NovelTalkBlog: Natalie Dunbar: Musings From An Edited Author

When a reader purchases an author's book, the credit or the blame for the quality of the reading experience usually goes to the author, whose name is on the book. Many readers do not understand that prior to the book getting on the shelf it goes through an editing process that the author usually participates in, but often has less than optimal control. As a multi-published author I have been edited many times. Sometimes the experience has been gratifying such as when an editor has shown me ways to make the work better as in ways of tightening a plot or character focus, removing or changing words I use too often, suggesting more effective words in some areas of the work, suggesting additional scenes to heighten the focus or impact.... The list can go on.

The relationship can be difficult, such as when you find yourself trying to reach a lofty goal of perfection that only the editor knows when it has been obtained, or when large portions of the work are summarily deleted to save paper or meet a specific word count, leaving a short and Spartan echo of the original, or new errors are somehow introduced in the editing process, or your editor is a repressed writer who really wants to write your book. In the non vanity publishing houses an editor makes the decision to buy an author's work and once it is purchased, that editor works with the author to make it the best it can be.

The relationship between an editor and the author of the work is really a partnership and when it is good, an author can flourish and grow, and when it is bad, it can stifle author creativity and turn away readers. What can an author do? Making sure that author approval is required for the final manuscript version by contract helps, but nobody introduces mistakes to a manuscript on purpose and I've seen and heard of this instance and previous manuscript versions ending up on the bookshelves in error. It should also be noted that when you are a new author you generally have little power to dictate what happens to your book. If you want your work to be published and you don't want to be self published, you don't usually get to choose your editor. They choose you by making the decision to buy your book.

This blog is not intended to bash editors. They're just doing their job. I've had some very good ones and some not so good ones. As the occasional recipient of sometimes pointy fan criticism for books with errors, books that were too short, or elements that were too much, I wanted to say that a writer can keep their work as it is for their personal use and enjoyment, but if they want to sell it and have it published, the work will most likely be edited and changed in some way, hopefully for the better and hopefully with author agreement.