After all, editing is expensive. It takes a long time. What is your editor doing during those weeks or months with your manuscript? What are they doing to earn that high fee? I promise you, editing isn’t sitting around reading books all day. It’s also not making our pens proverbially bleed onto the page as we gleefully correct errors. Editing is a complicated and often frustrating process. Here’s a little of what it looks like.

What Does Professional Editing Look Like?

Since I’m a copy editor, I’ll take you through what a copy edit looks like for me with the average manuscript.

Receive the Manuscript

The first step is receiving the manuscript. I will perform a basic cleanup on the text, formatting it properly (if it isn’t already) and performing basic functions such as replacing any double spaces between sentences with single spaces. All of this happens before the track changes go on because there’s no need for the author to see those changes (and they can be numerous).

Read Through the Manuscript

Next, I’ll read through the manuscript from beginning to end to get an idea of the contents and the author’s voice and intentions. If the edit is a tight turnaround, I may only read the first section of the book before diving into editing fully.

Track Changes Go On

Now, track changes go on, and the editing begins. Editors look for many things at this stage, and the order in which they search for each item could be different for each author and editor. For a copy edit, I’m looking at grammar such as unnecessary passive voice or consistent capitalization; I’m looking for flow such as too many repeated sentence starts; I’m looking for punctuation, including both the correctness and the impact of each mark.

Make Additional Passes

Depending on how “clean” the manuscript already is, I may complete anywhere from two to five passes on it, looking for different things each time. How many passes a manuscript gets also depends on the timeline or quote from the editor. The less time for the edit, the fewer passes I’m going to be able to fit in. Some editors will name a specific number of passes in their contracts.

Manuscript Goes Back to the Author

Once the manuscript is handed back to the author, they have a chance to read through it and make any final changes or change anything back they disagree with. You don’t need to and shouldn’t hit accept all. I usually lock the track changes on during this stage, so you can’t do that.

Final Pass & Cleanup

When you’re done making changes, then it comes back to me, and I do a final scan of the manuscript. In particular, I’m paying attention to any edits I see you’ve made to be sure any basic errors haven’t been introduced. I then “accept all” on the manuscript and send the tracked changes and clean copies to the author.

What Does it Take to Be an Editor?

In addition to how I edit, I’d like to cover what it takes to complete the above steps. Editors have different traits that make them adept at different types of editing. But most editors will have these basic skills.

Decision Making

Editing is a lot of decision-making. Yes, a lot of decisions are made for us by style guides and grammar rules. But there are a LOT of exceptions to English writing “rules,” and editors are tasked with finding the right answer to a question with no certain conclusion. Therefore, a lot of editing comes down to style. Editors are constantly trying to balance what is correct with what is the author’s voice.

Detail Retention

Did the apartment switch from the second to the third floor in two different chapters? Did you capitalize a made-up term somewhere but have it lowercase in other places? These sorts of details need to ring bells in an editor’s mind so they can create consistency in the work.

Empathy

Editors need to understand their authors. They need to understand what the author’s intentions are behind the words and their meaning and how they are trying to get it across. We must put ourselves in the author’s shoes and think like them to do our best editing without removing what makes the writing special.

A Keen Eye

Great editors can spot even the smallest details, like a wrongly italicized comma. We need to be detail oriented to find what needs fixing. A lot of editing is looking at a word or construction and telling ourselves, “I better look this up.”

Patience 

Editors need to be patient with authors, for sure, but also patient with the work. Editing shouldn’t be rushed. When I work on a manuscript, I work six or seven days a week, but I only edit up to four hours each day. This is about how long we can do Deep Work.

Resilience

Editors need to have a thick skin. Sure, most people think it’s the authors who need to steel themselves up against our edits, but it’s really editors who need to be resilient to feedback on our edits. After all, we’ve invested into your manuscript, it can be devastating to hear an author changed back most of the edits. But it happens. Editors need to be resilient to it.

Some editors refer to themselves as gardeners, helping manuscripts grow into full books. Other editors see themselves as miners, digging the true message from your words. Overall, editing is a long and complicated process. (And we haven’t even covered developmental editing, line editing, or proofreading.) But rest assured, your high-charging editor is doing much more than just adding a few commas or making a few comments. 

Jeanette the Writer is a freelance editor and writer based in Dallas, TX. When not at her computer, you can find her crafting, scuba diving, or posting pictures of her cats on Instagram. Visit JeanettetheWriter.com for more info and follow @JeanettetheWriter on Instagram and Facebook.

The post What Does an Editor Actually Do? appeared first on DIY MFA.

1. You managed to write all of this!

If you haven’t already, I want you to stop reading this immediately and go celebrate that you finished a project and are moving on to editing. That is a HUGE accomplishment! 

All those words (good and bad), those came from you. You poured your heart onto the page and that took guts and dedication. 

Always keep in mind that you birthed that manuscript or story into the world all on your own. That is powerful.

2. No one’s first draft is good

There may be moments of greatness in your first draft, of course. But no writer, even professionals we idolize, gets everything perfect on the first try. 

It’s a hard pill to swallow when we look back on our writing and admit it isn’t very good—yet. 

But that’s the key. It’s only a first draft. No one expects it to be remotely good, let alone perfect. Don’t beat yourself up about it. That’s what the editing process is there for.

3. Editing is the fun part

In this humble editor’s opinion, the editing process is where the fun of writing really begins. 

During the writing phase, your mind was throwing out anything it could find at the moment to make your point. 

Now is the time to take all that word-clay and start digging in, molding and shaping it into the artwork you imagined. After all, is there anything better than that feeling when a sentence you revised is so good it gives you goosebumps?

4. Editing is NOT a never-ending process

The writing process has a clear demarcation when it comes to an end. All stories, whether short or novel-length, have a conclusion of some sort. 

But the editing process… it’s not so clear when it ends. 

Yes, you could go on forever making a little tweak here and a small wording change there, but you will need to one day call it quits. Setting a goal and having a specific series of edits in mind can help you draw that line in the sand. 

5. All great writers had an editor

With the rise of self-publishing, I can no longer say that every book published has been through the hands of at least one editor. 

But I’ll bet any writer worth their salt can point out exactly which books had an editor and which didn’t. The Amazon and New York Times bestsellers? They definitely had editors! 

Don’t think you have to or even should go through the editing process alone. Editors are your friends and they serve an important purpose.

Tell us in the comments: What do you keep in mind during the editing process?

Jeanette the Writer is a freelance editor and writer based in Dallas, TX. When not at her computer, you can find her crafting, scuba diving, or posting pictures of her cats on Instagram. Visit JeanettetheWriter.com for more info and follow @JeanettetheWriter on Instagram and Facebook.

The post #5onFri: Five Things to Keep in Mind During the Editing Process appeared first on DIY MFA.

Today’s episode is extra-awesome because I’m speaking with not one, not two, but three fabulous ladies, who have had hand in bringing a truly buzz-worthy novel to life, on the show!

First we have author Samantha Downing, whose debut novel My Lovely Wife has been getting a lot of attention. When she was a kid, Samantha’s mom brought her to the library every two weeks, where she would check out a stack of new books that she couldn’t put it down. She walked around with a book in front of her face, often walking into walls and stubbing her toes because she never watched where she was going. In her adult life she decided she wanted to be the one telling stories that would make people walk into walls and My Lovely Wife, is one such book.

Next we have Samantha’s agent Barbara Poelle who began her publishing career as a freelance copywriter and editor before joining the Irene Goodman Literary Agency in 2007. Barbara also did a brief stint as a standup comic in Los Angeles and if you’ve ever bumped into her at a conference or literary event, you know she is hilarious. Barbara has found success placing thrillers, suspense, young adult and upmarket fiction, She is actively seeking her next great client in those genres, but is passionate about anything with a unique voice.

Jen Monroe is the editor behind this fabulous book. She joined Berkley in November 2016 and edits psychological suspense, upmarket fiction, speculative fiction, and narrative nonfiction. Previously, Jen spent two years at HarperAudio where she handled all editorial needs, and produced the in-house podcast HarperAudio Presents. Jen also pursued journalism interning for places including The New York Times and The San Francisco Examiner.

So listen as Samantha, Barbara, Jen and I chat about the amazing novel MY LOVELY WIFE, and the teamwork involved between an author, agent, editor to bring a book into the world.

In this episode Samantha, Barbara, Jen and I discuss:

• The matchmaking experience of publishing.
• Why communication is vital to a successful author-agent-editor relationship.
• Crafting an unreliable narrator while still maintaining your readers’ trust.
• Advice to help navigate disagreements in the editorial process.
• The most important thing querying writers need to know.

Plus, each of these lovely ladies’ #1 tip for writers.

About Samantha Downing

Born in the Bay Area and now living in the Big Easy, Samantha Downing considers both to be home. When she was a kid, Samantha’s mom brought her to the library every two weeks, and she would check out a stack of new books and new worlds. The best thing to her was becoming so absorbed in a book that she couldn’t put it down. She walked around with the book in front of her face, took it to the bathroom, the kitchen, the book came with her wherever she went. She tripped, ran into walls and stubbed her toes because she never watched where she was going. So in her adult life she decided she wanted to be the one telling stories that would make people walk into walls.

Along the way to this discovery she went to school, worked a few jobs and learned a thing or two. Throughout it all, she wrote. She never studied writing, it was just a hobby that grew into a passion, and a dozen books later (eleven of which she declares were truly terrible), her first novel, My Lovely Wife, is now available.

To connect with Samantha check out her website at www.samanthadowning.com.

About Barbara Poelle

Barbara Poelle began her publishing career as a freelance copywriter and editor before joining the Irene Goodman Literary Agency in 2007, but feels as if she truly prepared for the industry during her brief stint as a standup comic in Los Angeles. She has found success placing thrillers, suspense, young adult and upmarket fiction and is actively seeking her next great client in those genres, but is passionate about anything with a unique voice. Barbara also writes the column “Funny You Should Ask”, in Writer’s Digest.

To learn more about Barbara check out the Irene Goodman Literary Agency website at www.irenegoodman.com.

About Jen Monroe

Associate Editor Jen Monroe joined Berkley in November 2016. She edits psychological suspense, upmarket fiction, speculative fiction, and narrative nonfiction. Previously, Jen spent two years at HarperAudio where she handled all editorial needs, spearheaded original programming, and produced the in-house podcast HarperAudio Presents. Before publishing, she pursued journalism interning for The New York Times, Upfront and The San Francisco Examiner. Originally from San Francisco, she has an English & Creative Writing degree from Sarah Lawrence College.

My Lovely Wife

Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this wildly compulsive debut thriller about a couple whose fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting…

Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We’re your neighbors, the parents of your kid’s friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have our secrets to keeping a marriage alive.

Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 245

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 245: The Author-Agent-Editor Collaboration — Interview with Samantha Downing, Barbara Poelle, and Jen Monroe appeared first on DIY MFA.