Pamela Jo
Full Member
- Oct 26, 2021
This is the process that makes the difference between professional and too much self-publishing. From a writer sharing her process.
Good morning all, it’s Tuesday again, and I’m full of the joys of spring because I managed to get my edits done last week and over the weekend, despite my head exploding when they arrived (on Tuesday! Another reason why I didn’t realise it was Tuesday until about 6pm and realised I’d forgotten to do last week’s tips!) I still have loads to do – I’ve printed off the ms now and have to read through it to make the final changes and smooth the bumps, then I’ll be able to send them back on Friday.
So as these tips usually relate to what I’m working on at the moment, a note on edits!
There are three sorts of edits – structural, line or copy edits edits and then proof reading edits to catch the last typos. There are often two,, or sometimes three rounds of structural edits to get a book really working. These are the edits that tell you that characters needed developing better, that you’ve got a plot hole or a timeline glitch, that you need more red herrings (if like me, you write crime) or that subplots need enhancing. Your editor reads the full manuscript and then gives you an editorial letter with your document that contains tracked changes with their specific comments in.
Not all publishers do stuff the same way, but this is the ideal. Then you make the changes, send it back and your editor reads it again. Big changes have a knock on effect so this is when the second round comes in, making sure you haven’t missed anything and that things all work. Usually I have two rounds, but I think it depends on how well developed your book is as to how many rounds it needs – if it’s very rough, it’s going to need more.
Edits should arrive in a timely manner after you’ve met your deadline (because you’re all angels and will obviously meet your delivery deadline) That could be a month afterwards – your editor will normally give you an idea of when to expect them.
When they arrive, the editor will tell you when they need then back. If you don’t feel you’ve got a reasonable enough amount of time to fix what they are suggesting, this is the moment to ask for more – mine were supposed to be done and sent back by today, which frankly was impossible, so I emailed immediately to say that I needed until this Friday. This is a manuscript that I need to print off and read over because we had a length issue and my editor wanted to remove one of the minor discussion points to save words. In crime deletions can have a big impact because you’re foreshadowing, so I need to check that we haven’t lost anything vital. I’m getting it printed today, I’ll read over it tomorrow/Wed and then I’ll make the final changes so it should, with luck, be ready on Thursday night.
Edits are, at the end of the day, a guideline – this is your book – but if an editor is flagging something, consider it a sign that it needs fixing. That might not necessarily be in the way that they’ve suggested, but do address it. The first natural response of every writer when edits arrive is rage, as you thought your book was perfect when you sent it in, so get over that before you do anything!!! (That *generally* wears off with practice)
Edits are done in tracked changes (see the review tab in Word and play around with that drop down that say All Mark-up/No Mark Up/Simple Markup. All Mark Up shows every change anybody makes in a different colour so you can see who is making what change. It also shows the comment balloons down the right of the text so you can see the editors thoughts and explanations. You can reply here too if needs be. If you are going to add pithy comments, remember to take those out at the end when you’re feeling calmer!
An editors job is to make your book better, so you are all on the same side, but bear in mind if you’ve hired a freelance editor for some reason , they vary in quality. Experience in your genre is key.
So tips this week (and apologies for brevity) are:
1. Understand the editorial process so you know what to expect.
2. If you can’t meet a deadline or need to push back, do it promptly. Burying you head in the sand and letting a deadline whoosh past will make everyone mad as the publishing chain involves lots of people and it’ll knock everyone out!
3. Editors will do their best to accommodate you on deadlines as they want happy authors!
4. If there’s something you really disagree with, discuss on the phone with your editor, they will explain their reasoning and you can brainstorm a solution – sticking to your guns can be damaging for the book (it’s not you they are criticising, just an element of the storyline)
5. Editors in good publishers have many years’ experience working on loads of books, respect that and use their wisdom to help make it better
6. Remember to delete the sarcastic comments before you submit!!!
7. PRINT OFF the final version (with no mark up so it’s a clean document you can actually read) and read through before you submit – you will be amazed what you see on the page that you didn’t see on the screen.
8. Working through the doc with No Mark Up on your last sweep (on the screen) will help you catch all the random oddities that have crept in with multiple people changing things in the doc.
9. Enjoy the process, a good editor will help make you a better writer as you’ll see things differently and with their eye when you come to write the next thing (sometimes I can hear my adult in my ear going huh?!)
Good morning all, it’s Tuesday again, and I’m full of the joys of spring because I managed to get my edits done last week and over the weekend, despite my head exploding when they arrived (on Tuesday! Another reason why I didn’t realise it was Tuesday until about 6pm and realised I’d forgotten to do last week’s tips!) I still have loads to do – I’ve printed off the ms now and have to read through it to make the final changes and smooth the bumps, then I’ll be able to send them back on Friday.
So as these tips usually relate to what I’m working on at the moment, a note on edits!
There are three sorts of edits – structural, line or copy edits edits and then proof reading edits to catch the last typos. There are often two,, or sometimes three rounds of structural edits to get a book really working. These are the edits that tell you that characters needed developing better, that you’ve got a plot hole or a timeline glitch, that you need more red herrings (if like me, you write crime) or that subplots need enhancing. Your editor reads the full manuscript and then gives you an editorial letter with your document that contains tracked changes with their specific comments in.
Not all publishers do stuff the same way, but this is the ideal. Then you make the changes, send it back and your editor reads it again. Big changes have a knock on effect so this is when the second round comes in, making sure you haven’t missed anything and that things all work. Usually I have two rounds, but I think it depends on how well developed your book is as to how many rounds it needs – if it’s very rough, it’s going to need more.
Edits should arrive in a timely manner after you’ve met your deadline (because you’re all angels and will obviously meet your delivery deadline) That could be a month afterwards – your editor will normally give you an idea of when to expect them.
When they arrive, the editor will tell you when they need then back. If you don’t feel you’ve got a reasonable enough amount of time to fix what they are suggesting, this is the moment to ask for more – mine were supposed to be done and sent back by today, which frankly was impossible, so I emailed immediately to say that I needed until this Friday. This is a manuscript that I need to print off and read over because we had a length issue and my editor wanted to remove one of the minor discussion points to save words. In crime deletions can have a big impact because you’re foreshadowing, so I need to check that we haven’t lost anything vital. I’m getting it printed today, I’ll read over it tomorrow/Wed and then I’ll make the final changes so it should, with luck, be ready on Thursday night.
Edits are, at the end of the day, a guideline – this is your book – but if an editor is flagging something, consider it a sign that it needs fixing. That might not necessarily be in the way that they’ve suggested, but do address it. The first natural response of every writer when edits arrive is rage, as you thought your book was perfect when you sent it in, so get over that before you do anything!!! (That *generally* wears off with practice)
Edits are done in tracked changes (see the review tab in Word and play around with that drop down that say All Mark-up/No Mark Up/Simple Markup. All Mark Up shows every change anybody makes in a different colour so you can see who is making what change. It also shows the comment balloons down the right of the text so you can see the editors thoughts and explanations. You can reply here too if needs be. If you are going to add pithy comments, remember to take those out at the end when you’re feeling calmer!
An editors job is to make your book better, so you are all on the same side, but bear in mind if you’ve hired a freelance editor for some reason , they vary in quality. Experience in your genre is key.
So tips this week (and apologies for brevity) are:
1. Understand the editorial process so you know what to expect.
2. If you can’t meet a deadline or need to push back, do it promptly. Burying you head in the sand and letting a deadline whoosh past will make everyone mad as the publishing chain involves lots of people and it’ll knock everyone out!
3. Editors will do their best to accommodate you on deadlines as they want happy authors!
4. If there’s something you really disagree with, discuss on the phone with your editor, they will explain their reasoning and you can brainstorm a solution – sticking to your guns can be damaging for the book (it’s not you they are criticising, just an element of the storyline)
5. Editors in good publishers have many years’ experience working on loads of books, respect that and use their wisdom to help make it better
6. Remember to delete the sarcastic comments before you submit!!!
7. PRINT OFF the final version (with no mark up so it’s a clean document you can actually read) and read through before you submit – you will be amazed what you see on the page that you didn’t see on the screen.
8. Working through the doc with No Mark Up on your last sweep (on the screen) will help you catch all the random oddities that have crept in with multiple people changing things in the doc.
9. Enjoy the process, a good editor will help make you a better writer as you’ll see things differently and with their eye when you come to write the next thing (sometimes I can hear my adult in my ear going huh?!)