Self-Publishing Step-by-Step (2)

So, the NEXT PART OF THE PROCESS.

As with most things in life, these steps didn’t all come neatly and in an orderly fashion. There was, and is, overlap. So, while I was deciding to self-publish Appaloosa Summer, I started reaching out to editors.

In my opinion, editing is the most important thing you can do for your book. Whatever you want to call it – revising, rewriting, editing – it’s essential. One of the reasons I felt really good about jumping in with APS is that I’d already re-written / revised it about seven times before deciding to self-publish it. I’d written it, revised it myself a couple of times, sent it out to an editor (paid), taken her suggestions on board, re-written it again, sent it out on multiple rounds of submissions and, during those re-written it three or four more times. In other words, this book had multiple informed eyes on it (agents, editors and even some regular old readers) and I was confident I wasn’t rushing into publishing it.

I also, as a point of interest, received a City of Ottawa Emerging Artist grant to support me while I did a major revision of APS. Applying for these grants is a competitive process – there’s an extensive application process requiring the submission of 25 pages of the project – and they’re reviewed by a three-member jury. Getting the grant told me other people placed value in this project.

A worthwhile note: going forward, for projects I never intend to submit to agents and publishers, the onus will be on me to re-write and revise enough times to get the manuscript ready. I plan to make use of beta readers to help me with this. I’ll use beta readers to help me get the APS sequel (already written) ready for publication and, when I do, I’ll write a post about working with them.

So, back to my nearly-ready-but-still-in-need-of-final-edits manuscript: APS. In all, I found four editors I’d be happy to work with. One came by way of recommendation from another YA writer. The other I found via some of the blogs I read. The third was someone I’d dealt with when she was editor-in-chief at a pretty big (now defunct) Canadian publisher – at that time she’d provided (very useful) editorial feedback on OIM and, after I’d re-written it, she’d accepted it and told me she was taking it before the publishing board. Then I heard, on the news, that the publisher had gone bankrupt. Yikes! Since then this editor has gone freelance, and edits for some of Canada’s biggest publishers. The fourth (and the one I’m working with) was the person who had edited the much-earlier version of APS. At the time she’d given me amazing feedback, and helped me move the story forward by leaps and bounds (many agents / editors agreed with me on this). I’d loved working with her, and I was over the moon when she said she’d work on me to get APS publication-ready.

I believe any of these women (yes, they’re all women) would have done a great job on my edits. I’d be happy to pass on contact info for any of them to anybody who wants it.

Securing an editor is really not that hard once you’ve figured out who to approach. You email them, tell them about your project (genre, word count, what you’re expecting in terms of editing) and they’ll usually provide you with a quote and a timeline of their schedule. My editor is in the States – I’ve never met her in person and am not sure if I ever will (although it would be excellent!). I pay her via PayPal, which works fine. I also like Interac email transfers myself. We correspond by email and it works very, very well.

The whole process is not much different from the editing process with OIM. The main differences are (1) I didn’t choose my editor for OIM (although I wouldn’t have chosen anybody different – she was talented and supportive) (2) I didn’t pay for my own editing with OIM (3) I had one phone call with my editor for OIM. However, I’d say that was a “nice to have” rather than a “must have” and I think, if we hadn’t been discussing one particular issue we wouldn’t have talked by phone and, also, I think, if I asked, my current editor would probably agree to talk by phone. I, personally, prefer email to phone anyway, so it’s not an issue for  me. You can always ask, when hiring an editor, if he / she would be willing to talk on the phone if that’s important to you.

A few things I recommend to help the editing relationship – especially when you’re paying for editing and so you want it to go as smoothly and efficiently as possible:

(1) I provided a “brand statement” to my editor. I listed the things I wanted to deliver to my readers. I think this is important, because if I say I want to deliver edge-of-your-seat-action and thrills, and she’s reading dreamy romance, she needs to tell me so. My editor told me this statement was useful, so I’d do it for each project going forward. (Note: It’s probably not a bad exercise just for yourself to figure out your writing brand and the promises you want to make good on to your readers).

(2) Put together a style guide to your manuscript. In this I include all the names in the manuscript (people, animals, places) – that way the editor can more easily identify inconsistencies (e.g. a minor character is called “Sid” at the beginning of the book, and “Manny” at the end). I also state how I want to handle spelling, numbers (written-out, digits, etc.) and anything else that might be a “key” to your manuscript.

(3) Do as much work as possible before sending in your manuscript. Don’t think “Oh well, the editor can sort this out”. Get the manuscript as ready as you would if you were sending it to an agent or publisher for consideration. Make it legible (double-spaced, clean text). I’m in the middle of reading over 200 entries for the Ottawa Public Library’s Awesome Authors youth writing contest and, believe me, being easy on the eyes of your judge, editor, etc. will keep them in a much better mood.

You’re paying for this service so put the most you can into it, so your editor can put her all into it as well. You only want to pay for the things you CAN’T do, so many sure you do all the things you CAN.

So, that’s editing. My manuscript is back with my editor now, for her second pass at it. She sent me an eleven-page editorial letter after her first read, I spent a month doing a complete overhaul, and now she’s reading it again. Let’s hope I’ve improved it enough that the next editorial letter will be much shorter, and the next revision period much quicker!