Being an author isn’t all Wine and Roses. Once you’ve written the book and edited it a dozen times then sold it, the work isn’t over.
That’s why authors survive on chocolate and coffee!
There’s the:
Structural Edit — This is where the editor looks at the flow of the narrative, suggesting changes to improve pacing and the over all story arc, if needed. Which means rewriting for the author.
Line Edit — This is where your editor picks up little things like clumsy sentences and errors like someone drinking a glass of wine twice. Which means rewriting.
Proof Edit — This is where another person (a proof editor with a meticulous eye for detail) goes over the manuscript and corrects tiny errors that you and your editor have missed because you’ve been concentrating on the larger picture. For instance in my new series King Rolen’s Kin we had to decide which words to give capitals and then make sure this was consistent.
Reading and approving the Proof Edits — This is exactly what it sounds like.
Writing the Blurb — this is really hard. And often the publisher uses this as a starting point for the blurb which may end up looking nothing like the one you came up with.
Writing the Author Bio — harder than you think.
Coming up with the Maps — If you have maps and many fantasy books do, this can take time to get right.
But there is also fun stuff like suggesting ideas for the cover and approving the cover. Sometimes, if you have several contracts for books, you’ll be doing several of the above things on different books, while writing the first draft of another book.
Over the last month the ROR team has been busy.
Marianne has seen the cover of ‘Transformation Space’, book four of the Sentients of Orion series. Plus she’s been redrafting book two of the Tara Sharp series.
Tansy has seen the cover of ‘Power and Majesty’, book one of the Creature Court series. Plus she’s been writing the first draft of book two.
Trent has been doing the copy edits of ‘Death most Definite’ book one of the Death Works series. Plus he’s been writing book three of the series.
Richard has just handed in ‘Liberator’, book two of his YA series, Plus he’s had good news on book one, ‘WORLDSHAKER’ has been shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize for YA Fiction in the NSW Premiers Literary Awards. Yay Richard!
Rowena has done the line edit on all three books of the King Rolen’s Kin series and seen the covers. Plus she’s been trying to write a completely new book in a new series.
Margo has been touring the world swanning around enjoying the success of her YA book ‘Tender Morsels’. Go Margo! Plus she’s been gathering ideas for her next book.
Maxine has been working on a book for the next ROR, while slipping away to ride her horse.
Dirk has been working on a book for the next ROR, while writing an opera libretto.
So you see the writing never stops even when you are not actually at your computer keyboard.
As they say on Mythbusters, between us we have over 70 years experience in the publishing industry, so we’re going to turn comments over to you guys. Do you have any questions?
Hi guys,
Sure, I have plenty of questions. I’ve got a Sci-Fi (speculative, whatever) manuscript I’ve been working on for about a year. It’s had a positive assessment from Trevor Shearston at Flood Manuscripts. I’ve made the suggested changes and am probably on my third draft.
But when is enough enough? I could work on it for another six months and things wouldn’t change significantly. Should I submit it? And who to? Should I get it reassessed and try to get a letter of recommendation? Approach an agent (of evil)? Or a publisher (who’ll accept an unsolicited ms)?
I read articles about people who’ve had success, but there don’t seem to be many anveues to get there, especially when you live in Botswana. I feel as though getting a letter of recommendation would be a waste of time and money. Is it? Do publishers care about recommendations when they generally have their own agendas?
For you these questions may not have a lot to do with the editing process described above, but for me (as an unpublished writer) they are intimately intertwined because I’ve done all the editing I can, and short of sending it to a professional, it’s as polished as I can make it.
Please don’t tell me the answer’s 42. With 70 years of gestalt experience, I’m expecting somthing wondrous.
Hi Chris, Waving madly.
Do you feel very isolated in Botswana? I used to feel isolated in Brisbane, Australia.
If you feel the manuscript is ready to be sent out, then that is what you should be doing. Meanwhile keep writing.
Target your manuscript to the right publisher by reading the books the different publishers release. Some specialize in the Door-stopper Fantasies. Independent Press in the US do print runs that are comparable with the major publishers here. Independent Press will be more open to taking risks on authors, who dare to break write break-out books. BUt a lot of publishers don’t accept unsolicited submissions and it is hard to get an agent without a track record.
A good way to get noticed is to enter competitions. In Australia we have these two, but I think you have to be an Australian citizen to enter.
VARUNA PUBLISHER FELLOWSHIPS (Children, YA and Adult)
PUBLISHER-SUPPORTED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESIDENCIES
http://www.varuna.com.au/fellowships.html
http://www.varuna.com.au/publisherprograms.html
These programs enable you to bring your work to the attention of publishers at a far earlier stage than is normally possible. And they enable publishers to form an association with interesting projects and writers at a far earlier stage than is normally practical.
Useful Programs/Pitch Opportunities
Enter the Orbit/QWC Manuscript Development Program. (adult)
http://www.qwc.asn.au/ProgramsEvents/NationalProgram/ManuscriptDevelopmentProgram.aspx
Up to 10 emerging fiction writers will work with publishers for Hachette Australia to develop high-quality fiction manuscripts.
Then there’s the Allen and Unwin Friday Pitch.
http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=462
They tell you what they want you to send for your pitch.
There are also opportunities to pitch directly to an agent. These come up on agent blogs. There’s none that I know of right now, but by belonging to writers lists like VISION, you get to hear about them, or you can try following several agents’ blogs.
You can sign onto the VISION writers e-list through their web site. http://www.visionwriters.org
These two agents will help you polish your query letter.
Agent Query Site The internet’s largest and most current database of literary agents http://www.agentquery.com/
Query Shark http://queryshark.blogspot.com/
Hope this helps. (Sorry, not sure how to embed a link in the reply to comments). If you like my next Sunday ROR post could be about Pitching.
LOL, looks like the embedding of links happens automatically!
Hi Rowena,
Wow, this is great! I was aware of the Firday Pitch but all these other programs and links are awesome. I must admit, I do feel isolated here but there’s really no reason to. Botswana is a great country and I’m kinda sad to be leaving it. I’ve been here four years and I’m returning to Hobart on the 5th of May.
There’s so much to look at in your reply so thanks a lot. I really like what’s coming out of Orbit at the moment. Philip Palmer’s Red Claw, and Charles Stross’ Halting State were both great, though nothing like what I’ve written.
A post on pitching would be really helpful for beginners like me. And wirting a synopsis. I completely understand the need to be brief in a synopsis, comming from a technical writing background where brevity is next to godliness, but how do you give a feel for the soul of your writing rather than just stringing together a few elements of plot?
I probably sound greedy now, but this is where I am.
Thanks for your help.
Hi Chris,
Rowena has given you some good starting points. The key is to learn as much about the industry as you can, so you know when agents are taking pitches and which publishers are looking at unsolicited manuscripts. Ideally, it’s great to start with an agent, so I recommend refining your one paragraph pitch and query letter/email and starting emailing US/UK agents. Predators and Editors website will give you some good information on that.
Get hold of the Industry Handbooks (eg Australian Writers Marketplace and equivalents in other countries) and study submission guidelines. Read Locus Magazine and see which agents are selling and who is buying from them.
Sounds like your manuscript is ready to make its first foray into the world. So get to it, and then start writing your next one. Publishing is a slow business!
Hi Marianne,
I get the feeling you’re right. Publishers appear to work on what we call Botswana Time, so you’d think I’d be used to it. And being a geologist, I’m accustomed to thinking in Epochs rather than days or weeks.
I’ve had copies of AWM in the past but since being over here I’ve lost contact. I’d love to submit to US and UK agents but my story is very Australian, and contains unique references and a lot of my homesickness. I notice that Time Machines Repaired While You Wait was first published overseas beofre being picked up by Fremantle so perhaps there’s still hope.
I also sold overseas first. It’s sometimes the way. I certainly wouldn’t discount it. The AWM has online subscription now. I’d urge you to renew and get back in the loop.
Hi Chris!
It definitely sounds like for that particular book, it’s time to “shoot the writer and ship the manuscript.” Getting professional assessments can be useful for helping you pick up editing ideas you might not have had otherwise, but publishers are generally only interested in the product itself, not letters of recommendations (they can be handy for grant applications or things like that, though, so hang on to it). I have heard editors say, on the other hand, that they do like to see evidence that someone “other than your Mum” likes the book… the trouble with a letter of recommendation is that if the publisher hasn’t heard of the person who did the manuscript assessment, it doesn’t mean much to them.
Absolutely, send it out, and keep sending. And as the others say, write the next one. You will learn so much from writing your next book that if the first one doesn’t get picked up in the next year or two, you probably will be able to go back to it with sharper eyes and make it even better. But right now enforced separation for you and your book is a good idea – absence makes the editorial eye better!
Most writers do not sell their first written manuscript – or at least, don’t sell that one first. The best thing you can do is keep producing books. Not only will each be better, more polished etc. than the last, but it’s also building up a backlist which can be handy.
Most writers are also NOT prepared for what happens when you get picked up by a publisher. They are generally interested in writers who want to do this as a career, and they will often want more than one book. Or they will like your writing and maybe not have a place for that particular *kind* of book. There are magic, terrifying words in our industry: What Else Have You Got? Our friend Kaaron Warren ended up selling three individual novels to Angry Robot last year, because of those 5 magic words. So she did sell her first manuscript, and her second, and her third, but I’m pretty sure it was the third that caught their eye.
As Marianne says, this is a slooooow business. Even if an editor likes your book, it can take up to a year for them to convince the board that yours is the one the publisher should invest money in. Know what a year is? Enough time to get to work on another book!
Hi Tansy,
Thanks for your feedback, and I am interested in (read desperate for) a career in writing, rather than just satifying my own need to get something published.
Once I’m finished this draft I will begin sending it out and I’ll also take your advice and start on the next one as I have plenty of ideas. My current ms is far from the first thing I’ve written. But I’ll qualify that by adding it’s the first thing I’ve written that I feel is any good.
And you’re right in that the more I write, the more I learn. It’s taken me a long time to work out what I want to write about and what form that writing will take. Now I just want to get on with it.
Cheers and Thanks.
Glad to help, Chris! Having a pile of good manuscripts available when the publisher finally comes knocking is a really, really good problem to have
Good luck with it.
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