Apr. 7th, 2012

jessicasteiner: (Bad Writing Day)
Today I delved into my first big, scary self-publishing related project. Compared to this, nothing has been intimidating.

Writing is easy. I've been doing that since before I actually knew my alphabet all the way through, if you listen to my father's stories. Editing? Well, I'm new to that kind of really deep, gut-wrenching editing that involves tearing a book right down to the bones and rebuilding it into something far better, but I had a guide, and ultimately it just comes down to a lot of work.

But today, I started shopping for an editor. See: my icon.

I discovered a few things:

  1. It's more expensive than I hoped, but hopefully not so expensive as to make it completely impossible for me to afford a good solid edit (And I want a good one, so I can see what to look for next time)

  2. There are a lot of freelance editors out there, holy crap, but the majority of what they're editing are short things, like school essays, articles, and resumes.

  3. The playing field is unregulated and there doesn't seem to be any kind of official directory or anything, unlike the directory of agents and publishers in the Writer's Market


I was really hoping that Writer's Market would actually have a directory of editors who had left publishing houses and gone freelance, but alas, I searched the whole book and it was not to be. So I'm left on my own for now, swimming in a morass of job boards and examining curriculum vitae.

I'm certain of only a few things: I want someone who knows what they're doing, and the majority of the postings out there are no better qualified than I am. But I also want someone who is going to be fairly reasonably priced. So I strongly suspect that I'm looking for a unicorn.

This is all very intimidating to me. Sitting at my desk by myself bleeding words is free. I can do that forever, but actually shelling out cash to a person who is supposed to in some way help me improve my book is a huge risk.

I have internalized the axiom that "all money flows to the author" but the problem is that when it comes to hiring a freelance editor to edit my book, I am going to have to pay them. In advance. I can't just drop my book in the hands of a publishing house who has promised to edit and publish my book for me, and have them pay to get it done. It's all up to me and my ability to pick someone good.

And if things don't work out, there's every chance I will never make that money back.

On the plus side, there seem to be rating systems and resumes and things out there, so I can vet people to a certain degree. I can find someone whom I click with, who edits science fiction and fantasy novels, specifically and rely on their expertise. If things work well, I will hire them again, so they have a vested interest in pleasing me. All of these things give me hope.

I did send out three emails and requested quotes. We'll see how that goes.

Profile

jessicasteiner: (Default)
Jessica Steiner

February 2016

S M T W T F S
 1234 56
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
2829     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 10th, 2025 04:41 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios