The demise of publishing – what’s an editor to do?

Let’s start with a word association test. Ready?

Publishing.

What did you say? Was it by any chance “Demise”?

Yes, demise and publishing are seen everywhere together these days. As my 14-year-old would say, they are “shipped”.

Few in the publishing industry have remained unscathed by Demise, as he dashes about the place with his machete, downsizing, merging, closing down, taking the hopes and dreams of aspiring authors with him.

Demise has stalked me this year. I have survived the attack so far, but have had to adapt, like a Darwin’s finch on fast-forward. Within a year I have evolved from Pearson’s go-to schoolbook editor, forever chasing unfeasible deadlines, to what I now think of as a book midwife, gently helping book-mums and dads bring their darlings into the world. (If you have ever written a book, that analogy won’t sound so mad.)

Pearson’s US bosses shut NZ’s operation down with little warning, stating they would now focus on emerging economies. No more fabulous (and they were fabulous) textbooks for NZ kids. After the initial shock, I decided to go all US-positive-thinking and grab the opportunity to do what I’d been thinking about for a while: working directly with good indie authors, particularly children’s and YA.

Thanks to my association with another company visited by Demise – Pear Jam Books, who had published my own children’s novel The Ghosts of Young Nick’s Head – I knew a number of excellent authors left high and dry with books that needed editing. Let me let me! And they did. There were no crazy deadlines, so as a bonus I was able to get on with my own writing (and at the risk of jinxing the whole thing, I’m hoping to have some exciting news about my latest children’s novel soon. Soonish. Next year, probably. Maybe. (Stay positive, Sue, stay positive.))

So far, so good. As 2014 wore on, I started to get more enquiries via my website and the NZ Society of Authors, and through word of mouth, and now I am booking two or three months ahead. It’s a bit soon to call this my new career, but the signs are good. I love my new role, which has taken on elements of writing coach and marketing/PR adviser, as well as straightforward editor. I’ve worked on two adult thrillers and a gorgeous children’s app (so secret I had to sign a “won’t tell anyone about it” thing), as well as my more usual children’s and non-fiction books, so I’ve widened my editing experience too. “My” authors have included accountants, advertising copywriters, a librarian and a ship’s captain, whose emails said things like this: “The seas out here have gone from wild and grey to a calm, delicious blue, so you wouldn't even think it's the same coastline.” How cool is that?

My income is roughly half what it was, even with the occasional traditionally published book to work on (two this year, compared to my usual five or six), and I have just deregistered for GST, resigning myself to the fact that my turnover will never again be what it was. But I’m hoping I will muddle through, because I am loving my new editing and writing life. And with Christmas in mind, here are some of the books I’ve edited this year that are already available, and which deserve to be in your friends’ and families’ stockings (or on their ereaders). Click on the covers for more info on these titles.