Your Editor is Your Partner

An editor is someone who makes your work more readable, more salable – better. An editor doesn’t change the voice or direction or meaning of your words.

Your editor is your partner. Everyone needs an editor. Doesn’t matter whether you’re going the self-publishing route or signing with a regional or small publisher. At some point, an editor will need to look at your manuscript. Even if you sign with an agent who liked it enough to add you to her stable, she will probably suggested changes or edits. Then when one of the major publishers takes you on, they will have an editor go through it. Getting to that point, though, is a long road. Hiring your own editor BEFORE you send it to an agent or publisher will up your chances of getting your book in the queue with both.

If you’re self-publishing, either in print or e-form or both, you’ll need that independent editor even more because that will be your one chance to get it right. People may be reading more and more e-books, but they haven’t changed their standards. They still want a well-written book and while they may skip over two or three mistakes, they won’t buy your next book if your first has too many mistakes.

Yes, editors cost money, but they pay off, too. In the short term, you have a much better book that reads smoothly. In the long term, you learn from seeing what the editor did to improve your manuscript. I’ve known authors who have said that hiring an editor was like taking a one-on-one class in writing.

What are your experiences working with an editor?

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Disclaimer: I don’t often post about editing. Mostly because, as a lot of you know, I’m a freelance editor and I didn’t want my blog posts to sound like I’m trolling for clients. Now, however, I feel I can write a post about editing every now and then since I’m no longer taking on new editing clients. Since taking over as the Coordinator for Story Circle Network’s Editorial Services, I’m only working with existing and returning clients.

Beware The Devil’s Hug

 Today, as part of Marvin Wilson’s Hugs Therapy Tour 2010 to promote his book, Beware the Devil’s Hug, Marvin’s editor at All Things That Matter Press, Deb Harris, has agreed to answer my questions. My goal was to ask her questions that I thought all of you would if you had the chance. Before we get to those, however, here’s a bit about Ms. Harris:

Deb Harris, Editor-in-Chief of All Things That Matter Press, has been in love with words and books since early childhood. She’s also a believer in giving people a chance. All Things That Matter Press was born of the desire to allow promising new authors an opportunity to share their “Self” with the world.

Deb, whose prior career involved many years of work as a paralegal and legal transcriptionist/proofer/editor, and her multi-published author husband, Phil, lived for fifteen years in very upstate New York in a home they built themselves, totally off the grid, relying on solar and wind power. There, they raised vegetables, horses, and dairy goats, canning and preserving much of their own food, as well as making their own cheeses, butter, and soap. Now they raise books.

A Maine native, Deb spends her days at the computer, occasionally taking a moment to look out at the horses in their pasture, and surrounded by indoor critters as well: three dogs, a cat, 4 birds, and a fish.

Welcome Deb Harris.

1. Not only is Marvin one of the authors in your stable, he edits for other authors at All Things That Matter Press. What is he like as an editor and why would an editor need you, another editor, to edit his book?

I trust Marvin’s editing. He’s very meticulous (and being a nit-picker myself, I admire that quality), and able to work simultaneously on all of the necessary levels, not just the “does the comma go here” mechanics.

Marvin and I agree that no author is capable of completely editing his/her own work. The mind sees what the mind knows the mind meant! And, while a manuscript may be mechanically perfect, or close to, just about every author has little “pet phrases” and/or writing habits that are often, and always unintentionally, overused. For instance, one of our authors (not Marvin, in this particular case) used a certain phrase over 400 times in a less than 300 page manuscript and was astonished that he’d done so. These things are almost always invisible to the author, since they tend to be ingrained writing habits or personal ways of speaking, but they jump out at that other set of eyes.

2. The editing that you do is the last level of editing before publication. If an author feels strongly about something that you recommend cutting or changing, should the author fight for his/her viewpoint, give in and change, or present a compromise? If they refuse to change, would that affect the relationship?

You know what? If I find I need another doormat, I’ll go to Wal-Mart. Absolutely I want my authors to present their viewpoints. I didn’t write the book, s/he did. I try to be as flexible as possible in the editing process, always keeping in mind the ultimate goal: to have the best finished product possible. The vast majority of my editing comments, other than punctuation issues, include “How about if we …,” or “What do you think about ….” If an author feels strongly about something, unless it is so grossly incorrect that there can be no “give,” we let the author decide. This is a partnership, a collaborative effort between publisher and author. We’ve been very fortunate that our authors all tend to be reasonable people who also want their books to be as perfect as we can collectively make them. I can’t think of a single instance where an author and I have disagreed and it’s affected my perception of the relationship. Obviously, I can’t speak for how the author feels on that subject.

3. How did Marvin handle the corrections or changes you recommended?

Like the true professional he is, albeit with a little grumbling and grousing. Marvin’s goal is the same as ours: perfection.

4. How do you choose the books to publish? Are you open to certain genres or is it the writing that matters most, no matter the genre? What was it about Marvin’s book that made you decide to publish it?

We’re open to anything except sex-for-the-sake-of-sex, pornography, racial bigotry, religious bigotry, push-a-particular-religion-down-your-throat, and/or hate-driven books. We’re not particularly into children’s books or YA, although we’ll look at them. Other than that, we’re all across the board, which makes it a lot of fun.

One of us has to like it. That’s the basic decider. Not everyone likes the same genres, so I’m fortunate to have a great crew of submission editors to review things that aren’t my personal cup of tea. Sometimes it’s a decision by committee. And, while the quality of the writing most definitely matters, we strive to look beyond “the edit” to the heart, and are willing to work with promising authors who are willing to work hard with us.

A book has to grab and hold our attention, whatever the genre. Have something to say, and say it from a different angle. Take a fresh approach. Don’t write by formula, and don’t try to write like someone you’re not. Write like you. Make me want to cancel my dentist appointment to finish reading your manuscript.

I decided to publish Marvin’s book because it’s good! Of course, the bribe he sent didn’t hurt, either.

5. What about Marvin makes him stand out as an author? His writing? His willingness to promote his books? His enthusiasm?

 Everything about Marvin stands out, as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now. I love his off-the-wall kind of backdoor approach to getting his messages across by hiding them in his stories. Marvin’s books can be read for pure entertainment or for the thought-provoking insights he provides. It doesn’t hurt that he writes well, either, and his love for his craft shines through in every word.

Thank you very much, Ms. Harris!

To find out more about Deb Harris, visit All Things That Matter Press. And to find out more about Marvin Wilson, visit his blog, The Old Silly’s Free Spirit or catch him on Twitter.

Tomorrow, Marvin will be visiting Lacresha Hayes blog. There are only two days left on Marvin’s tour, so be sure to visit his Contest and Prizes page, too.

But before you do all that, leave a comment or question for Marvin Wilson or Deb Harris.

What Do Editors Want?

Earlier this month, GalleyCat did an interview with Jean V. Naggar, president of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency. Here are some things I took from the interview.

What she looks for from authors:

Authors need to offer their best work, to be ready to revise, and to trust that they have put their work in good hands. Having a job on the side can also provide a guarantee of more food variety, and they should keep counting the pennies, also keeping up a steady constant presence in all social networking areas, twittering and tweeting, helping themselves to get the word out about their books with energy and resourcefulness.

What editors want in a manuscript:

Editors are looking for fresh original material in perfect condition. Dramatic pace, writing quality, and clarity of thought trumps any particular trend, and my recommendation to writers today is to listen to their agent if the agent is requesting that more work be done before showing a manuscript to editors. Editors today are heavily bound up in meetings and other requirements, and showing them a strong national platform and a manuscript that is almost ready for the printer is the best way to get their attention.

Click over to read the full interview, including how her agency likes to be approached and what her particular pet peeve is.

Losing Your Editor

GalleyCat had a good post by Jeff Rivera on what can happen to you and your book if you lose your editor at the publishing house. When that happens, you lose the editor who was pushing and rooting for your book; your book is “orphaned.” A lot of times, your book tanks because there’s no one there to root for it. If you don’t have a good established track record with the house, you may not be signed again.

Some agents weigh in with guidance for authors who find themselves in this kind of situation.

Ted Weinstein of Ted Weinstein Literary Management advises writers to, "continue to build his or her platform and write (or get written about) in lots more media outlets, so their agent will be able to say to acquisition editors with a straight face that the author is now at a new, higher stage of their writing career."

For what other agents and managers said, click over to the full article. If you got dropped by your publisher, how hard would it be to pick yourself up and move on? Would you figure it was just fate? What would you do?

Freelance Editors

Ever consider what it takes to be a freelance editor at a publishing house? Well, wonder no more. A post on Journalism.co.uk tells you what it takes to get hired at a publishing house in the U.K.

In case you’re wondering what publishers look for when hiring freelance editors, here’s the article’s author Mary James’ list of the qualities an applicant should have:

1. You can adhere to tight deadlines

2. You know your target market inside out

3. You're easy to work with

4. Your communication skills, particularly over the phone, are second to none

5. You provide value for money

6. You guarantee high levels of confidentiality

If you want to see what she said about each of these points, click over to the article. Maybe you qualify.

What This Editor Does

This past Tuesday, I wrote a post called Build An Editor. In it, I asked what you, as a writer, wanted in or expected of an editor. A lot of you wrote interesting, detailed comments. Most seemed to agree they wanted an editor to do it all, but not totally change their words. You wanted an editor to catch big and small mistakes - change small mistakes but leave comments or suggestions on big ones. And just about everyone seemed to want an editor to work with them so that they would grow as a writer and learn from their mistakes. And you wanted an editor to stay with you from first edit through query letter.

Some of you who’ve been visiting Straight From Hel for a while know the kind of work I do. If not, you can link over and read a back and forth Q&A between me and author Sylvia Dickey Smith. Plus, I have a page on my website about my editing services.

But…I did say in the Build An Editor post that I would tell you about what I do as an editor. And I’ll say upfront that I don’t think I’m all that different from other editors.

When I get a manuscript, I begin reading. I tend to read about 20 pages, then take a break, then continue. Unlike some editors who make no edits on the first read-through, I do mark things and make comments. I try to catch the smallest things, like two spaces between sentences instead of one, medium things like sentences that don’t make sense, and big things like a character who has no arc. Small things like spacing or repeated words, I’ll change. A beginning that’s too slow, I comment on and sometimes give suggestions as to how it could start or where in the manuscript the book really should begin.

When I finish the manuscript, I set it aside for at least a day, then I begin another read-through. I do three read-throughs before I send it back to the author.

Although I’ve never had an author ask for their money back, I never cash their check until the manuscript is sent back to them.

Cashing the check does not mean the partnership is over, as far as I’m concerned. I’m considering that writer as “my author,” just as I hope they consider me “their editor.”

If she works on areas where I noted problems and wants me to look at it again, I do. If he does a big rewrite and wants to send the entire revised manuscript back for another read, I will. If she gets it polished and is ready to start querying, she can send me the query letter. I’ve discussed possible agents with some of my authors. Some have called with follow-up questions. A lot have hired me for their second or third book.

But as I said earlier, I don’t think I’m all that different from other editors. If you’re looking for someone to work with you on your book, do some research and then talk to your top 3 or 4 choices. Find someone you’re compatible with and who will do what you need them to do. Look at it as a long-term relationship and find someone you can work with over the long haul.

Build An Editor

If you could build your own editor, what would you create? I’m asking because I’d like to know what you would want done by a freelance editor.

Are you mostly looking for a line edit? Do you want someone who looks at the overall arc of your book? Time continuity? Plot mishaps?

Do you want someone who makes the changes and sends it back to you? Do you look for someone who will edit and leave the decision of whether to accept or reject those edits up to you? Do you want an editor to comment and tell you why s/he recommends something be changed?

Do you look for an editor who catches small things like two spaces between sentences instead of one? Do you want someone who is rigid and says, never do this? Or would you prefer an editor who says, this is not the way it’s done, but you can still do it your way as long as you’re consistent?

Do you want an editor who will edit the book then get out of your way? Do you prefer an editor who’s available from editing to querying?

What are you looking for when you hire an editor? And, if you say, everything - I want everything - then are you willing to pay for it?

Later this week, I’ll tell you what kind of editing I do.

Pitch the Lunch

To continue our ongoing look at agents, here’s an article from The National about those dwindling agent/editor lunches. More and more, the failing economy is cutting into the lunch budgets of agents. They're having coffee instead or drinks after hours. This article, however, is an explanation of why the networking lunches are so important to agents and editors (and, thus, to writers).

“The idea of the lunch is that you’re looking for the place where your passions overlap,” said the literary agent Larry Weissman. … It’s the job of the agent to match the product with a suitable editor.

Mel Flashman, an agent with Trident Media Group, says that he’s made deals over lunch.

Flashman likens the lunches to dates. “Publishing is really a matter of taste, and taste is subjective. If someone debated in high school they might be more susceptive to a policy book as opposed to a meandering narrative. … “People will spend most of the time just talking about other things. I generally don’t talk about business for 95 per cent of the lunch. I let business arise organically, but maybe that’s just the Mel Flashman way of doing things,” said Flashman.”

If you’re an author invited to lunch, though, you need to know the rules and etiquette apparently.

Authors, however, are usually worse lunchers than agents. “Agents work in the business world, so they have to be at least borderline acceptable. Authors are often freaks. Often, they mistake my interest in their manuscript for my interest in them as a person, so they hit on me or provide too much information about things like failed marriages, extramarital affairs, or childhood trauma.

Eater beware.

P.S. I’m in Key West today.

Hi! My Name is Helen

Ever wear one of those nametags at a conference or meeting? I have. And I’ve got one on today. See it? No? Then jump over to The Blood-Red Pencil.

I’m featured today as the editor on “Meet The Editor.”

I’ve been contributing to this co-op blog since its inception, but we’re just getting around to meeting each editor a bit more in-depth. The wonderful Jesaka Long came up with questions for each of us to answer. If you zip over, you’ll find my answers to these questions:

When did you first notice you were hung-up on typos?

What advice would you give someone interested in becoming an editor?

What’s the best advice you have ever received from a writer?

What the best advice you’ve given a writer?

In your opinion, what makes an editor great?

What the one misconception about editors you want to clear up?

Why should a writer choose to work with you?

What genres do you focus on? Why?

And be sure you come back here tomorrow. Verna Dreisbach, founder of Dreisbach Literary Management, award-winning published author, and President of Capitol City Young Writers, is going to tell us about the non-profit CCYW. Capitol City Young Writers is dedicated to educating and inspiring writers, primarily in grades 6 through 12. The group is fairly new but making a powerful footprint. She’ll tell us all about it tomorrow.

I’ll be gone to Fort Worth all day doing interviews for the book I’m working on (with a due date of early April - yikes!). I hope you’ll ask questions, leave comments and make Verna feel welcome.

Author Marvin D. Wilson

Marvin Wilson describes himself as a “Maverick non-religious dogma-free spiritualist Zen Christian.” I would describe him as a family man -- he's been married thirty-two years, has three grown children and five grandchildren. He lives in central Michigan and is a full time writer as well as a young adult mentor at his church, Shiloh’s Lighthouse Ministries, where he also is the CFO for the ministry and runs a free food pantry and free clothing distribution center.

I don't know of many fiction writers like Marvin. He enjoys delivering spiritual messages in books that are humorous, oftentimes irreverent, always engaging and thought-provoking, sometimes sexy and even ribald, through the spinning of an entertaining tale. And if all that sounds like a crazy pot of blazing hot chili, then you've probably read his blog, Free Spirit, or met his protagonist, Owen Fiddler.

Marvin is doing a virtual world-wide tour that he calls the OWEN FIDDLER EXPERIENCE CHRISTMAS CYBER TOUR 2008. For his stop here, I asked him to write about his experience working with an editor. I should have known better. He now says I asked him "to write a piece on what a novice author goes through the first time he or she has to deal with a real editor and gets rudely awakened to the fact that their precious 'polished' manuscript is a diamond so far in the rough it looks and reads barely better than a dirty soapstone."

Out of all the diffferent descriptions of Marvin, the word I would use is friend. I hope you enjoy meeting him as much as I enjoy knowing him. I now turn Straight From Hel over to Marvin D. Wilson, author of Owen Fiddler and I Romanced The Stone.

What? You Don’t Think My Manuscript is Perfect?

I don’t consider myself a novice author anymore. Hardly a household name yet, far from it, but at least I’m out of the gates now with two books published, a contract for a third, and three more WIP’s that I am confident will be published. I have established relationships with some publishing houses now, so the arduous and intimidating task of getting that first manuscript accepted as a complete unknown author is behind me in my writing career. Thank god for small miracles. Now, getting in with the big boys, landing, say, a Simon & Schuster contract, a Wal-Mart deal hook-up, those glorious days are still way ahead. There’s always the next hurdle, ever the next major challenge, in the quest for name recognition and success in the book writing business. But let me get to point.

Helen asked me, as part of this Owen Fiddler Christmas Cyber Tour 2008 (OFECCT08), to write an article about some of my experiences coming up as an unknown novice author, particularly with respect to what it was like, for the first time or two, running into professional, brutally candid, accept-nothing-less-than-the-best editors.

Man, they can be rough. This is not an industry for the thin skinned. Easily deflated egos will get popped in a minute. A bad review posted for the whole galaxy to see can be crucifying. If you are considering becoming an author and are of tender sensibilities, I suggest you try some other industry to break into. Maybe be a shepherd or something. Forest ranger might work for you. I’ve been told there is good money in farming bamboo. But if your mind is made up, and this is definitely what you want to do, then prepare yourself for the first time you have to deal with-

The Exacting, Task Mastering, Couldn’t-Care-Less-About-Your-Feelings Editor!

Shaking in your boots? You should be. Kind of kidding, of course, but it is a rather rude awakening to discover that your precious manuscript, containing in it all your carefully crafted witty and creative “babies,” and your “unique style” of writing is considered by your editor as sometimes rather sophomoric, in places downright amateurish, and fraught throughout with instances of unacceptable grammar. Not to mention tense issues, time-line discrepancies, plot inconsistencies, shallow character development, poor paragraph structure, the list can go on and on.

Sigh, your little precious that you slaved for months over, self-edited three times from start to finish, spell-checked a bazillion times, had your best friend and a family member read, both of whom told you it was without a doubt the next Great American Novel, yes this jewel you have produced is, to the editor, little more than possibly (and I hate this phrase) “a diamond in the rough.”

When I sent my first manuscript, I Romanced the Stone, in to the publisher’s editor, it came back so marked up I thought I had just flunked a third grade grammar test. The pages were redder even than my embarrassed face. I got over it, taking a few deep breaths and calming down, and then submitted my bruised psyche to a level-headed consideration of all her “suggestions.” (editors euphemize their bullying with that word – hmph)

Turned it out it wasn’t all that bad. I was only making a few kinds of mistakes, but repeatedly. Commas (way too many and in the wrong places), run-on sentences, tense issues, and too many passive voices were her primary complaints. Nothing major. She even wrote a nice note at the bottom that she really like the story, thought I had a strong writing voice, and was looking forward to working with me and seeing this book polished and ready for publication. I boned up a bit on the correct use of commas, fixed the tense problems, studied up on passive voices and how to re-write to eliminate them, and after two more back-and-forth’s with her we had a finished product we were both happy with.

That was my first experience. Thought I had it down, then. I thought I knew how to produce a polished manuscript that would meet the discriminating requirements of any good editor.

Not.

When I was putting the final touches on my second manuscript, Owen Fiddler, getting it ready to send in after already having been accepted for publication by Cambridge Books, I solicited the services of a professional editor to give it one final (I thought) good going over. Her name is Peggy Ullman Bell. She is an award-winning multi-published author in the historical fiction genre, and I had thought we were friends. I’m joking with the italics, we were and are still very good friends. But when that gal puts her editing hat on, friendship goes out the window, pal. “You are going to write for me. We’ll be friends again, later, when this is over, capish?”

She took it to an entire different and elevated level. “Get rid of all those exclamation points. All of them. You are over-writing. Do not ever use a cliché. You’re just being lazy. Where’s your creativity? Write. Amaze me. Eliminate every adjective – any word that ends with “ly.” That’s just bad writing. Powerful prose with impact uses strictly nouns and verbs. Eliminate all adjectives and adverbs. Limit your dialog tags to simply ‘he said’ or ‘she said.’ No exceptions. If I can’t tell what emotion the words are being said in without you informing me in the dialog tag, you’re not writing very well. What are you trying to get across in this scene? It’s way too vague. Very poor imagery. Write. This character is only ten years old in this scene. You write his dialog like he has a high school education. You expect readers to find this believable? It’s crap. You can do better than this. And stop showing off your vocabulary. If a smaller word works just as well as a big word, use the smaller one. And how many times are you going to use the word ‘horrible?’ Do a word search and use your thesaurus, for god’s sake.”

See what I mean? Not only that, we argued over my “style.” I was breaking grammar rules all over the place, taking liberties with the English language as though I had earned that right as a multiple best-selling author, calling it my style. She said my “style” was in most cases just bad writing. Learn to write within the rules, grow into a writer who can express yourself correctly, then maybe as you mature you can break rules now and then as part of your style when you are doing it knowingly for emphasis.

She picked apart every chapter and every scene within that chapter. She would not tolerate anything less than the best from me, and she knew I could write well, so I couldn’t fool her at all.

I remember one scene in particular. It was a fight scene between Owen as a youngster and his pals who were having a game of marbles. The scene was just kind of laying there on the page. She sent it back, informing me that I needed to write it again and put some pizzazz into it. The scene as it was “stunk,” is I believe the term she used. I did a quick rewrite, thought it quite a bit better and e-mailed it back to her. She was livid with me. She informed me that I need not keep her on as my editor if I was going to send her such lazy perfunctory writing. “I want to feel it. I want to hear it. Action. Short sentences. Fast pace. Punch me in the gut. Smack me over the head. Find the angry slam bang buttons and push them. Write this scene with some power, will you? You’re making me furious.”

Another memorable one was a funeral scene. She said, “Booooooring. Make me cry, please? You’re just telling me what happens. La dee frikkin da. Show it to me. Make me feel the anguish and pain. Where are the smells and sounds? What are people feeling? I mean really feeling? I should have tears in my eyes and I don’t. Bring it! FIND THE EMOTIONAL HOT BUTTONS IN THIS SCENE AND PUSH THE HELL OUT OF THEM!”

As you can read, she is a tough love kind of mentor. And I love her for it. I learned more about crafting good, solid, correctly written and powerful prose in two months working with her than in any other stretch of time in my writing career. Worth every bruise to the ego and delayed submission I suffered a thousand times over.

So in closing, I would admonish any novice authors reading this to be not daunted by your first encounter or two with editors who don’t just you let get by with what you have written as “good enough,” and who could care less if your feelings are hurt when it comes to making your manuscript the best it can be. A good editor doesn’t care a wit about your feelings. They want your book to be the best it can be. That’s what you have in common, and that is what the focus of the professional relationship should be. In fact, I would advise you to seek out one or two such editors and keep them in your database ready for use when it is getting ready for submissions time. Not every publishing house has excellent top notch editors. The small pubs (and they are almost always the only ones that will accept first-time novice authors) often are making do with what they can afford. Might not be much. You may well want to employ your own editor to ensure that your manuscript and finished book measures up to the excellence that is out there.

Oh, and I recommend these two books. On Writing, by Stephen King, and The Frugal Editor, by Carolyn Howard Johnson. They are of immense help in educating yourself on how write and self-edit it in a way that will have your manuscript ready to go to that top-flight professional editor in such a shape that you won’t have to go through quite the ordeals I did. It’s not only good to know how to write in the best form possible and be good at self-editing; it saves you time and money on professional editing costs. Not to mention the money you’ll save on migraine meds and valium.

Thank you Marvin!

Now, that post should definitely inspire some comments -- which is good because Marvin is gving away copies of his book, Owen Fiddler. You can check out his tour page for information on how to get one, but commenting is one of the ways!

And just in case you think Marvin spends all his time editing, here are some links to other things he's doing:

He has a book trailer for Owen Fiddler. He twitters as Paize Fiddler. You can find him on MySpace. And he, of course, blogs at Free Spirit. Plus, Owen Fiddler has its very own website.

And tomorrow, he'll be stopping at Emma Larkins wonderful blog, Emerging Author.

The Blood-Red Pencil

I’ve added another blog to my resume. Luckily for me, it’s a group blog so I only have to contribute about once every other week! But it’s going to be such a great blog that I wanted to let all of you know about it. The bloggers are a group of editors and writers, so you know we’ll have lots to say!

The blog is called The Blood-Red Pencil.

Here are the contributors:

Rhys Bowen
Rhys currently writes the Molly Murphy mysteries, set in 1902 New York City and featuring an Irish immigrant sleuth. She has just begun a new series about a minor British royal in the 1930s--lighter and funnier than her previous books and pitched as Bridget Jones meets Charade as told by Nancy Mitford. Rhys's books have been nominated for every major mystery award and she has won eight including Agatha, Anthony and MacAvity. She is a transplanted Brit who now makes her home in sunny California and even sunnier Arizona.

Velda Brotherton
Velda's work has been published in historical romance, regional non-fiction, articles in newspapers and magazines, short stories in anthologies and non-fiction in anthologies. She hopes to be found one day sitting at her computer, cold fingers in the home position, a smile on her face because she's gone doing what she loves.

Helen Ginger (Yours Truly)
Helen is a freelance editor, book consultant, and writer. She teaches public speaking as well as writing and marketing workshops. In addition, her free ezine, Doing It Write!, which goes out to subscribers around the globe, is now in its ninth year of publication. She's also an Owner/Partner and the Women’s Marketing Director for Legends In Our Own Minds®. And years ago, Helen was a mermaid, complete with shimmery tail.

Dani Greer
Dani heads up the Blog Blook Tours group (and started this group of fearless Blood-Red Pencil editors). She also has great information for authors trying to set up blog tours. You can find her all over the Internet, from Yahoo to Squidoo to Twitter and elsewhere.

Billie Johnson
Billie is a publisher with Oak Tree Press, located in Central IL. Oak Tree Press sponsors three annual writing contests and a writers conference. You can find out more about Oak Tree Press at http://www.oaktreebooks.com/.

Morgan Mandel
Morgan Mandel writes mysteries and romantic comedies while riding the Metra commuter train to work as an administrative assistant. Her recent release, Girl of My Dreams, is a romantic comedy about a straitlaced assistant who sets out to save a dying TV studio by becoming a contestant in a reality show. Her debut mystery, Two Wrongs, set in Chicago, reminiscent of a Charles Bronson movie, contains elements of a John Grisham-like courtroom scene and Danielle Steel second-chance-at-love.

Charlotte Phillips
Charlotte and Mark Phillips have been writing together for five years. Their first Eva Baum mystery was released in 2007 to favorable reviews and they are hard at work on the sequel. They have a great blog called News, Views and Reviews. You can find out more about their books and characters on their website. Charlotte is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Houston writing group The Final Twist where she serves as Publicity Chair.

Chris Redding
Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids and various animals. A member of RWA for five years she also is a member of NJRW, KOD and World Romance Writers. She writes reviews for http://www.romanticinterludes.com and market reviews for http://www.leditslip.com.

L.J. Sellers
L.J. Sellers is an award-winning journalist, editor, novelist, and occasional standup comic, based in Eugene, Oregon. She is the author of the Detective Jackson mystery series (The Sex Club and Secrets to Die For). When she¹s not plotting murders, Sellers enjoys cycling through Oregon¹s beautiful Willamette Valley, hanging out with her extended family, and editing fiction manuscripts.

Chris Verstraete
Chris has written a number of nonfiction projects, including interviewing mystery authors, as well as writing for magazines and newspapers, and now she’s created a fictional miniature art mystery series. Her YA mystery novel is called Searching for a Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery.

Marvin Wilson
Marvin is a spiritualist, a writer, who has the audacity to write novels. On Free Spirit they talk about matters of importance relating to the advancement of human spiritual, emotional and psychological condition. And they have some fun. Free Spirit promotes excellence in the craft of good writing and features books on topics that matter, including those written by Marvin D Wilson and many others.

So, there we are. The official “founders” and “bloggers” over at The Blood-Red Pencil. And we officially open our blog doors today, so stop by, say hi, and ask us questions

Books and Movies, A Melding

Publishers and producers seem to be holding hands more and more. There have always been book/manuscript scouts on the lookout for movie ideas. Now, Hollywood seems to be doing more than just holding hands – they’re kissing and telling.

The Los Angeles Times has an article about the relationship between HarperCollins and indie producer Jeff Sharp ("Boys Don't Cry," "Proof," "Nicholas Nickleby" and "Evening"). Sharp has launched a book-to-film unit, Sharp Independent, at HarperCollins. He’ll be sifting through submissions and picking out titles he feels would be good for adaptation to the cinema.

How and when did this partnership come about? At a 2006 Christmas party, Sharp met with HarperCollins Chief Executive Jane Friedman.

The two friends talked about the need for a better partnership between filmmakers and publishers. He began outlining a possible joint venture with Friedman, who has a reputation for innovation, and the plan was launched last year.

Now, if you’re a potential HarperCollins author and you get picked by Sharp, that may or may not make you happy. You may be hoping for some other production company.

Never fear, you don’t have to sign with Sharp Independent.

No author will be required to sign a film option as a condition of getting a HarperCollins book deal.

This deal with HarperCollins gives Sharp an inside track on material, but he’s not the only runner on the track.

"If they [HarperCollins] can get more movies made from books, it's a win for everybody," said Simon Lipskar, an agent with Writers House. But even though Sharp's access to material is a plus, he added, "it's a little hysterical to think he's got a big advantage. There's no literary submission with any heat in this town that film scouts can't get their hands on."

I’ve said this before, and I’m saying it again, things are a-changing in the publishing world.

Blogs by Publishing Experts

If, like me, you were an avid reader of Miss Snark, you’ve been in withdrawal for quite a while. And, if you’ve never read the Miss Snark blog, you can still go browse the archives. Miss Snark defined the term “snarky,” or sarcastic. Her blog was informative, funny, eye-opening, and extensive. She is sorely missed, but, frankly, I don’t know how she had time to get any agenting work done, considering the long daily blogs she put out.

There are other agents blogging, but none will ever come up to the snarkiness of Miss Snark.

One you might want to read is Rachel Vater’s Lit Agent X. Vater is now with Folio Management. She doesn’t blog on a daily basis, nor is she anywhere near as sarcastic as Miss Snark, but she gives good advice, posts some real query letters she gets that will make you feel like a genius, and is approachable for questions.

Another blogging agency is the Knight Agency. A lot of news about their authors, but also some useful information for aspiring writers, like query letter questions. This is a good site to visit, especially if you write romance or women’s fiction. But, even if you don’t, you can still ask writing questions.

The last blog I’ll mention today is not an agent’s blog, but rather an editor’s blog. If you’re looking for a bit of the snarkiness that you’ve been missing for the last few months, check out Evil Editor. The name kinda says it all. You can ask questions and read his comments. You can, at times, send him stuff and he’ll go medieval on you.

Book Editing

For a couple of days now, I’ve been doing a line edit for an author who gave me a call when her agent recommended she get an edit done before the book went out to editors. I’ve done a first read-through and am now going back through it again.

Whenever I read, I take breaks. Partly because I have to do other things, but mostly because I need to rest my eyes. This time, though, I’m breaking because I kept thinking of things I ought to say in this blog about editing.

First off, you should have a book editor or book consultant read through your manuscript before you send it to an agent. The author I’m working with now is a multi-published author who works closely with her agent, so there was no need to have a professional look at it until this point. But if you’re new, have someone edit for you before you approach an agent. You need a new, untainted eye to read your work. You will be surprised what you miss, no matter how many times you read your own work.

If you decide to have someone edit, you’ll have to consider what you want done. A basic line edit is usually the cheapest. The editor looks for grammar, punctuation and spelling primarily. The cost goes higher if you have someone focus on areas like continuity, POV switches, characterization, pacing, etc. With the second level, you’re looking for a book consultant to work with.

Another thing to remember when you decide to approach an editor or consultant is that the editor might want a hard copy of the manuscript, although some can work strictly with an electronic copy, and some want both. If you assume they’ll want an electronic copy, then you can be prepared to send that. That means one file. If you write each chapter as a separate file, when you decide to work with an editor, you’ll have to create a master copy, so you might as well do that from the beginning. It’ll make your life easier as you write. On a master copy, when you make your own edits, the page numbers automatically adjust. When you want to search for something, you can do a search and find on the one document, rather than on twenty separate chapter documents. So by creating a master document from the very beginning, you’re ahead of the game if you decide to get outside editing done.

Before you have a professional look at your book, have a friend or two look at it. Hopefully, they’ll catch spellings and punctuation mistakes you missed. This will save your editor time and you money.

There’s a lot you, your friends, and your critique group can do to perfect your manuscript before you submit it. So exhaust all of those avenues before (or if) you decide to hire an editor.