Gold15:

Golden Rule No 15

The importance of

a publishing editor

Once your book has been accepted, you will be assigned an editor who will be responsible for the grammar, accuracy and general flow of your story. Keep on the right side of him/her because he/she can turn a dull book into winner. Equally a fussy, pedantic editor can squeeze the life out of your work, and when this happens you must be strong enough to stand your ground and insist on getting your way.

Editors are generally well-trained, well-educated professionals and know what is required for a published work, but there are occasions when you must be ready to argue for what you believe is right for the book. It is your name that will be going on it, and you will need to go over the editor's head if you think your story is losing credibility because of the alterations.

But be honest with yourself, because in my experience nine times out of ten the editor is right with his/her view (as a matter of statistical interest, 90% of the editors I have dealt with have been women ... and I love them all).

Remember that your editor is able to take an overview of your book without the emotion and adrenaline that has been driving you during its gestation period. The editor can see the wood for the trees. If he/she says that a certain passage does not ring true, then accept it and instead of arguing the point see how you can tighten and improve it.

Editors are not there to rewrite (although it has been known for them to become virtual ghostwriters, particularly for 'celebrity' authors). They are a safety net, and most will give as much conscientious input as you yourself. They pride themselves in helping to improve a book, and you can look on them as the midwife helping with the final stages of the delivery.

Once everything has been polished and perfected to everybody's satisfaction, your typetext goes off to a copy editor for necessary tightening. This is the fine tuning, with grammar and facts, punctuation and general flow being checked and double checked.

At this stage your own changes should be kept to a bare minimum because if you start making cuts or inserts it can throw out the pagination and lead to extra type-setting costs for which you could find yourself footing the bill (check the small print in your contract).

When I send my proof changes back I type them out, giving the page and line numbers. These are then put on to the master proof set kept by the editor.

Somebody else who could come into your life at the editing stage is "a reader" or "reviewer". This is a person commissioned by the publisher to read your work in its rawest state and to give an objective view of the content and overall feel of the book.

I have had two novels detonated by "readers" and I look on them as an interfering but necessary evil. They are the safety net for the publisher, but are often over-ruled if there is a strong enough feeling in the publishing house that you have got it right.

What is very rewarding is when the "reader" give a thumbs up because this increases the publisher's confidence in your tome and can lead to extra money being put into the launch.

Now, in Golden Rule No 16, comes the little matter of the selling of the book.

Golden Rule No 15 is to have trust in your editor, but do not allow him/her to take the guts out of your book.