An Editor's Role

[Robinne Weiss]

Saw an interesting article in Slate yesterday on the role of an editor.

An Author and His Editor Hash Out Why His Novel Failed

What do you think an editor's role should be? What has your experience been with editors?

 

[Carol Rose]

I can only speak to my limited experience with editors hired by digital first publishers. Their job, in the most simplistic terms, is to make your book shine. The ability the author has to reject all the editor's suggestions, none of them, or somewhere in between depends on the publisher, I suppose. I was never forced to accept any editor's suggestions. If I didn't agree with something they changed, or suggested I change, I put a polite comment in the margins, addressing why I wasn't changing it, and went on my merry way. At some publishers, I imagine, that might be a deal breaker. Most contracts speak to the autonomy an author has in terms of both cover art and editing. If they don't, the author needs to clarify that before they sign.

It's tough to say from this one isolated (and bitter) incident whether the book would have sold as well or better had the author been given free rein to use the voice he originally intended. To be honest, I couldn't see much difference, other than narrator, from the one passage. Publishers generally know what will sell at their houses, after all, which is why their editors make the suggestions they do. But editors are only human and they have egos, too. They have particular likes and dislikes. Some of that invariably comes through, although it shouldn't if they're actually doing their job instead of trying to feed their own egos.

I've had really horrible editors, in terms of them missing multiple mistakes that slipped past me, and in terms of them rewriting every sentence to the point my voice was gone, and the manuscript read like a computer program had spit it out. The former I complained about until I had new ones. The latter I rejected every comment and firmly requested never to work with her again. I also found out after the fact she had done the same thing to multiple authors, and was subsequently fired.

My current editor at Evernight is actually a former member of the "old" Litopia. She's not perfect. She misses a lot of little things, but she is very good at characterization and motivation issues within the manuscript, so we're a good fit. I'm sure my experience would be vastly different with a different publisher.

 

[Kitty]

My experience with editors has been wholly positive.

For my short story sales the editing has been variable with few making any major changes. Often simply changing my British English into American English. But for my novel the experience was much more intensive and I learned more about the craft than from any forum or workshop!

First off though I worked on it with my agent. This was the main rounds of structural edits and worked to improve my novel no end. Once she was happy we went out on submission and then I had another round of structural edits with my publisher. These didn't include anything too major because I'd done all the big stuff with my agent. I loved working with my editor and watching the book take shape. I didn't change everything that was suggested but most of what she suggested I agreed with and if I didn't we talked about it. We had a second round of edits which was more of a sanity check and then it went to the copy editor who was a different person. I didn't have the same level of interaction with the copy editor other than a final read through. The second instalment of my advance was paid on completion of the edits.

So basically the structural editor's role is to make your novel the best it can be and the copy editor and proof reader make it perfect and error free, fit for market.

Having been professionally edited I wouldn't dream of putting something out there that hadn't been through this process

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I have generally had positive experience with editors, too. I've only once had one that wanted to vastly change my work--wanted to totally rewrite two poems for an anthology. I humoured him on one of them, and absolutely refused to change a word of the other. He seemed to have no problem with my responses.

I sometimes struggle with what to do when an editor comes up with a rewording that I think is brilliant--always feels like plagiarism to me to just take their words and claim them as my own. I suppose that's what I pay them for (and it's never more than a phrase or a sentence), but it still feels weird.