Editing Your Editor
by Joni B. Cole
Excerpted from Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive by Joni B. Cole. © 2006, University Press of New England, Lebanon, NH, pages 35-37. Reprinted with permission. For more information, contact the author at jonibethcole@gmail.com.
Editors are like lifelines to writers. They exist to save us from the embarrassment of obfuscation, sentimentality, saggy middles, misplaced modifiers, and other detractions that can cling to a manuscript like toilet paper to a shoe. What’s more, editors read everything and know the market. This makes them book experts, and a perfect test audience for how your book is going to hold up when it is on a store shelf surrounded by thousands of eye-catching tomes.
So how can you make the most of your working relationship with your editors, whether at a publishing house or publication? Read on for some useful tips.
Think collaboration.
Don’t forget, you and your editor are on the same side, sharing the mutual goal of producing the best book possible. You bring to the collaboration the vision, the voice, and a familiarity with the work that only comes from spending umpteen hours laboring over its creation. Your editor contributes a reader’s perspective, professional editing skills, and a knowledge of how to size and price your book for the market. When your editor makes suggestions, be open. Be respectful. Aim to please, but don’t pander.
Expect guidance, not fixes.
Editors edit at two levels. They look at the big-picture issues such as pacing and development. And they look at the language—Is the wording clear? Where is there repetition or flab? In either case, most editors (with the exception of copy editors) are more likely to make general comments, pointing out patterns and a few supporting examples, rather than say, “Do this.” or “Fix that”. As one editor told me, “I expect and hope that writers will take a fair amount of responsibility in the revision process.”
Wait.
An editor once suggested a major structural change in my manuscript that I hated. Immediately, I composed an e-mail rebuttal, the gist of it being that she was WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! Thankfully, I didn’t push send, partly because the stakes were so high I was afraid of her response. This gave me time to revise my note over the next few days, fleshing out my argument and toning down the vitriol. When I eventually did send the e-mail, my heart was racing. Only a few hours later the editor responded, “I see your point. I’m fine with the structure as is.”
Picture your editor’s life.
Five new proposals just landed on her desk, adding to the five she didn’t have time to respond to yesterday. She’s got your book to edit along with several others, all with various production timetables that can’t be compromised. At lunch, she needs to dash to Bloomie’s to try on bathing suits under fluorescent lighting, then race to a three-hour meeting with sales and marketing. Oh, and last night she was up until 2 a.m. with a sick kid and a stack full of trade journals that she never found time to read. Bear all this in mind when you consider her editorial discretion, and the pace at which she returns your phone calls.
Give and take.
When it comes to making editorial changes, it never hurts to give a little. In fact it helps. Once you show your editor you aren’t poised to fight every suggestion, she’s likely to be more cooperative than commanding, especially when she hears the finality in your voice about the issues that really matter to you. “Throw ‘em a bone, for Chrissakes,” is how one author put it, but he writes crime novels so that might be his police lieutenant talking.
Be a problem solver, not problem creator.
“The most frustrating thing a writer can do is to consistently disagree with my suggestions, but not offer any alternatives,” said one editor. “‘I hate the sub-title. I hate the sub-title.’ So then come up with an alternative,” he advises. “The process is supposed to be an exchange of ideas.”
Don’t go to great lengths.
I was surprised when an editor informed me that publishers feel as strongly about the length of a book as its editorial treatment. That was until I learned that if a manuscript comes in just ten percent over word count, the editor has to justify it to the folks in accounting. Books are made up of “signatures” of thirty-two pages each; adding just half a signature translates to higher production costs. Given this reality, be sure to take your contractual word count seriously and be open to trimming if your book comes in long. Publishers aren’t likely to absorb the additional expenses of an over-sized, over-budget tome unless, of course, it’s written by Bill Clinton or Jane Fonda.
Show good manners.
An author friend was working with her editor on revisions to her book. They had to work fast to meet her publishing deadline. My friend got behind on her rewrites by about a week so she phoned the editor to tell her not to expect the new pages on time. The editor was stunned. “You’re the first author who has ever called to let me know she’s behind,” the editor told her, “usually they just stop taking my calls.”
Bundle.
As much as you would like to instant message your editor every five seconds to make sure your revisions are on target and she still thinks the world of you, busy editors would prefer it if you bundle your reactions and questions into one longer e-mail or phone conversation. Otherwise, they really might stop loving you.
Be forceful and articulate.
In my first book, my editor’s boss wanted me to take out all the profanity, or at least replace the middle letters with asterisks. This would have been a great idea had I been shooting for the children’s market, but this was a book of diaries from real women. So even though I was a nervous wreck about coming off as one of those pushy first-time authors, not to mention a gutter mouth, I reiterated my argument over the course of several weeks until her boss reluctantly conceded.
A few years later I was talking with my former editor (we no longer work together, but have remained friends) when she brought up this debate over swear words. “Thank you for being so forceful and articulate,” she said. “Your arguments really helped me convince my boss.” Forceful and articulate. This took me by surprise, and taught me a good lesson about working with editors. Because the whole time I was fighting to preserve my book’s integrity, I thought my editor thought I was just being a pain in the a**.
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Joni B. Cole is the author of Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive. Her creative nonfiction has been nominated for a 2011 Pushcart Prize and has appeared in numerous literary publications. Joni teaches at writing conferences around the country and runs the Writer’s Center of White River Junction, VT. Learn more about her books and writing retreats: jonibcole.com, jonibethcole@gmail.com.