I'm celebrating a milestone today, unrelated to my health, but definitely related to my heart and soul. It's a milestone related to my life as an author.
One of the hardest things I've encountered as an author is finding an editor that is a good fit. Back when I used to edit, primarily non-fiction, I had a certain philosophy about books, and that was, a book is to an author as a child is to a parent. Sometimes writing a book is a lifelong dream, and having an editor treat it as anything less, can be devastating.
My struggle has been to find a good editor, who cares about the work they do, rather than just the paycheck, and who realizes two things—one, that my books aren't like my children, but that it is a HUGE and very vulnerable risk to put something I've written out there for the world to see, and to treat it and me with respect accordingly.
The second thing, is finding an editor who pushes me when I need it. The editor I have now will send notes back that say things like (this is not verbatim) "I'm not feeling this." Or, "this doesn't make sense," or "I need to understand how he/she is feeling here." I LOVE that. Love it.
Anyway, I found the editor I have now a few months ago when I was writing the third book in the Butler Ranch series, The Secret. She not only did a great job editing, she was willing to brainstorm things that had me stuck. And in instead of doing a moderately okay proofread (for the price of an editor), she actually edited the book, doing three passes, until she felt it was ready to release.
Since some of my reviewers actually told me my (previously released) books, needed a good proofread (devastating again, because they had been proofread and edited and proofread again) . . . I decided to bite the financial bullet and pay to have my books edited again. Hard to do when each time a book came back and there were so many mistakes I wanted to hide in a closet.
Today, I have sent my LAST previously edited and released book to my (not-so) new editor. Once she finishes this one, I'll be done and will only need NEW books edited.
Almost every book she's edited for me has at least one review (sometimes several) in which the reviewer comments on how well-written the book is and/or, how refreshing it is to read an indie book that has been professionally edited. That, in an of itself, has made the investment worthwhile.
One of the hardest things I've encountered as an author is finding an editor that is a good fit. Back when I used to edit, primarily non-fiction, I had a certain philosophy about books, and that was, a book is to an author as a child is to a parent. Sometimes writing a book is a lifelong dream, and having an editor treat it as anything less, can be devastating.
My struggle has been to find a good editor, who cares about the work they do, rather than just the paycheck, and who realizes two things—one, that my books aren't like my children, but that it is a HUGE and very vulnerable risk to put something I've written out there for the world to see, and to treat it and me with respect accordingly.
The second thing, is finding an editor who pushes me when I need it. The editor I have now will send notes back that say things like (this is not verbatim) "I'm not feeling this." Or, "this doesn't make sense," or "I need to understand how he/she is feeling here." I LOVE that. Love it.
Anyway, I found the editor I have now a few months ago when I was writing the third book in the Butler Ranch series, The Secret. She not only did a great job editing, she was willing to brainstorm things that had me stuck. And in instead of doing a moderately okay proofread (for the price of an editor), she actually edited the book, doing three passes, until she felt it was ready to release.
Since some of my reviewers actually told me my (previously released) books, needed a good proofread (devastating again, because they had been proofread and edited and proofread again) . . . I decided to bite the financial bullet and pay to have my books edited again. Hard to do when each time a book came back and there were so many mistakes I wanted to hide in a closet.
Today, I have sent my LAST previously edited and released book to my (not-so) new editor. Once she finishes this one, I'll be done and will only need NEW books edited.
Almost every book she's edited for me has at least one review (sometimes several) in which the reviewer comments on how well-written the book is and/or, how refreshing it is to read an indie book that has been professionally edited. That, in an of itself, has made the investment worthwhile.
