One of the critical stages of writing a book comes when the first draft is done. You as an author need to move from the creation of the manuscript to revision. You probably had an outline to guide you as you created your draft, but there are almost always unplanned changes as you write. You add an idea, a story or a detail that wasn’t in the outline. It’s time to ask yourself if what you’ve actually written effectively conveys the ideas you wanted to develop when you originally conceived you plan for the book. A reverse outline is a tool to guide you in revising your draft by looking at what you have written.
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Authors published by traditional publishers counted on and received quality editing before their manuscript went to press. A self publishing author must make sure that his book receives no less professional attention before publishing it.
Harriet Evans, author of the novel Love Always, said recently in a piece in The Guardian, “It is vital that an author has someone willing to be tough with them. It's in their best interests.”
Why?
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I spent the weekend in Arizona at the Tucson Festival of Books. A lot of that time I was talking to people about editing their books. It made me think about the first time I worked with an editor.
Back in the late 70s, I had just picked up a job as a stringer for the San Mateo Times, a local newspaper in the San Francisco Bay Area. I would be reporting on local sports. My first assignment was to cover a game in a youth baseball tournament. I brought all the intensity and enthusiasm to the assignment I would have to covering the World Series. I went to the game, kept score, took careful notes, conducted post-game interviews, and carefully crafted what I thought was a pretty good account of the game.
I handed the newsprint sheet with my story on it to my editor, and said, “I think this is okay,”
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When should I have an editor look at my manuscript? Sooner, rather than later!
Your book deserves the same kind of thoughtful editorial support that bestselling commercial authors receive. Self publishing shouldn’t mean producing a book of lower quality. In the world of publishing, the editorial process isn’t a cursory look at your manuscript once it’s finished. Editing is woven all the way through the process of creating the manuscript to prepare it for publication.
The graphic below illustrates the continuum of services we provide as professional editors during of the writing process.
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Let's say you’re finished, or almost finished, with the manuscript of your memoir or family history. Now you will want some help to edit and complete your draft. How do you choose the editor for your manuscript? Here are five questions that will help you decide:
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Nancy and Biff Barnes, editors from Stories To Tell, will join host Thomas MacEntee on GeneaBloggers Radio, at 6:00 p.m. (CST) Friday, December 16th to discuss the question, “Do Books Still Matter in Genealogy?”
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Creating a book is often viewed as if an author were some sort of alchemist transforming the base metals of an idea into the precious golden prose of a book. Let’s take a step back and look at creating a book in a less pretentious way. Creating a book might also be viewed as an exercise in project management.
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“How will you celebrate family history month?” asks Randy Seaver on his Genea-Musings blog.
For more and more people the answer appears to be by writing my life story.
The desire to create a book is a wonderful impulse, but many of the seniors who respond to it do so with very little knowledge or experience concerning what it takes to get a book into print.
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“There’s a sucker born every minute,” said P.T. Barnum. And this afternoon I found out I was one.
While working on my last post encouraging writers to get their books finished, I came across a website called Is My Book Done?, created by Boston based writer and multimedia developer Brendan Gannon.
The site offers a special tool BookCheck. It explains, “BookCheck is a tool that scans your writing and determines whether it’s done.”
Ridiculous, said I, no software program can make that kind of judgment.
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Remember when you were a kid in the backseat of the car on a road trip? How many times did you ask, “Are we there yet?”
Finishing a book can be a lot like that. You finish a manuscript, set it aside for a few days, get some feedback from people you trust, identify some things to revise and make the changes. You’re done. Or maybe not. Authors often second guess themselves. A little more reflection and they think of something else that needs to be tweaked. Revise it one more time. The process turns into a feedback loop that never seems to end.
Novelist John Dos Passos once said, If there is a special hell for writers, it would be the contemplation of their own works.”
I have watched too many writers, especially those completing their first book, going through the agony of trying to decide whether they are finished. Is there a way to help them escape back across the river Styx?
I think so.
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We had a wonderful weekend in San Luis Obispo, California, for the Central Coast Book and Author Festival. Reflecting on the numerous conversations we had with authors, I can think of a few pieces of advice to people thinking about writing a book or maybe already in the process of doing so
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We’re in San Luis Obispo, California this afternoon preparing to appear at the Central Coast Book and Author Festival tomorrow. We are excited to be here because the festival is something new for us. We usually appear at expos or conferences where we teach classes, or teach classes to groups. Tomorrow we’ll only be one of 60 some authors with tables in Mission Square. I can’t help thinking about the message we want to convey to people who stop by to chat with us.
First, I know we want to help inexperienced or first time authors, many of whom want to self publish, understand the process of creating a book. We might say to them:
Every book starts out as an idea. To make your dream of a book a reality, authors need help. Writing a book is fascinating and enjoyable…when you know how to proceed.
An experienced editor and book designer can answer questions, teach you what you need to know, and speed your book to completion and successful publication.
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Meghan Ward, the author of the Writerland blog, which I follow, offered some interesting and useful advice to her readers in her post 10 Steps to Becoming a Self Publishing Superstar .
I was particularly interested in Step 4: “If you do decide to self-publish, you should hire a freelance editor (even if you have excellent editing skills yourself) and book designer, so that your book is as professional as it would be if it were published by one of the Big 6.”
It’s something I often tell authors I talk to. If you think about it for a moment the reason it’s sound advice is obvious.
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Writing a book can be a very complex and daunting task, especially if you have never written one before. You have gathered a mountain of research and jotted down notes on ideas and anecdotes you want in the book. How do you get started and stay organized throughout the process?
The Scrivener software program from Literature and Latte, a small shareware company, may be just the tool to help you do it.
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“Just get it down on paper and then we’ll see what we can do with it,” advised the legendary editor Maxwell Perkins who edited Hemmingway, Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe. Perkins believed that the key to a quality book was revision. How could one disagree when one looks at the books his authors produced.
Until you have a draft of your manuscript of your memoir or family history your book is nothing more than an idea and a pile of research. But when the draft is finished you have something with which you can sharpen the ideas and polish the prose until you have a quality book.
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We are getting ready for the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree next week at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport. We hope to see you next week in Burbank.
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What makes someone “one of the best” editors? It’s a useful question for anyone who wants to get a book published. The discussion around Robert Loomis’ retirement after 54 years at Random House offers us some clues.
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Join Stories To Tell Managing Editor Nancy Barnes for an illuminating exploration of the process of creating and self publishing a book. She appeared recently on a Celestial Living podcast with inspirational author and spiritual teacher Johnna Andrea Tuttle. “Writing a book is a journey,” said Barnes. Authors go through six steps to create a book – imagine, plan, create, edit, design and publish. “Many people do the first three steps on their own. Many books never make it past that,” said Barnes. “We help people all the way through the process.”
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“Who are editors and what are they good for?” asks Anita Roy, a senior editor a Zubaan Books and associate editor of Geo magazine...Roy creates a list of the aspects of the craft of editing. Here are some excerpts from the list.
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See how working with a professional editor and book designer can give your self published book a look of professionalism.
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