Schrodinger's Stories
  • Blog
  • Buy My Books
  • Free Fiction
  • Contact me
  • Copy writing samples

Bypassing the Publisher? Skip the Editor at Your Peril

8/8/2011

0 Comments

 
I’ve been doing some vehement internal ranting over the past few months about the misconception that, when self-publishing, you can skip the editor as well as the publishing company. Now I’m going to rant in public: For the gods’ sakes, people, don’t skip the editor.

Even if you’re submitting your novel to a traditional publisher, hire an editor first. It’s the difference between putting your work out there as a DIY project or as a product created by a professional. Think about it: You worked hard on this, and invested maybe years at it. I guarantee you, no matter how good a writer you are, you missed something. It might be something important (what happened to character Y? why is it night now? I thought the border with country X was over there? how can Z know this when only W saw it happen?) or it might be a lot of little things (you used “bleak” three times in that paragraph; these three characters have names so similar I can’t keep them straight). No matter how sure you are that you’ve made your Deathless Prose perfect, hire an editor to look at it with professional, unbiased eyes.

Even if you believe your Deathless Prose is so, so good that you don’t need no stinkin’ editor, at least hire a copyeditor to make sure you used all of the words correctly. You don’t want to be the author who kept using “effluent” when you meant “affluent.” Trust me: Readers will notice, and we will laugh.

Don’t skip the last step.

A disclaimer: I am not a fiction editor. I’m a copyeditor and a managing editor, which means I can make several hundred pages of raw Word document into something that reads well and fits into the space and formatting restrictions allotted, but I’m not an expert on why a particular chapter doesn’t work. I can, however, tell that is doesn’t work for me, as a reader and as someone who cares deeply about the quality of self-published fiction.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Torah Cottrill

    I read. I write. And sometimes I talk about it.

    Picture
    Contact Me




    Buy My Books
    (my stories appear in these)

    Picture
    The Awakened Modern
    Picture
    The Awakened II
    Picture
    Ares Magazine
    Picture
    (Issue #20 - free to read)
    Luna Station Quarterly
    Picture
    Stoneheart
    Picture
    (Issue #14 - free to read)
    4 Star Stories
    Picture
    Stupefying Stories
    Picture
    By Faerie Light
    Picture
    (Issue #25 - free to read)
    NewMyths.com
    Picture
    The Awakened
    Picture
    Dreams in Shadow
    Picture
    Stupefying Stories
    Picture
    Homespun Threads

    Archives

    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    May 2011
    November 2010
    November 2009
    March 2009
    December 2008
    May 2008
    December 2005

    RSS Feed

    The Far Side of the World:
    the blog of my Japanese adventures

    Read it Here
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.