Babel Clash

Okay, $$$ vs $ or $$ has me cracking up. It also has me thinking about something that a noted publishing professional once said, which went something like, “I hate success because I’m expected to repeat it.”

Before we fall into the inevitable ebook discussion, I want to pick up on something that Jeremy said.

Ultimately, editors are the first advocates a book has. We are out there fighting for the book… fighting for the best blurbs, and cover art, and marketing resources, long before anyone else knows of a title. We are like revival tent preachers.

That sums up a large chunk of the job description nicely. Inevitably, when someone finds out I’m an editor, they either ask me to spell check something they’ve written or they begin to apologize for their grammar. I explain that who they are thinking of is a copy editor, which is another job entirely and a different skill set. When the Best Editor Hugo was split between long form and short form, I tracked a lot of people online saying things like, “How do I know if this book was better or worse before it was edited?” Which is a fair question, except that what they didn’t seem to realize was that the place where their reading intersected with the editor’s job was in the fact that they were reading that book at all. If you like the books coming out from a particular imprint, then that editor is doing their job (as concerns you. Tastes vary.)

As Jeremy pointed out, there are more worthy manuscripts than there are publishing slots available, and as Ginjer pointed out, there are differences in tastes, expectations, and needs at every publishing house. That you are reading the book you are reading at all, and not another book, is because an editor somewhere found it, loved it, and campaigned for it, externally and internally.  An editor is often one of a very few people internally who has actually read the book, and it’s up to him or her to advocate for that book, explain why it’s important and why they should care, and keep all the various departments excited about it. I recently gave a talk about what happens inside publishing at a local library. As part of that talk, I made a list of all the things that my job as editorial director entails. With the caveat that I also serve as Pyr’s art director, here’s what I said:

• Read all manuscripts
• Present to “acquisitions committee”
• Craft offer, make offer, negotiate with agent
• Draw up contract (#@!!$%@@#!!)
• Choose/contract cover artist
• Art Direct artist > approve roughs > final art > choose designer > oversee
  design > production
• Edit manuscript (work to develop it): Manuscript > to Editor > back to writer >
  back to editor > to production department > to (Freelance Copyeditor) > to
  author > to in house production editor (not me) > to layout (I approve) > back
  to author (as proof pages) > back to production > book
• Advise publicity/marketing (sometimes ad sourcing), oversee/art direct print and online
  advertising

• MOST IMPORTANT: Advocate for the book in and out of house! In house >
  keep everyone in company, most of whom HAVE NOT read the book, aware of why it
  matters and excited for it. Out of house > numerous travel/speaking engagements,
  daily marketing on Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc…, interviews, etc…

Somewhere in there is some actual reading. Though a great many editors I know can only do their reading on their lunch breaks, or on their commutes to and from work, or at night. It would be nice if all we did was sit around and read though. Ironically, that’s what I do for fun in my down hours. Or would be, if I had down hours!

Related posts:

• Editorial Differences
  Occasionally, Lou, you do go home. I know this because you have a child… Seriously, Lou (and Jeremy, I would assume) have both the blessing and the curse that comes with not working for a Large Mainstream Publisher. Referring to Lou’s list, here’s what I don’t do: * read all manuscripts....
• Lifting Boats Into the Future…
  I think Ginjer’s point about us being rivals from a manuscript acquisitions point of view should be looked at carefully. While its true that a lot of agents count on the kind of competition amongst editors to drive up advances and get good deals for their clients, its also true...
• The Many Shades of Night…
  Since Lou and Ginjer have kind of gone through the differences and similarities between their processes, and the size of their respective companies, I thought I would throw in some background on Night Shade, and what I do. Night Shade started out, oh-so-many years ago as two guys in their...
• EEEvil–but Necessary!
  Lou, I’m an editor married to an editor who lives in a NYC apartment–we already have a storage unit! Looking back on all of the posts I realize that we didn’t talk that much about what we actually do, editorially–and in these days when self-publishing is becoming increasingly easy, it might seem like editors are,...
• Only Partially Evil…
  Simon Spanton, who I quoted in an earlier post, once described the dilemma of working in publishing to me as, “You love books so much that you chose a career that virtually ensures you will never be able to afford a house big enough to hold all the books you’ll...