Authors, and Book and Script Editors
Write, edit and evaluate literary works for publication and scripts for film, television, audio and live performance productions.
Three weeks to the printer
You are a book editor at a small publisher, working with several authors on books that are due at the printer in three weeks. It is Monday. One author is upset about your notes, another is late with changes and the printer is booked for a date that cannot move. You have to work out how to use the time and how to speak to each person.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I read your notes last night and I'm devastated. You said the ending doesn't work. I've spent four years on this book. Honestly, I think you just don't understand what I'm trying to do.
Listen, tell her what you admire, and ask her to explain what she wants the ending to do for the reader
Pilar calms down and talks through her aim. Together you find that the ending is doing the right thing, but in the wrong place. She leaves with a plan and some pride intact.
Stick to your notes and tell her again, more firmly, what is wrong with the ending and why it has to change
You may be right, but she hears only the criticism. She stops listening, and the changes you need take longer. Authors write better when they feel understood.
Back down and tell her you will leave the ending exactly as it is
Pilar is relieved, but you have given up on something you believed the book needed. If readers stumble at the ending, you will wish you had found a way to say it again, more gently.
I haven't finished the last round of changes. I need another month. I know the printer date is fixed, but the book isn't ready and I'd rather it was good than on time. Please, can you fix it?
Agree and tell the printer to move the date, since the book matters more than the schedule and a first time author deserves the time
The printer cannot move without losing the slot, which affects the bookshops' launch and other titles. One book's delay may cost others, and you cannot easily undo it.
Tell him the date is fixed and he has to finish by Friday, no matter what
He rushes and the final changes are sloppy. He is unhappy, and the book shows it. Keeping to a deadline is important, but the way you hold it affects the quality of what you get.
Look at which changes matter most, agree a short list to finish by the deadline and plan the rest for a later printing
Hamish is relieved to have a clear list. The key changes are done on time, and the rest is saved for a reprint. A realistic plan helps the author and the book.
I've read the memoir you're editing, and chapter six has a paragraph that reads almost word for word like a published article I read last year. I could be wrong, but I thought you should know before it goes to print.
Ask Gus to find the article, compare the passages carefully and raise it with the author as a question
The passages are close. The author had paraphrased notes from a source and forgot to credit it. She rewrites the paragraph and adds an acknowledgement. Checking quietly prevented a public problem.
Ignore it, because it is probably a coincidence and there isn't time to check
The book goes to print. A reader spots the similarity, and the author and the publisher both face an embarrassing correction. Pressure of time is not an excuse to skip a check.
Cut the paragraph without telling the author, to be safe
The risk is gone, but the author finds her work changed without being asked, and the gap in the chapter shows. An author deserves to hear what the concern is and to fix it herself.
How it went
The books go to the printer on time, each one clearer and more honest than it was a month ago. Editing is patient, detailed work that needs kindness, firmness and a love of words. Would you enjoy helping other people's writing become the best it can be?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The chapter the author loved
A fictional case set in a small independent book publisher with a handful of staff and a long reading pile.
The situation
Ruth was a book editor at Quillbird Press. A first time author, Anil, had written a warm family story about growing up in a country town, and Ruth loved it. But the third chapter, a long flashback, stopped the story dead. Anil was proud of that chapter, and it was the one he had written first. Ruth had to tell him that it might need to go. He had already told his family it was in the book, and the printing deadline was only weeks away.
What they did
Ruth did not start with the cut. She told Anil what she loved about the book, and then asked what he hoped the chapter would do for the reader. They talked about it for an hour. She suggested that the best moments of the flashback could be woven into other scenes, and she marked exactly where. She told him that the choice was his, and that she would support whichever way he went, but that she believed the book would be stronger if the story kept moving.
How it turned out
Anil took a weekend to think and then rewrote the chapter as three short, sharp passages in other parts of the book. His family was pleased to see their stories still there. The book was reviewed warmly, and Anil told Ruth the cut was the best change in it.
What would you do?
- Why did Ruth begin with what she loved about the book?
- How would you tell someone you respect that their favourite part isn't working?
- Whose book is it in the end, the author's or the editor's?