Welcome, A to Z bloggers, visitors, and of course all my faithful regular readers! This year's theme for my A to Z:
Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor
So without further ado . . .
Volumes are spoken by what you DON’T do.
There’s a reason for the idiom “actions speak louder than words.” You can talk until you’re blue in the face, but in the end, it’s what you do or don’t do that speaks for you. And of course, we’re on letter V and you should get the idea by now that I’m going to tell you how and why this relates to needing an editor. You can probably guess, but it’s my post so I’m going to do my A to Z duty and tell you anyway.
If you don’t put out the best product you can put together, people will know, and they will call you on it. I’ve seen reviews that start off with something like, “Too bad the author didn’t bother to hire an editor,” or “What a shame that the writer didn’t bother to have anyone read this prior to publishing.” They don’t care about your personal backstory or why you didn’t do these things; they only care that you didn’t bother, and that makes them not want to bother with supporting your book.
Very true!
ReplyDeleteNice to meet ya! Visiting from A-Z! :)
Thanks for the visit, Mina! I'll have to check out your underwater creatures when the month is over. I've been really pressed for time this A to Z and can't believe how few of the blogs I've gotten to visit.
DeleteI have been accused of writing too long (by someone who mistook my book for a Romance, and then complained it was 2-3 times longer than typical Romances), but no one has complained about the kind of errors that indicate not caring about language or grammar.
ReplyDeleteUfortunately, it takes a great deal of work to turn a competent story or an exciting story into a well-written one, and some people are happy with good enough in their view, and decide they could write a whole new story in the time it would take to improve the previous one.
They're right.
To me it has always been about putting a book on the market - with my name on it.
Maybe I should have used a pen name - and skipped the work! Some of those careless and uncaring writers seem to be doing very well.
There is a point where we have to call it good enough, but there are many people who don't do much to get it to that point. I am fine with a book that just doesn't strike my taste, but am increasingly intolerant of a lackadaisical attitude regarding what a reader will and won't tolerate. Bare minimum doesn't cut it.
DeleteUNfortunately, your preview function didn't work for me - I tried! But didn't miss the 'N' until I hit publish. My bad. I should compose elsewhere, and paste in. Comments, however, get some slack.
ReplyDeleteAhh, comments are a "whole 'nother animal," as they say around my hometown. I cut a lot of slack with comments because of the inability to edit something once it's published, and the tiny window for previewing. I also tend to do a lot of commenting or answering from my phone when I have a spare moment away from home, and phone typing is notorious for involuntary autocorrects.
DeleteHi Lynda - yes others' perceptions are not our own - so it is certainly preferable not to have a comment assigned ... 'what a pity the author didn't' ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteA comment like that is how I got my first editing job, actually. I left a review that mentioned how I saw an editor's name listed but didn't know what she did for the book, because of xyz reasons, and the author contacted me to have me re-edit. She said she got more out of the suggestions in my review than she had from her editor, haha.
DeleteIf you're going to publish, you have to do it like a professional. I think writers believe they can be their own editors. They can't. I base that on some very first-hand lessons. Three days to go! Here's to Z.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly it. If you want to be seen as a professional, then go about the steps to get there. Everyone wants a shortcut to fame, it seems, and they don't see all the hard work that has already gone on behind the scenes.
DeleteCounting the days to Z for sure!
I've written very few reviews of others' work. I don't believe I've ever actually written anything like "Too bad the author didn’t bother to hire an editor" in a review, but I've refrained from reviewing a lot of works that made me think it!
ReplyDeleteI have actually privately contacted a couple authors to mention certain things that diminished the quality of an otherwise-good book, and in both cases, it was well received. I don't make it a habit to do that, but in those two instances, I recognized that some of the problems were errors and not carelessness on the part of the author. One was a smaller publisher who said they'd changed editors after that particular book, and they were great about accepting my fixes. The other had been using editing software and was looking for an editor, and we ended up working on a lot of projects together. It's not the way I typically operate, but it worked out well those times.
DeleteThat's why I use you. I use the best to avoid such comments.
ReplyDeleteAww, I'm happy to be used.
Deletelol that never looks as good in print as it sounds in my head, but you get what I'm saying.
If you can't be bothered, then why should the reader be bothered to purchase your next book? It's that simple.
ReplyDeleteIt should be that simple, anyway.
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