YourBookBiz: Conversations With Your Editor

Entering into an agreement with a professional editor for your manuscript is a giant step forward in your process to produce a high quality book. The editor agrees to read the work attentively to rules and punctuation, spot typos and usage errors, target trouble spots and awkward sentences. A verbal debriefing on other larger issues is usually in order. The editor is not a miracle worker who will cure all the ills of your manuscript. Only you can do that kind of resurrectional surgery. The author agrees to measure gains from the relationship with a more error free text and swears to not be defensive if some of his cherished wordings are labeled troublesome.

Gatsby’s Last Resort: A Telluride Murder Mystery is now in the hands of a local editor for a workover and I wanted to share what I feel was a very typical first correspondence between us, as the editor assessed the scope of the work ahead:

Bob, I have looked over the manuscript. Actually, I read Chapter One carefully and flipped through the rest of the book. I found the beginning intriguing and want to keep reading.

Based on my academic training, this is what I notice with regard to language.