Editors: Bibliocrunch vs Reedsy
Editing The Final Book: Gods has been rollercoaster so far. Getting it through the Alpha Reader process was extremely helpful and lead to so many great discussions about the book. It also gave additional sets of eyes to find all of my foolish mistakes. The most important thing I discovered, or that the Alpha’s provided, is that the book is not a steaming pile of hot garbage. I don’t expect most people I know to be completely honest with me (they think I have feelings), but the feedback was positive. The encouragement was there, they were excited about it, and it felt like it was on the right track. It was good for a group of people to see the book other than myself.
After another re-write, I needed to get the book to an editor that I had lined up. Editors, as most professionals in the world, have a schedule and their months quickly fill up with projects. The editor I was going to work with is also an author and she was giving me a great deal—we were basically trying to support one another. Well, just as we were getting started, she dropped the project due to Booktrope’s sudden and unexpected closure. All of her books, 6 or 7, were handled by the online publisher and she was left scrambling trying to figure out her own future. She told me that she would eventually get back to my book, but that it could possibly be months down the line. It was a polite way of suggesting to look elsewhere.
It was like a kick in the nuts at first. I didn’t know where to go or who to turn to, I don’t have vast connections in the publishing world. I went online and started searching editors—what a shit show. Buyer beware. There are a lot of companies out there preying on the hopes and dreams of inexperienced writers, and it’s almost impossible to sift through the deceit. I have a lot of experience working with producers in the music industry, an editor is a similar widget, and good producers are worth their weight in gold (and also very hard to find).
