But Why Does Editing Cost So Much?

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If I had a quarter for every time someone expected me to edit their work for free ("have fun with it" was my all-time favorite) or questioned the project's cost, I'd be . . . maybe not rich, but I'd probably have enough to cover a project.

Whenever I hear someone complain about the cost of things, I mentally go through a few scenarios. First, I try to find out the specific item and the dollar amount that's being discussed, and then I attempt to reason out what is being provided for the cost.

BUT WHY: THE VALUE
In some cases, I want to know what it's made of (is this desk pressboard or solid wood?) before making a determination of value. Is $100 reasonable for a high-quality piece of stainless steel cookware because I'll only buy it once in my lifetime, rather than replace a cheaper type every few years because it wears out or cooks unevenly? (Spoiler alert: this is a no-brainer for me. I'm a firm believer in good cookware.)

BECAUSE: THE VALUE
A well-edited manuscript has greater value to the reader than an unedited (or poorly edited) one. A reader doesn't want to slog through sentences that need a second look to make sense . . . or typos, bad grammar, and so much repetition that the story becomes tedious. Well-written books are cherished and reread, given as gifts, and recommended to others.

BUT WHY: THE TIME INVOLVED
If a service is being performed, I need to decide what's more valuable to me: the time that's freed up by having someone else do the task, or the money I'd save by doing it myself. It may well be worth paying someone to come to my home to vacuum, dust, and mop once every week or two if I'm extremely busy and the house is falling apart because we're all going different directions at once. On the other hand, if I'm home all day, am able-bodied, and don't have small children around, it might be difficult to justify that expense when I have the time and good health to take care of things myself.

BECAUSE: THE TIME INVOLVED
Editing an average manuscript for a novel can take me about 40 hours or more. If the edit is a heavier one, that number can easily double. I've logged in over 70 hours on just a first round of heavy edits before. If a book edit is going to take weeks of my time, then it needs to compensate for weeks of income because it's time I can't use to schedule anything else. This is why it's always a good idea to get your manuscript in the best shape possible before sending it off to an editor. A more polished manuscript means the editor can often work faster, which usually means a lower cost to you. It's fine to not worry about it and "let the editor catch that," but that will directly affect the price.

BUT WHY: THE SKILL/EXPERTISE
Face it: there is no possible way for a person to exhibit a professional level of skill in every area of life. Just ask anyone who's ever done a major home renovation. There's a reason that contractors hire out the specialty things like drywall finishing, plumbing, electrical wiring, and more. I may be able to change an outlet, but it doesn't mean I'm capable or licensed to rewire my whole house. I can create decent enough images for the editing quotes I post weekly on Instagram or Twitter, but I hired a graphic designer to create the branding for my business because it was important for my logo to not look like a DIY project.

BECAUSE: THE SKILL/EXPERTISE
There's a great quote I love by Amy Einsohn, author of The Copyeditor's Handbook:

In many ways, being a copyeditor is like sitting for an English exam that never ends: at any moment, your knowledge of spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, syntax, and diction is being tested.

You can love to read and not know all the rules. You can get irked by other people's grammar mistakes and still not catch the ones you make. You can be a writer and still have to look up some of the usage and trends of our ever-changing language. You wouldn't want someone who made a birdhouse once to be the person you hire to put an addition on to your home. Let the professionals do what they're best at; we love what we do and will take care of things you didn't even know were in need of attention.

I'll leave you with a direct quote from an editor I know, because I've also been hired for those re-edits she mentions.

My own thoughts when someone says they can "find someone else to do it for only $200" usually run along the lines of "Yes, you can. A lot of my work has come from re-editing those $200 jobs, so I know those kinds of prices can be found."

Respect the value. Respect the time spent. And respect the expertise. You won't regret it. 

It's the End-of-Year Reflections Post!

The end of the calendar year signifies a particular thing to each person; it's a natural thing for people to reflect. It may mean the end of a nightmare year of bankruptcy for one person, or it may celebrate a major life change like having a baby or getting married.

It's a good habit to reflect as the year comes to a close, to learn what worked and what didn't, and to plan for the future. I like to do this personally, but in the past couple years I've been doing it for my business too. 

One of the big lessons I didn't start to learn until a few years into the business was that there is more than just working for the business. There is working at the business. Working to ensure that there will be more business, in fact—something I didn't have to think about in the first year because clients were somehow finding me. I was busy and didn't even have to try to stay that way. 

If I had to sum it up, I'd say this is the year I tried to make the best use of my time. I looked through my analytics to see what was working and what wasn't. I kept a spreadsheet of completed jobs and how much time I invested in them. I used a timer app to break down where, exactly, my computer time was spent. (I was shocked to know that sifting through and answering email was one of my biggest time sucks.) I decided to learn everything I could to make my work more efficient and to broaden my skills so I can provide a wider variety of services someday. I took some classes, and I read an awful lot of books. I'm proud to say that I'm a better editor today than I was four years ago, or even two years ago. 

The happy result of this has been that 2018 has been a year of growth, and I'm pretty excited to look over my job list and note how many new clients I've gained and where I've gotten them from. Some have become friends and others are simply clients I've enjoyed getting to know while working on their projects. It's been a lot of fun to work on a handful of nonfiction projects this year as well.

I've done beta reading for a few authors, numerous line edits and copyedits, worked on doctoral dissertation papers, and even proofed someone's website. All that variety kept me fresh.

So THANK YOU, J.T. Buckley, Marcia Caton, Ciofki, Raylene Demeester, Adam & Peggy Dresden, Darrell Haemer, Rhonda Denise Johnson, Heidi Love, Carol Mills, Kim Mower, Kristen Snarski, Jack Tyler, Kim Watt, and Stephanie Workman. You've helped to make this a great year!

Tell Me Your Favorites

Today's post is going to be a cheater post of sorts. For all the planning I do and all the ideas I have running around in my brain, I somehow managed to not have a post ready for today.

I've been busy with edits, which is always fun. It means I'm honing my skills, getting to know new people, and expanding my horizons. Always a good thing!

This may seem a little early—and it in no way implies that I'm actually organized about it—but I'm looking ahead to next year and what it means for this blog and my business in general. As I plan out my weeks and months and seasons of 2019, I'd like to get a grasp on what interests my readers the most.

Honestly, I have no idea how many people read this blog. A look at my analytics tells me I have hundreds of followers. I have hundreds of views per month, on a variety of posts. But I have only about a dozen regulars who comment. And I love the comments, not just because you guys are loads of fun—and the comment section can often be more interesting than the post itself—but also because they let me know who is actually reading. For all I know, half the numbers are bots.

Are my readers experienced authors who already know what I'm writing about? Am I just confirming good information and reassuring them that they're doing it right?

Are there new writers out there who have never heard some of this stuff before? Am I a helpful resource for commonly tricky topics? Jack Tyler's blog, Riding the Blimp, has a huge variety of topics (depending on the day) but his advice posts are geared toward young/new writers who need basic guidance on how to start off well. I'm certain he saves a lot of newbies some relearning time in the long run. The IWSG (Insecure Writer's Support Group) blogs about writing and resources and publishing, and it's geared toward writers old and new. Writers After Dark has a library full of resources and checklists, a writers' podcast, blog posts from award-winning authors, and—if you just need a break and some laughs to refocus—a "Wit Without Wisdom" podcast that covers all the topics on the internet no one else will touch.

What would you like to see for the upcoming months? For next year? I have a handful of authors lined up for Book Talk, and I'm excited to introduce them to you. I'm sure I'll never run out of Circular File examples to share, where strangers ask me to work for them for free. I have a few multi-post series ideas up my sleeve. But what is interesting to YOU? Is there a topic no one else has covered, or something you struggle with in your own writing? I'd love to know.

Let's have your best ideas, folks! Tell me your favorites, if you've had any, and let me know what you'd like to see more of. I'm open.

Worst Writing Advice: When the Rules Aren't Rules

Not all writing advice is created equal.

That sentence above is a prime example. It's not the perfect construction, but I like it and since my blog is written the way I'd speak if we were face to face, that's how I wrote it.

It's not a big deal, but there are people out there who twitch at sentence structure that's not "perfect" according to the rules. They wag an index finger at the offending writer and tout THE RULES to prove their case.

Rules are great. I won't deny that. We can't have anarchy in the grammar world, after all. But there are times when rules are broken effectively—as long as they're purposeful—and other times when the rules need to be the rules and that's that.

The problem arises when a rule isn't exactly a rule; i.e., when something is thought of as a rule, but is merely tradition—or worse, tradition based on misinterpretation or misapplication.

Can you end a sentence with a preposition? Can you begin one with a conjunction? Can you use contractions in dialogue? What about fragmented sentences? Are you allowed to split infinitives?

Does the passive voice always, always have to be adjusted? No, it doesn't, and there's a passive sentence for you right there. I wanted "passive voice" to be first in the sentence so you'd immediately know what the sentence was about, rather than adjust it to say, "Do you always have to adjust the passive voice?" Sometimes we don't want to wait for the end of the sentence to find out what it's about. What if I fell asleep while typing and only wrote, "Do you always have to adjust the" but when I woke up, didn't remember what I'd been thinking? ADJUST THE WHAT? I get interrupted far too often to remember these things.

Over the next few posts, I'll be looking at rules that aren't really rules. Some of them are worth listening to, and others . . . well, I can guarantee you that some are not the hill(s) you want to die on just to prove your point.

If you have any "rules" you've wondered about (yep, the scare quote kind), let me know and I'll look them up and feature them. I've heard a lot of bad advice out there and would love to help you sort out what's what.

What do you think, people? Got some bad advice you'd like me to debunk? Lets hear it!

Editor's Notes #44: How to Improve the Indie Author Reputation

What do you think of when you hear the words "self-published"?

Are your first thoughts positive or negative? Are you a staunch supporter of indies, or do you stubbornly hold to the "traditionally published only" standard and turn your nose up even at smaller presses?

There was a time, not so long ago, that I swore I worked with the only indie authors who actually cared about their work. The self-publishing bandwagon had driven through town and was full to bursting with writers who thought they could finally make it big with the next bestseller—with little to no work involved, of course. All those publishers who'd said a polite "no, thank you" to them were obviously wrong, and they were going to prove it by self-publishing and striking it rich as a result.

The authors whose manuscripts I worked on took a lot of pride in their work, making sure their drafts were revised, revised, and revised again. They agonized over each word, and were not hesitant about hiring a professional editor, typesetter, and cover artist to make sure their books were on par with anything you'd find on the shelves at Barnes and Noble.

Unfortunately, they were in the minority.

So many writers put out so many unedited, badly formatted books with homemade MS Paint covers that the good books were lost in the sludge, and their work was, as the saying goes, painted with the same brush, resulting in the words "self-published" becoming a term of derision.

Slowly, the tide has turned, but it has taken years of perseverance on the part of determined authors to change the public's perception of self-published authors—now known as indies.

Perhaps the biggest change has come with the realization that there are some really great authors out there who have nothing to do with the Big 5 publishers. Sometimes the simplest explanations escape us for a while, but eventually we catch on. The truth is that there are some garbage authors who get published and some terrific authors who don't. The luck of the draw . . . an agent who's having a bad day . . . an acquisitions editor who may have loved your manuscript but knows their company can't guarantee enough sales of it because it's a bit out of the box . . . someone who saw your manuscript come across their desk but couldn't deal with looking at one more werewolf book . . . all those things may contribute to you getting the "nope" letter.

As more of the higher-quality writers persevere and self-publish, readers are gradually beginning to trust them. Many readers are even surprised to find that some have even turned down publishers in favor of self-publishing because they want to retain control over their final product.

Let's face it: the odds are slim for a new author to break through the Big 5. If you look around, there aren't too many new voices out there in that elite group. The odds are even slimmer that a new author will get such a killer deal that they'll become The Next Big Name.

BUT. And there's always a but, isn't there?

When indie authors, as a collective or as individuals, continue to strive for excellence—learning their craft, polishing their words, and putting out the good stuff—they'll gradually change people's perception of what self-publishing is all about, and what it's not. Those who are willing to raise the bar and work for it will continue to rise in the industry while those who continue to publish the equivalent of a first draft will eventually find themselves without readers.

As the baseline for quality goes higher, readers will tolerate less of the dross. Balance will be restored to the force, dogs and cats will live in peace together once again, and "indie published" will be seen as an opportunity to read something unique and wonderful.

Writer's Block and Getting My Groove Back

One of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes comics
by Bill Watterson

I found myself having a hard time coming up with a post for this week. Actually, I realized—too late, of course—that I should have had a post ready for last week instead, according to my "post every other week" pattern. Oops.

Better late than never, right? Except that I have too many ideas and no ideas, all at the same time. I have at least nine drafts in my folder, and none of them appeal to me right now as things I want to write about. "Drafts" is sort of a loose term, too . . . some have a couple paragraphs, and some are a single sentence with a main idea that may or may not still make sense to me now. (Think goat—shoes—apostrophes—passive voice and you'll get the idea of why I'm writing this blatantly generic post.)

I blame the AtoZ Challenge. Yes, that was back in April . . . and I wrote the posts in March so I could preschedule them . . . and now it's June . . . but somehow, the month of May threw me off my groove. I've been crazy busy with editing jobs, which has been wonderful, and if everyone who's booked ahead comes in on time, I'll be crazy busy with editing jobs through the summer months.

I've also taken some editing classes over the past couple months and have started a six-week course this week to improve my copyediting skills. It pays to keep up the skills I have and to learn new ones. The language is always changing. I work in a variety of genres, both fiction and nonfiction. Authors and their writing skills vary from client to client, and I never know what skills I'm going to need until I start a particular job. Am I doing a simple copyedit? Am I making major structural changes? Am I coaching as I go along so the writing improves for the next book? Am I fact-checking?

I'm encouraged by the number of good writers I'm working with, and I'm encouraged by the humble, teachable attitude of the newer writers I've worked with recently—those whose work has "good bones" and simply needs a little elbow grease. It's a good season and I'm happy for the way Easy Reader Editing has grown and continues to grow.

One of the changes that is on the horizon is that I'm moving the "business" end of this site to an actual website instead of trying to mold my blog into a do-it-all spot. The blog itself will stay the same, and it will remain here on Blogger, but it will link through my new site, and all the pesky details of services and pricing will be moved so it doesn't clutter up the works here. If all goes well in the setup, it should be almost a non-event for blog readers.

So hey, I guess I had some things to say, even if they rambled a bit. In the event that you'd like to see a blog post about something other than goats, shoes, and apostrophes, let me know in the comments, and I'll gladly do some research to accommodate you. I love to answer the burning questions that no one else cares about can.

L = Lagging Sales? It Might Just Be You

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 . . .

Lagging sales just might be your fault. Or not. But it might.

Readers are fickle, and what sold yesterday might not sell today. Everyone jumps on the latest "Paleo Vampire Transformer finds love with Backwoods Awkward Nuclear Space Genius" trend, and all of a sudden, the market has a glut of the stuff.

Or . . . maybe nobody's written that plot, and there's a reason for it.

A decent editor might be able to tell you how to make your plot stand out as unique. Or they might point out how your plot is SO unique that it's incomprehensible to the average human.

At the very least, they can make sure your lagging sales aren't due to a high error rate because of a lack of editing. A surprising number of new authors blame readers when the real issue is that they've not had their books edited.

Once in a while, it's the reader. But every once in a while . . . it's not.

K = Killing Your Faves Might Be Necessary

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 . . .

Killing your favorites isn't a new concept. Stephen King advises authors to "kill your darlings," using a phrase written in 1916 by author Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (the original was "murder your darlings") and modified by William Faulkner ("in writing, you must kill all your darlings").

Killing doesn't happen in every book. Not in the murderous sense, anyway. But there are times—murder or not—when it's best to get rid of a particular character for the betterment of the story. This might mean outright death, if it fits the plot, or it might mean that a character just goes away. Completely, as in "this book has never, does not currently, and will never contain a character named Joe Smith."

It's hard to chop ruthlessly if we've become attached, but a good developmental editor with a fresh eye can see what's clogging up the works. The editor who advises that a darling gets the ax is often only confirming what the writer already knows, deep down.

Allow an editor to help you make the tough decisions.

I = If You Don't Care About Your Book, Why Should We?

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 . . .

If you don't care about your book, why should your readers care?

Hear me out on this one. I've spoken with writers who have published unedited books, and their thinking always amazes me—and not in a good way. Their book gets slammed on review sites like Amazon and Goodreads, and they want it fixed by a copyeditor.

I'm fine with the fix, but what stuns me is that every one of them has admitted to knowing they needed an editor and publishing anyway. Every one of them.

I've heard everything from "I just didn't want to wait" to "They should understand I'm an indie and can't afford edits." Yet these same writers expect readers to give up good money (something the reader values) to purchase an unedited book (something the author did not value).

Rule Number One: if you don't value your own work, no one else should be expected to, either.

F = Feedback Is Needed Before You Publish

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 . . .

Feedback—the helpful kind—should always come before you publish, not after. Feedback from your readers in the form of book reviews is a wonderful thing . . . unless it isn’t wonderful feedback.

Everyone’s reading preferences are different, but if a book has not been edited, you can almost predict the type of feedback you’re going to receive on Goodreads, or Amazon, or any number of reviewing sites. Get your feedback nice and early from beta readers and editors, and at least you’ll know you’ve paved one more avenue toward a positive review later.

It never, ever hurts to have more sets of eyeballs on your work before the paying customers have their turn with it.

E = Everyone Needs an Editor

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 . . .

Everyone needs an editor. I am not kidding, nor even exaggerating here. Your grocery list may not need editing (unless you can't read your writing, or have forgotten to add something vital like ice cream), but anything you're throwing out there for public consumption needs an editor. This is especially true if you expect people to pay for what you're offering.

If you're a blogger, have a grammar-wise friend read your posts before you make them live. If you write business letters, have your smarty-pants coworker read them before you send them.

My other job is at a church, and our communications department and pastors run their correspondence, bulletins, promo material, blog posts—everything, right down to letterhead changes—through a handful of people for editing and final proofs.

Every detail speaks volumes to people about who and what you are, and you don't want to give anyone an excuse to think "what" you are is "inept."

C = Copyediting Makes People Happy

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 . . .

Copyediting makes people happy.

Okay, copyediting makes copyeditors happy. It's what we do, it's what we love, and it makes us feel like our universe is in alignment.

But copyediting also makes readers happy. They may not know what's been done, but they know when it hasn't happened—when something is "off," and they can't get through the story because the errors keep pulling them out of it.

Take the time to do it right. Copyediting means happy readers. Happy readers make happy households. Happy households make for happy communities.

Getting your book edited could make the world a better place. It's really that simple.

B = Bestsellers Have All Hired Editors

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 . . .

Bestsellers have all had editors at one point or another during the process. In fact, many of them have had multiple editors. More editors don't always translate into more book sales, but without ANY editors, you are almost guaranteed low sales and no repeat customers.

Have you ever read a book that "could have been" great, if only it had gone through a round or two of copyediting?

A = All the Best Books Have Been Edited

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 . . .

All the best books have been edited. Seriously. Of Mice and Men? Edited. Little House in the Big Woods? Edited. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Artemis Fowl, Pride and Prejudice? Edited edited edited.

Basically, there's no getting around it. If your book is edited well, it stands a much better chance of making you rich and famous—or perhaps simply getting your ideas across clearly. Quality of the writing also counts, of course, but this post is to convince you to hire an editor, so we'll talk about your writing another time.

The Time Traveler's Wife . . . edited . . . The Help . . . edited . . . To Kill a Mockingbird . . . edited . . . The Little Prince . . . edited . . . The Hobbit . . . edited . . . The Hiding Place . . . edited . . . 

Editor's Notes #21: DO. THE. RESEARCH.

I could have subtitled this "A Short Rant on Why I'm Not Doing Your Work for You." Seriously.

My name is Lynda. My middle name is Ann, the same as my mom, my grandma, and most of my aunts on that same side of the family (no one was very creative back in the mid-1960s, I suppose). One of my good friends has long maintained that my middle name is Hershey Kiss-Cheesecake, but that's a story for another day.

What my middle name is NOT:

• Google
• Webster
• Language Arts Grade 5, first edition

I should perhaps preface this by saying I really like the people I work with. Some of them I even love. When editing their manuscripts, I always, always want to do my best so their work is at its best. Editing sometimes—okay, always—involves looking things up, fact-checking, spell-checking, and a little research here and there to make sure I'm doing my own job properly. I spend a lot of time in my Chicago Manual of Style, in Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Edition (or the online version of it), on a variety of editing help sites, and cuddling up with classics like Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay and The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed. (Yes, it's a real book and it's terrific.) On my Amazon to-buy list is Kiss My Asterisk: A Feisty Guide to Punctuation and Grammar.

As a copyeditor, I correct spelling, grammar, punctuation and the like. If I am expected to do more, I get paid for doing more. There are times I'll suggest things or make note of a plot oddity—partly because I can't ignore something that may hurt the book, and partly because most readers think an editor is supposed to catch everything, regardless of what type of editor has gone over the book. I don't mind doing things like that, though if the book is practically being ghostwritten by me because the plot or sentence structure is so poorly done, we've now crossed the line into another type of editing and . . . yep, it costs more because it takes a LOT more time and effort.

However, I've run into the occasional author who doesn't know the basics and who doesn't seem to realize it's his or her job to learn them. I don't expect someone to know all the editing rule differences between the US and the UK, or why "riffling" is the correct word (not "rifling") when going through someone's belongings, but I do expect them to know that when people talk, their speech is put inside quotation marks. I expect them to know that an entire book is made up of more than one lonnnnnnggggg paragraph, and I expect them to know a little thing or two about punctuation in general. They may not be as well-versed in using the "track changes" and other editing features in Word that I am, but they should have a basic understanding of their word processing program so they're not completely baffled when I make a suggestion in the digital margin of the manuscript.

I'll give assistance and instruction to a certain point, and then I hit my limit and start to wonder why that person isn't just doing their own research. It takes literal seconds to Google something. That's how I've found out all kinds of things, and I'll bet you have, too.

At what point is it considered rude to say, "You need to figure these things out on your own; I'm not a writing coach"? I will be the first person to tell you what's wrong with your sentence structure, but I can't sit you down and reteach grade-school language arts. Well, technically I can, but frankly, I don't have the time.

When I suggest to someone that their scene is flat—that it needs some textures or smells to make it come alive in the reader's mind—I honestly don't know how to answer a question of "How do I do that?" without actually writing the additions for them. I can't tell someone what's in their head; they need to figure out how to express that on their own.

I love to help people. Sharing things I've learned is something I enjoy. When I get a manuscript, I'm typically pretty excited about it, because it's new, in many cases no one else has read it yet, and there are all kinds of possibilities waiting to tickle my brain. But when someone never lifts a finger (or ten of them) to do any research on their own, my first thought is usually along the lines of, I'm already dreading the idea of editing this book if they can't even figure out basics and won't try. How awful is that?

I love when I'm talking with one of "my" authors and they mention a book they've read recently on writing, the process of it, the polishing of it, or anything that suggests they're researching their topics and constantly in the pursuit of bettering themselves. Something clicks, every time, in my head, and it says, yep. That's exactly why they're so good at what they do. They don't assume they are "good enough," ever.

If you're an editor, have you dealt with this situation—and how did you handle it? I'm looking for a balance between kind but firm, knowing where to draw the line without being seen as a complete jerk. I don't enjoy feeling mean and petty inside but have a difficult time cutting the cord.

Because most of my blog visitors are authors, I'd love to know if you've ever experienced this with a critique partner. Did you ever get stuck with one you regretted, because the writing quality was so vastly different than your own?

Thanks for visiting, and thanks (always!) for commenting! I love finding out what people think.

Editor's Notes #14: Do I Have to Listen to Every Suggestion?

Editors are paid to fix things.

Whether it's a misplaced comma, a misspelled word, or a complete overhaul on sentence structure, if we see a wrong, we need to right it or we can't sleep at night. My blog's tagline sums it up nicely:

I read books. I correct books. I read more books.

One of the beautiful things about self-publishing is that the author has creative control over every aspect of his work. Overall, this is a wonderful thing. He won't have a publishing house hacking his book to pieces or changing the story line because they think it would sell better if his hero was a twentysomething woman living in the city rather than a grizzled sixtysomething man who lives a reclusive life in the wilderness of Washington state. He won't have a cover designed for him that has no real connection to the book's contents or his own vision—though a quick look at lousybookcovers.com will show you why an expert is still needed, regardless of how you choose to publish. He won't lose the rights to his own work (or in some cases, his own profits) for a period of time.

The flip side of this is that some self-published authors don't see the value in constructive comments when it comes to their work. When designing a cover, an author may have an idea of what is desired, and the cover artist can present choices based on the author's vision, with tweaks here and there. Ultimately, though, if the cover artist says (just pulling a random example from nowhere), "No. Zebra stripes would NOT look good on this cover," then the author should trust that his cover artist has the eye and experience to know what he's talking about.

It's no different with an editor. The type of editing I do most often, copyediting, is pretty cut and dried when it comes to what gets changed and what doesn't. The punctuation is either correct or not. The subject and verb either agree or they do not. If something might be questioned, I make good use of margin notes to explain myself. The bottom line is this: I either know the rules or I look them up when in doubt. I'm paid to know.

I often dip my toes into the other end of the editing spectrum, though, and here's where the lines blur. I can't see something that needs changed and ignore it. I don't have the attitude that says, "They're not paying me to make the ideas flow; this job is a punctuation-only gig." I want the book to be seen favorably by the readers, and I would like to think it's a help to the author as well. If a character isn't staying true to himself and it's not part of the plot, I'll point it out and perhaps suggest an alternative. There have been times when I've said, "I know what you mean here, but I don't think this passage is conveying it very clearly. Maybe you could rephrase it this way . . ." or "This person is reacting pretty calmly, considering x and y just happened."

I'm happy to report that the authors I've worked with actually listen to me. Imagine that! They don't take every suggestion and run with it, and I try to only give ideas that are necessary, rather than changing things because that's how I would have told the story. But I've read an awful lot of books, and I can usually spot a cliché or overused plot device a mile away. If I tell a writer he may not wish to go a certain direction because too many people have done that same thing lately, I've done my part and he can choose to accept or reject that bit of advice.

That's the terrific thing about self-publishing: you can take or leave those suggestions and still come away with a product you're happy with. Rules are rules, and there aren't many ways of getting around them. Advice, though . . . if you trust the person offering it, you just might end up with something even better than you started with.