How To Handle Editorial Feedback

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

It may be strange to make this admission. As a writer, I don’t enjoy getting editorial feedback--especially the most helpful kind. The most useful feedback is when your manuscript isn’t published and is still being improved and refined but will often take a lot of work on my part to adjust it.  

When I work with an editor, they often use the tracking changes feature of Microsoft Word, which in general is a standard program within the publishing community. Yes, there are other programs like WordStar and WordPerfect but in general writers who use these older programs are stuck and don’t want to learn to use Word. One of the most famous authors in this category is George R. R. Martin who writes the Game of Throne novels. Follow this link to see the extent that he is maintaining his old writing pattern. Most of us don’t have such an option. 

Several years ago, I was contracted to write a book. This particular book involved working on a short deadline and multiple editors reviewing and making editorial suggestions on my manuscript. If you have a single editor, the Word changes appear in a single color. If you work with multiple editors, each editor has a different color and the manuscript looks like a rainbow of colors with many things to address in each paragraph. Multiple editors and a short deadline to review and return this material made this book a challenge. At that time I was not just a freelance writer but also working a fulltime day job at a publishing house. With a dose of persistence, I completed the book and it was published but the editorial process was grueling.

When you get editorial feedback, there are basically two ways to handle it. Initially when I get this feedback I fume and mutter to myself that I don’t want to do it. I’ve learned not to respond but to give myself a day or two to think about it. Usually during this cooling off period, I determine the truth in the feedback and the need for revision. I decide to do what the editor asked me to do.

Because I’ve worked in publishing for many years, I’ve seen the opposite reaction. Authors write lengthy retorts about why they wrote something the way it was written. Some authors will battle over every single word changed in their original work. These authors do not endear themselves to the editor or publisher or agent. Instead of an author you want to help, they become someone to delay, avoid and reject because of their lack of teachability and being coached. 

The editorial process is designed to produce an excellent work for the reader. Some authors forget this important detail in the back and forth process. Admittedly the process is subjective and has room for dialogue and discussion but at the core is the search for an excellent book.

One of the best ways for every writer to get editorial feedback is to join a critique group. Early in my days as a writer, I joined a small group of four people who met every month for breakfast. We wrote something each month for the group. Maybe it was a short magazine article, a query letter, part of a book proposal or a chapter in a book. Each person got the manuscript at least a week before our meeting date. As a member of the group, your task was to print the material and mark it up with editorial suggestions for improvement. During the meeting, we quickly ordered our breakfast, then took 15 minutes with each person. The focus of our time was not to visit or chat about anything other than the work that we were critiquing. At the end of the meeting, each person went home with three versions of their work.Then you can take the input and see if you agree (make the change) or ignore it. 

As writers, we grew in our writing and learned from each other in this editorial process. I found it gave valuable insight. If you are not in a critique group or want to improve your group process, I have much more detail in this article. 

As an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing, every day I’m involved in this editorial process. Recently the feedback for one of my novel authors was she needed to get a developmental editor then resubmit her work before getting a contract. This particular novelist had published a number of nonfiction books but this manuscript was her first novel. She needed some professional help before the foundation of her story would be excellent for publishing. It’s not easy to tell authors such decisions and encourage them to move forward to get an excellent book--yet it is all part of the process of producing excellent books. 

Another option for writers to get editorial feedback is to hire an outside editor before sending your material to an agent or publisher. If you use this option, it can be an expensive way to get an excellent manuscript but if you learn from the editor as they make suggestions, it can be a valuable part of your growth as a writer. 

It’s not easy or straightforward for any writer to handle editorial feedback but it is a necesary part of the process of producing an excellent book. How do you handle this process with your writing? Tell me about your experiences in the comments.

 

Tweetable:

There is definitely a process to produce an excellent book. In this article, prolific writer and editor gives insights and suggestions about how to handle editorial feedback.  (ClickToTweet)

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Five Ways to Earn Your Spot

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As a writer, how do you earn your spot to have others read your work? In this article I want to give you some ideas about how to acquire this skill and the action steps you need to take.

In this article, I mentioned working on getting my books into libraries. I reached out to the collection librarian. I asked what sort of check out activity a book needs.  While this standard may be different for every library, here's what I learned: “We are a demand-driven collection, so everything on our shelves earns it’s spot! Our nonfiction collection has an average turnover of 5 checkouts per year per book, so circulation needs to be close to that to either stay on our shelves, or if damaged, repurchase.”

 

From my exchange with this librarian,  I've created a plan to regularly plan to market my own books which are inside my local library. In the past, I've done nothing to encourage people to use my books. But now I'm going to regularly encourage my local writer's group and others to check out and use my books from the library book shelf. Through my own marketing efforts, I want to help my books stay in the collection.  My marketing of my books in the library doesn't have to be sophisticated or fancy—but it does have to happen and I will be the person doing it. This additional activity stems from my philosophy of taking 100% responsibility for my own success.

 

How do we earn the right to be read or published as writers? I've already mentioned one way with actively working to get your books into libraries.

 

A second way to earn your right to be read is to learn the craft of storytelling. It is a developed skill to tell interesting stories. Some of it you can pick up through extensive reading but it is also a skill which can be taught as you learn how a mixture of dialogue and narration detail can make for page turning wriiting.

 

A third way to earn your spot is to write on a regular basis and submit your writing. Notice the second part of this point. It's good to write on a regular basis but you don't earn your spot and get published if it never reached an editor. Admittedly it takes work on your part to find the right editor but you have to be in the market to have any opportunity to be published.

 

A fourth way to earn your spot is to reach your audience in different formats and methods. There are an endless series of methods to reach your audience such as an email list, your various social media links, reviews, magazine articles, podcasts, books and radio interviews.

 

The fifth and final way to earn your spot is to make an action plan then keep working your plan—even in the face of failure or rejection. Each of us (yes me too) face these twins of failure and rejection. The difference between those who succeed and those who don't? The ones who succeed keep going forward even when they are rejected. Our world is full of opportunity. As a writer, you have to seize the day, keep your fingers on the keys and keep moving forward. 

 

Our lives in publishing are not easy but are possible. I hope in this article I've given you some ideas and encouragement to keep moving ahead.  How do you earn your spot? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Tweetable:

How do you earn your spot to have others read your writing? Learn five ways from this prolific editor and author. (ClickToTweet)

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Be More Than An Author

It is terrific to be an author and have books in the world. Over 80% of Americans plan to write a book at some point during their lifetime. Many people have published books through traditional publishers or self-published their book.  It's exciting to hold the new book in your hand and dream of people reading and enjoying your book.

This morning I watched this eight-year old video of Robert Kyosaki for at least the third time. Why? Because this video contains multiple messages and insights from a bestselling author. He and his wife, Kim, are always learning, always promoting, always selling and do not see themselves as authors but as entrepreneurs. Leading up to the Quantum Leap program Steve Harrison offers a series of free teleseminars. The next one is Thursday, September 17^th  and you can sign up here. I always learn a great deal from these sessions and recommend it to you.

If you watch this video, you will hear Kyosaki encouraging you to be more than an author—to be an entrepreneur. In the last few years, I've been hearing the term authorpreneur. The word combines the word author and the word entrepreneur.

The authorpreneur is “relevant, entrepreneurial, action-oriented and literary focused.” I pulled these words from the back cover of Will the R.E.A.L Authorpreneur Please Stand Up?

An authorpreneur gets it. They understand they can't simply throw their book into the world and expect people to buy it just because it exists. No, it takes more effort than publishing a book to achieve success. I participated in this book and contributed a chapter to it called Always Learning. If you read this book and study the content of the various participants, it will get you started on your own journey to become an authorpreneur.

From my years in publishing, I find many people looking for the path to become a bestselling author. They are saying, “Just show me the path and I will follow it.” Unfortunately the journey is different for each author.  If there was a single tool or a single path, every author would find it and all of our books would sell many copies—which is not happening. The key from my experience is to always be learning, always trying new tools and new ideas. If the ideas work and increase your sales and your presence in the marketplace, great. If not, then discard those ideas and try something else.

The point is to be taking regular and consistent action in the marketplace. It certainly will never happen if you do nothing.

As I've written before, 80% of the sales for every book is up to the author. As an author, I encourage you to follow the first principle of The Success Principles by Jack Canfield: I will take 100% responsibility for my life. It is far easier to blame others and depend on others than to take your own responsibility.

What actions are you taking today to move forward for your book?