If you’re new here, welcome! This is a repost of a past issue of "Crafting Eden”. You can read my writing updates chronologically by clicking the “At The Desk” tag in the blog sub-menu, and I recommend that you subscribe to receive writing news, homestead updates, and opportunities to influence my publishing journey straight to your inbox. Enjoy!
Well, after last month's first foray into professional editing, I dove straight off the deep end. I reached out to four different editors, asked them for sample edits (some did a page, others a whole chapter), and then compared their feedback.
Funny how much you can tell about a person just through email correspondence: one editor's form response started with her qualifications (with publishers from 20 years ago). Her base rate to read my book, provide no notes, and record a 1-hour Zoom call was the same price as another editor who would provide comments throughout my entire manuscript, write a 5-10 page editorial letter, and build a story map spreadsheet to help me track plot and character. It pays to shop around.
I've hired an experienced editor Susan, who will look at the first 10,000 words and my 2-book synopsis, and give her opinion on the strength of the story and how I plan for it to play out. I really connected with Susan during our initial conversations, but she's not available for a full edit, so this is the only way I could have her weigh in without waiting months. I also like the idea of hedging my bets, since I'm admittedly a little nervous to hand over my pet project for scrutiny.
Overlapping her review is Kristen, who specializes in science fiction and fantasy. She will read the whole thing; all 80,000+ words of it, along with the 2-book synopsis. My goal for Kristen is to get an expert's full view on how I compose a novel: characters, structure, plot, pacing, worldbuilding, grammar—everything. I will have her notes by the end of the month, and together with Susan's feedback, I'll hope to take my writing to the next level and finish the final draft.
For those of you wondering, standard developmental editing is around 3.5 cents per word. This is a significant investment—but when you do the math, the Surrey International Writers Conference I attended five times was $650 from 2014-2018; now it's $999 for three days! If I consider the conference fees I haven't paid from 2019-2025, this is a personalized course using my own source material to take my writing to the next level.
I've been revising like a fiend these past four weeks; resolving hundreds of comments in my document, re-analyzing each chapter, and overarching themes. It's looking better already—I find it so clarifying to have even the anticipation of another's eyes looking over my work.
I’ll see you on the other side…