Editor Recommendation for Indie Authors and Small Presses

In the last few months I have had the opportunity to talk on a few panels and interviews about self-publishing, and I am always asked about how to secure a good editor.  Though there are a lot of companies like Lulu.com, Createspace.com and others who offer editorial services, a lot of indie authors or small presses can't afford the prices.

Another concern is the quality of the editorial review.  Several indie authors have gone through multiple editors and still have ended up with a book filled with errors.  The money they paid for the services was quite high, but the result was less than professional.

I made my own mistakes when it came to having my books edited.  But I have to say the editor of my last two novels was extremely good, and I am very pleased with her work.

Her name is Felicia Tiller-Sullivan.  Felicia has edited for several publishing houses including Permuted Press.  She edited my two novels, THE LIVING DEAD BOY AND THE ZOMBIE HUNTERS and THE TALE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE.  I was really pleased with her work on both my books.  I love the way she works with the writer's voice and does not try to drastically alter the book in anyway.  She prides herself on taking the story the writer has provided and shaping it into the best book possible while retaining the writer's voice and story.

She is now accepting new clients, so I thought I would post a link to her website http://indie-editor.webs.com/ for anyone still trying to find a GOOD and AFFORDABLE editor for their independent work.  I also recommend using her if you're trying to fine tune your manuscript for submission to an agent or publisher.

The End of an Era

As of a few days ago, I pulled the plug on the As The World Dies series self published editions. I'm not sure how long it will take for the books to come down, but already a lot of the ebooks and the Kindle editions are no longer available.

I noticed Friday that Amazon changed the status to "In stock, but make take 1 to 2 days to process." I translate this as "Rhiannon, are you crazy? Put these back on sale. You got a few days, chump, then its ovah!"

Update: Now Amazon.com is listing the books as "2 in stock" "1 in stock" with the added verbiage of "order soon."

I recognize that this is a very different experience from most writers that are in the process of being published by a major publisher. Their manuscript has most likely never been seen outside a few select friends and family members. They have never had to deal with book cover design, interior formatting, publishing headaches, and sales tracking like I have. They don't know what it feels like to click on a button to "unpublish" the work they poured their heart and soul into.

I won't lie, I got teary eyed.

This is the end of this era of my great adventure. There have actually been several eras: the original posting of the story online, pulling it down to revise and submit it to publishers, deciding to self publish and working hard to make it happen, and the time period from August 2008 to August 2010 when the books were self published and my sole responsibility.

Now the books are firmly in the hands of Tor and I know they will treat my little darlings very well. Without a doubt, this is the best next step for me as a writer and for the series. From editing to the cover to marketing and promoting, Tor is going to do an AMAZING job. My zombie epic will get polished up so it can reach out to an even wider audience.

Just today I received the edits from my editor at Tor. I'm thrilled to be able to dive back in and revise the novel. I truly want this novel to be the best it can possibly be. Growing up, I was used to my mother always taking a red pen to my writing and I embrace the editing process as one to learn from.

Already, I have seen where having one massive tome divided up into three screwed with the story a bit. For example, in the later books, the history of Juan and Travis' friendship is explained, but not in the first one. So at one point, it seems like Travis magically knows something about Juan. I never would have caught this since I wrote the story and I know all that information. But my editor caught it. And that is why I love editing!

Again, I cannot state how excited I am that As The World Dies will have a fresh new look and polished up story when the Tor editions hit next year.

Just How Hard Is It To Get an Agent? Or Sell to An Editor?

Over on the Absolute Write forum, Soulcascade posted two links that could be viewed as very upsetting. It is a literary agent and an editor from Del Rey listing all the reasons why they reject manuscripts. Personally, being able to see why they reject manuscripts is very educational. It is like a checklist of what to avoid in your own work.

A few excerpts from Janet Reid, a literary agent:

Good premise, but the rest of the novel didn't hold up: 11

Not compelling or vivid, or focused; no plot/tension: 10

Slow start or the pace was too slow: 9

Structural problems with the novel: 8

Interesting premise, but not a fresh or new take on familiar plots/tropes: 7

Had caricatures rather than characters: 2

Needed more polish and editorial input than I wanted to do: 2

Good books but I couldn't figure out where to sell them: 7

Her complete list is here. Out of the 124 full manuscripts she requested to see, she signed only two.

The editor's list was also compelling. It revealed that sometimes your manuscript may be rejected simply because it is not what the editor was looking for.

An excerpt from the list by Del Rey editor, Betsy Mitchell:

Not what Del Rey is looking for (meaning we had enough on our list already of whatever subgenre was on offer): 22

A good manuscript but not right for our list (included a couple of nonfiction SF-related titles more suitable for a small press, the odd children's book, etc.) 14

Not a genre that's doing well right now (horror, mostly; some foreign novels being offered for translation, anthologies whose concepts weren't strong enough) 18

It is sometimes very hard to understand why the manuscript you love so much isn't picked up by an agent. The list above is a good starting point to make sure that any manuscript submitted is the best it can be.

The editor's list is probably a lot more eye opening to a lot of people. There is a belief that if a manuscript doesn't sell there is something wrong with the book. That isn't necessarily true. My own agent says she gets a lot of manuscripts sent to her that are good stories, but nothing makes them stand out. She has to reject them because she knows she can't sell them. Therefore, you may have an awesome manuscript on your hands, but it just might not suit the needs of the publishing houses. It may take a lot of submissions by your agent to finally find the right fit.

As my agent told me over and over again, "It only takes one."