Episode 337 – Collaborative Editing with Erika Steeves

Mark interviews editor Erika Steeves about her experiences in working with publishers and authors as an editor.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a brief personal update and a word about this episode’s sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by HOW TO WRITE A HOWLING GOOD STORY by Wulf Moon

You can get this book in eBook, Trade Paperback, and Hardcover editions here.

Between Dec 15, 2023 and Jan 1, 2024, you can get the eBook for 50% off at Smashwords.

In their interview, Mark and Erika talk about:

Meeting at the Waterloo Book FestivalHow Erika got involved in the world of writing and editing by starting off as an editorial internship at a regional Canadian publisher on Canada’s East CoastDeciding to become a freelance editor in 2012 taking on academic projects and some book projectsPivoting over to do more editing on fiction in 2019/2020Erika’s experience reading the slushpile from a publisher and how that exposed her to great manuscripts that she loved but which weren’t suited for that publisher’s mandatesThe difficult task of having to send rejection letters to authorsBeing a member of two associations that have directories of editorsHow Erika finds new writers to work withThe various types of editing work that Erika takes onContinuity editing and the style sheet that Erika likes so muchHow the editor’s “fresh eyes” can help detect some things that writers might no longer be able to detect in a manuscript that has been re-worked numerous timesThings Erika wished more authors knew about related to editorsHow all edits are suggestions and that the writer can decided which suggestions to take, and which ones to ignoreGetting a sense of how many hours an editing project is going to take based on the sample edit that was doneThings that writers should “look out for” in an editor they’re looking to work withWhy contracts are important for both partiesTypes of writers that Erika is cautious about working withIdeas for how a writer can find the right editor for themThe “House of Zolo” publishing company that Erika and a number of other writers and editors put togetherAdvice Erika would offer to writersAnd more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on Erika’s perspective related to things that empower and encourage writers.

Links of Interest:

Erika Steeves’ WebsiteHouse of Zolo: Independent Publishers of Speculative LiteratureMark’s YouTube ChannelBuy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsBest Book Ever PodcastLovers Moon PodcastThe Relaxed AuthorBuy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook DirectPublishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author’s Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark’s Canadian Werewolf BooksThis Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover’s MoonHex and the CityThe Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and AutomobilesYippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Erika Steeves is a copyeditor and proofreader with a decade of experience editing fiction and nonfiction books. She started out as a publishing assistant for a traditional publisher, learning the ropes from the inside. After that, Erika started her freelance career and founded E.S. Editing! She also works as Editor-in-Chief of the HOZ Journal of Speculative Literature. 

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0