Writing and Publishing News

Happily, the editing work is picking up. Authors are finishing up their manuscripts—or at least a few chapters—and sending them along to me to work my magic. Believe me, with some manuscript I work with, it is as if they were magically transformed.

When I look at some of the manuscripts I receive, it occurs to me that either authors don’t read their work once they finish the writing or they are naturally blind to their own literary shortcomings. Maybe readers today are so accustomed to wading through the muddy, incoherent, error-riddled books they find at bookstores that they don’t know, anymore, what constitutes good writing.

It’s frustrating, after correcting the errors and problems in a manuscript and providing lessons for the author, to discover the exact same mistakes in the next round of chapters I receive. It’s a shame when authors pay for your expertise and then don’t take full advantage of your teachings.

Do you have a good eye for your editorial mistakes and problems? Do you actually read your manuscripts through with a critical eye after they’re completed? Do you see the errors or does your brain just rush past them—assuming that everything is perfect? Does it sound pretty good to you—you see no reason to revise even a rather confusing sentence? It’s possible that you are not quite sure about some of your punctuation or you feel only a little uneasy about a couple of areas in your book. Maybe your manuscript looks perfect to you. I’d like to see it, anyway!

Please send me a few chapters to evaluate. I’ll let you know if I think you need an editor and why. Most authors do, you know. I do editing work for journalism and English majors, Ph. D.s and experienced authors as well as authors who have never penned a book.

If you contact me this month and we decide to work together on your manuscript or book proposal starting this month (January 2010), I will give you a break on my fee. Instead of my regular $50/hour fee, I’ll charge you my 2004 rate of $40/hour. So if your job takes me 12 hours, it will cost you $480 instead of $600. If you need me to edit your entire manuscript and my estimate is for 30 hours, it will cost you $1,200 instead of the usual $1,500.

Yes, it can be expensive to work with an editor. But, if you choose the right editor, this could be one of the best decisions you make toward the success of your book project.

Do you know, for example, that there is no apostrophe in 1900s? Are you aware that you use single quotation marks only inside double quotation marks? And did you know that you don’t use quotation marks at all when you’re using Italics to indicate a quote or a thought? If you’ve been reading my blogs and books for long, you know that it is now one space between sentences, right? Do you have an eye for those unwanted words that get missed when you change something using your word processor? Are you observant enough to catch it when you misspell an uncommon name or word that you devised for your story? (I see a lot of oversight in this area.) I also see manuscripts where the author changed a character’s name or one of the scenes halfway through and neglected to make the change throughout.

I can tell you that most authors—probably even you—have some bad habits that spill over into their manuscripts to a degree that pretty much spoils the integrity of their story or nonfiction book. Do you write with absolute clarity? Does your story flow naturally? Are your instructions logical? The problem is, you might not be the person to determine these things. Your mother or best friend may not catch them, either—or they will notice just some of the actual problems in your project.

I can’t stress enough the importance of hiring an editor and this is true whether you plan to self-publish, go with a pay-to-publish company or land a traditional royalty publisher.

I have to admit that there are a few (very few) manuscripts that I have refused to edit. A couple of them were already in pristine condition—no need for me to interfere. And I’ve seen some that were in such poor shape—had so many serious problems—that I would be doing a complete rewrite. Do you know how much that would cost the author?

For this author, I would (and do) suggest joining a writers’ critique group and participating regularly.

If you have a manuscript either ready to go or almost ready, contact me today PLFry620@yahoo.com. As you can see, this is not a hot link—you must copy and paste the email address, or type it in when you send me an email. To learn more about me and my work, visit: http://www.matilijapress.com/consulting.html

Just what do you do with people who write this to you?

“Hi, im a writter. i jest finnished writing a novle this w eek and im now in need of a publisher how can I find a agent or publisher for my b ook. plese send instuctions to my emale adress as soon as yu can.”

I’m not kidding. While this doesn’t happen very often, it does happen. I receive emails very much like this. I see messages at writers’ blogs and forums online like this. What are these people thinking? Does one realize when they lack literary/grammatical knowledge and skill? Can they see the difference between their writing and what most people write? Do they know how they come across or are they just lazy?

Does a writer know when he or she stinks—when their writing does not make sense or when it is difficult to follow? It’s heartening to me when clients readily recognize the improvement in their manuscripts after I work with them. I have some clients who don’t seem to have that awareness. They may like what I’ve done, but then they continue to write run-on, complicated, go nowhere sentences, for example. That’s frustrating.

I am a teaching editor. I don’t just change the structure of your sentences, move things around, rewrite sections of your manuscript and correct your spelling, grammar or use of words. I leave your original writing in parenthesis and rewrite it in red lettering to show you how I would change/correct it. I will explain why I’ve made certain suggestions. You have the opportunity to learn new skills and techniques. You can also go back to your original words if you don’t agree with me—which doesn’t happen very often.

I also give you the opportunity to rewrite parts of your story or nonfiction manuscript rather than charging you to do the rewrites. I make the suggestions such as, “Can you flesh out this episode—I think we need more clarity on why this happened and who was present.” Or “I don’t understand why Margery came back. Could you explain this better?” Or “I don’t think your instructions are in the right order. Can you work on this?”

Hire me to edit your manuscript this year and, not only will you end up with a much improved story or nonfiction book, but you’ll also learn volumes. Working with me is like getting an education along with a professionally edited manuscript to present to publishers or agents.

Contact me for a free evaluation and estimate to work with you on your manuscript. PLFry620@yahoo.com. Learn more about me and my qualifications—read my client testimonials:
http://www.matilijapress.com/consulting.html

When you hire an editor for your book manuscript, do you allow her to do her job?

Generally, you will turn your manuscript over to an editor after you have done a thorough self-editing. S/he will correct mistakes such as the misuse of words, punctuation errors and misspelled words. S/he will make suggestions in the area of repeated words, run-on sentences, capitalization questions, continuity/flow of the story, inconsistencies in the story, organization of the material and so forth. If your editor is like me, s/he will teach as s/he edits—noting why s/he is making certain suggestions.

Then s/he will turn your manuscript back to you. You can either accept or reject her suggestions. You can make changes and do some rewriting (some of it your editor has recommended). But after you do this, especially if it is extensive, you really should let your editor go over your manuscript one more time. S/he should do the final edit. S/he should have the opportunity to look over your changes and comment on them. It could be that you incorporated some of your bad writing habits into the new paragraph or you interrupted the continuity of your story, for example. Your editor will discover any new problems.

And, if your changes were not extensive, you may not have to pay the editor to read the entire manuscript again. Highlight those areas that you changed on your own and ask her to charge you only for editing those. Keep in mind that she may have to spend more time doing this than you imagine when s/he’s editing for continuity and consistency.

As editors, we are gleefully pleased when our authors acknowledge us in their completed book. But, as you can imagine, it can be an embarrassment and, possibly a black mark on our reputations, when the author writes over our edits to an extent that negates our editing work.

So my message today is—definitely hire a good, recommended editor for your project. Let her do her job by allowing her to see and okay the final draft before putting her name on your book.

For more about using an editor and self-editing, read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

I’m getting quite a few orders for this book from Amazon, lately. Would rather that you order it from me—it costs me money to sell it to you through Amazon, would you believe…

What do you do after you have edited your manuscript by hand dozens of times—after you have corrected every blatant error—after you have read, re-read and re-re-read each and every line? I call on the Find and Replace function. Why? What does it do? How do you use it? This function can help you locate and eliminate inconsistencies.

• Maybe you started out using Janet as your main character’s name. Then you decide she is MaryJane. If you’re like most authors, you have left at least one or two instances of “Janet” somewhere in your manuscript. (I often find at least two in the manuscripts I edit for clients.) Using the Find and Replace feature, you may even find a few places where you have typed Mary Jane, instead of MaryJane.

• Use this function to find out if you have duplicated a phrase, point or annecdote in your manuscript.

• It’s also useful when you want to check on continuity, overuse of clichés or pet words/phrases, such as, “for example,” “of course,” “clearly,” “hopefully,” etc.

• Use the Find and Replace to make sure you have used capitalization correctly and consistently. You may decide to capitalize certain terms, but you simply missed capitalizing some of them while working on your project. The Find and Replace feature will help you to locate these problems.

• You can also use it to remove the extra space after all of the periods, question marks, etc., in your manuscript. Just “type” two spaces in the “find” box and one space in the “replace” box. Hit “replace all.”

When I am checking on capitalization and spelling, I don’t rely on the Find and Replace feature. I simply click “find” and then I make the change manually (or not). This way I can make sure that the change I am making is accurate. As you begin to work with your Find and Replace function, you’ll discover all of the magnificent things it can do to help you with the enormous task of editing your manuscript.

For additional self-editing tips, read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

When you write a story—whether fiction or nonfiction—do you always connect the dots? In other words, do you make sure to carry your readers along with the story or do you drop them somewhere and make them have to work to catch up?

Do you sometimes get so tired of writing that you leave things out? Does your story move along so fast in your head that you miss writing down important steps? And what about segues? Do you sometimes forget to build bridges from one activity or action to another?

These are some of the mistakes that can be caught during your thorough editing process. But, it is difficult for the author, who is so close to the story, to always catch these blatant errors. These mishaps of fatigue or mistakes due to familiarity can sure ruin a good book.

For example, don’t have your character drive up to his house, turn off the car and then climb into bed. Of course, there are methods you can use to pull this off. You can have the character deep in thought as he pulls up to the house. Once you have the character express some of those thoughts and emotions, you can, perhaps, devise a clever segue having him shut down his overactive mind, go upstairs and turn in for the night.

Read and re-read your manuscript from various points of view, not just the same old stale position. I’ve said this before—get into your readers’ heads. View the story as if you are seeing it for the first time. You’ll definitely pick up on holes in your descriptions, unnecessarily repeated words and terms, misspelled names/words (usually because you changed someone’s name along the way) and areas where the dots need to be connected in order to make the story flow.

Once you have completed your thorough editing work, be sure to turn your manuscript over to an editor. He/she WILL see things that have escaped your keen examination.

This might be a good weekend to sit down with your manuscript using several new sets of eyes. Read it as if you are someone from Mars. Review it from the standpoint of an eager reader. Study it from an editor’s point of view (repeated words, spelling errors, inconsistencies, etc.)

You might find the “self-editing” section in my book, “The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book,” of use in this process. Order your copy now at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Keep this book close at hand as you will refer to it often as you consider publishing options (I provide pros and cons to help you decide the best option for your project), pursue distributors and wholesalers, present your first book signing, attend a book festival, send press releases announcing your book, seek out conferences where you can sign up as an expert presenter on behalf of your book, wonder about getting book reviews (I tell you how to get LOTS of them), develop your marketing plan and so very much more.

Have you noticed the number of editors, book shepherds and coaches, writing workshop leaders and new publishers cropping up? Where do they come from? Before you contract with them, you’d better find out.

I’m always shocked to learn that a first-time author has established a “self-publishing” company or that a high school teacher with no publishing experience is editing books or that a one-or two-book author is presenting writing workshops.

Of course, some of these folks actually do have the credentials and knowledge to help with the basics. But few of them have the experience to make a meaningful difference for other authors.

So what should you take into consideration when you contemplate hiring someone to guide you through the publishing maze? Experience. This should include the type of experience he or she has had and the amount of it. What about credentials? What has this person accomplished, achieved, established with regard to the subject at hand? If you have a choice between two professionals who claim they can help you market your book, for example, you’ll surely choose the one with a track record. The one-book author may have learned a lot about marketing over the past year or so, but the multi-book author who has been teaching book promotion workshops for 10 years would probably be much more knowledgeable.

Some people are not effective teachers, though. They just don’t know what material to present, nor are they organized enough to present it adequately. So, along with your credential and experience-check, you might confer with clients, students, as well.

What about cost? Does the fee indicate the quality of the service or education? Gosh, I just presented a loaded question. In fact, I guess it’s impossible to answer with any sort of authoritative accuracy. I can tell you about the experiences of two authors who were looking for a cheap editor.

One of them hired a teacher who wanted to start an editing service at a friend’s recommendation. Being new to writing, this author put her trust in the “editor.” Several hundred dollars later, the author met another editor, who was also the author of several books, and decided to send her manuscript for evaluation. The results of the evaluation were heartbreaking, as the new editor pointed out numerous mistakes and errors in the already edited portions of the manuscript. This hopeful author switched editors which meant that she had to pay the editing fees all over again.

How can a beginning author who has no real sense of proper grammar and punctuation—who doesn’t know the difference between then and than, there and their, to and too, for example—choose a good editor? I suggest getting sample edits and, perhaps, a manuscript evaluation covering 4 or 5 pages from 3 or 4 editors. You’ll discover how they work, what they know and whether or not they can improve or impair your manuscript.

The second story I want to share has to do with a gentleman who came to me for an estimate to edit his manuscript. I provided my estimate and he claimed it was more than he could afford. As I sometimes do, when business is slow, I offered him my 1999 fee. He still said he couldn’t swing it. I thought that was a pity, because I knew I could do his particular project extreme justice.

This author stayed in touch and eventually told me that he found someone who would edit his 150-page manuscript for something like $50. Huh? I strongly advised him against it. He didn’t know anything about the editing service or exactly what they would provide for him. But he sure liked the price. This was something he could afford.

Several months later, he reported to me, with his tail between his legs, that the editing service was a scam. They did nothing more for him than turn on their automatic spellcheck function and run the manuscript through it.

So, do you get what you pay for? In some cases, you sure do. In others, no. As in any profession or business, caution is required.

The economy is starting to turn around. I hope that you are feeling the shift. Maybe this is a good time for you to hire an editor for your marvelous manuscript. At least send it around for an evaluation. Some editors do this for free. Others charge a small fee. I will do a FREE evaluation of the first few chapters (or 30 pages) for anyone reading this. PLFry620@yahoo.com

In the meantime, order my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. It includes a section on self-editing—something every author should do before turning their manuscripts over to an editor.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Authors often contact me asking my opinion about their editors’ advice. “Do I have to follow her suggestions?” “She’s trying to change my voice, what shall I do?”

Some of my own clients question my recommendations. And that’s okay. I always tell them, “It’s your manuscript. You make the final decision.” Of course, I explain the reasons for my suggestions as I am a teaching editor. And I can only hope that they will do what is truly best for their book projects. I encourage them to lead with their heads, not their emotions.

I urge clients and other authors who resist an important editorial suggestion, to do some research. Read other books similar to yours to discover whether or not the suggestion makes sense. Just because a seasoned author uses a unique technique in his writing or the organization of the book, doesn’t mean that you can pull it off. I advise authors who want to try something clever, to study the masters and make sure that what they are attempting really works in their manuscripts.

Authors of fiction sometimes become jealously attached to what they consider their voice. I hear from authors, and work with some, who constantly complain that I (or their editor) am changing their voice. It is obvious that many of these people don’t know what their voice is. Most of them haven’t been consistent in presenting their voice and when the editor attempts to repair the damage, the author hollers, “You’ve changed my voice!”

I was once told, after a session of editing, that I didn’t understand a particular culture. Well, my editorial suggestions actually served to validate and strengthen the author’s attempt at representing the culture as she had wandered far off of the path. She had inadvertently inserted some dialog and phrases that were inappropriate to the ethnic group in that time period.

It’s easy to get out of character or to flub up on the integrity of your story. That’s one reason why you hire an editor. Her eyes are trained to notice these things. I also recommend, in some cases, that the author ask friends to read the story or the nonfiction book. While friends may not be able to help you with the intricacies of editorial work, they can:

• Give you their impression of your story or nonfiction book.
• Point out areas of confusion.
• Note where the story drags.
• Tell you where you’ve contradicted yourself.
• Find a mistake or two in spelling, etc.

Your job, then, is to embrace their comments and those editorial suggestions by your professional. Make the changes you agree with. And where you do not agree, step outside of yourself long enough to do some research on your own.

• Read similar books by other authors and honestly compare yours with these. Have you actually achieved your goal in your book? Or is your editor right, your writing isn’t advanced enough to attempt something too creative and unique?
• Get other opinions. Your editor could have a bias or isn’t qualified to edit a manuscript of this type. I always recommend hiring an editor who is knowledgeable about publishing and who is familiar with your genre/topic.

As you can see, there’s more to working with an editor than is obvious at first glance.

If you have a manuscript ready to go, contact me for a free editorial evaluation. I will look at 20 pages and report the types of errors and problems I see (if any). If you want me to evaluate whether I believe it is publishable or not, I charge $100 for 150-175 pages. My editing service is $50/hour. I can provide an estimate upon seeing your manuscript. PLFry620@yahoo.com