any takers for this talented author?

Not me, sorry.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Not me, sorry.

Okay, well, MistressLynn is not a willing participant. Good to know.\

 

[_Lynn_]

Okay, well, MistressLynn is not a willing participant. Good to know.\

I have no time, AS. NaNo put me behind in everything.

 

[driphoney]

Well, .....

That was very, very kind of you to say AS, and I really welcomed your comments (see my latest e-mail, I can't find the attachment), but after waiting with baited breath my original and very kind editor did get back to me and has my tomb, bless her/him! I'm not sure if I will be getting the whole thing looked over or just a bit, so I'll just quietly hang out and wait.

I have learned a valuable lesson in all of this, I was so clueless. If/when I do this again I will parce my stuff out chapter by chapter. It was too much to ask of a single VOLUNTEER editor.

You cannot -cannot - imagine how much your kind words and encouragement means to me, AS.

 

[sr71plt]

That I have learned a valuable lesson in all of this, I was so clueless. If/when I do this again I will parce my stuff out chapter by chapter. It was too much to ask of a single VOLUNTEER editor.

You cannot -cannot - imagine how much your kind words and encouragement means to me, AS.

Whoa. Fiction doesn't work like that. An editor would want to work with the whole thing. There's an arc and continuity to fiction. You can sometimes split up nonfiction into smaller parts, but it doesn't work well at all with fiction.

 

[driphoney]

But if it's more than .....

anyone wants to deal with, then I'm stuck. I would rather have it parced out than get nothing.

However, I feel *some* of my biggest issues are what you are talking about. Do the chapters flow and make a complete story? Do they connect? When I get carried away with her family is it too much? And I'm sure there is so much wrong with the overall story that it would boggle my mind! I bounced all over the story when I wrote it and, hopefully, I matured along the way. I don't know if AS read one or two chapters. But the one I put first was actually written well along in my thought processes and I have to say, putting that first was putting my best foot forward, it was my best chapter, at least in my opinion.

So, yeah. I would like someone to look at the whole thing, as a preference, but I'll take what I can get. I'm new at this.

dh

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

driphoney, I sent you a PM.