The novel as a team effort

[twi...@worldnet.att.net]

Yep, you read that correctly. Some of this is a response to
Isaac; other parts are an attaboy to Howard for his
excellent post on the writing life, especially with regard
to direct mail copywriting. Having been there and done
that, I can tell you he knows whereof he speaks.

The concept of a team when it comes to writing needs some
explanation. When I sit down to write a novel, with or
without my husband, my main concern is telling/showing the
story well so that the readers will have a chance to get
involved with the characters, have fun, and maybe learn a
bit about the historical period in which it's set. So
that's the first team member I'm looking at. The reader.
If I/we (I'm speaking of Sarah Edwards books when I use the
term we. Bob is just as responsible for what's in those
books as I am. In fact, I couldn't tell you which one of us
wrote which word in those books.) To repeat, if I/we forget
to take into account what the reader wants to read, that
book is going nowhere except the top shelf of the closet.
Editors won't buy it. Since I/we write historical romance,
primarily, we have to take into account the restrictions of
the genre. Word count. The developing relationship between
hero and heroine is primary to the story. Not sinking the
story with an overload of history. (I may be fascinated
with the implications of the inclusion of standardized
measures in the Magna Carta. Most people are *not*.)

Then we come to the editor. Actually, two editors. First
is the acquiring editor who also will probably be the line
editor on your book. This editor's task is two-fold: S/he
must choose books will appeal to as many readers within the
particular genre as possible. If the book doesn't sell well
because it doesn't appeal to a large number of potential
readers, and if the editor consistently makes these kinds of
purchasing decisions, that editor will be out of a job. And
the publishing house may have to close if the wrong
purchasing decisions are made frequently. One thing authors
need to remember: Publishers must make money or they won't
stay in business. And they make money only if books sell
reasonably well.

With that in mind, what is the job of the acquiring editor?
First to choose manuscripts that will appeal to a large
number of readers. Next to edit the book (line editing) so
that problems the author, who is too close to the work to
see them, must correct. This comes under the heading of
such questions as "Why isn't X ready to blow the brains of Y
out? After all, X just killed Y's only child while
murdering Y's husband?" That's a rather blatant example,
but such things can happen in a manuscript. Why? Because
you know what X's and Y's motivations are, you have it all
worked out, but you didn't get the information in at the
right place. In other words, the goal of a *good* editor is
to take your book, however superb it is, and make it even
better.

That means the acquiring/line editor is part of the team
required to get your manuscript turned into a book. And
his/her job involves making the manuscript as much better as
possible. But the acquiring/line editor has a few more jobs
to do than just the kind of edting the job's named for.
S/he also has to discuss with the art department what sort
of cover to give the book. S/he will fight for the best,
most expensive artist possible. Why? Because the more
money the publisher has tied up in a book, the more the
publisher will push it when it finally gets out into the
market place. Simple economics, the more money invested,
the greater the interest in earning a profit on the money.

Another job the editor faces with regard to your book is
talking to the sales force. These are the folks who take
your book out to the independent bookstores, the
distributors, the chain stores in search of as many orders
as they possibly can get. There's a major difference if
Anderson News (a major distributor) orders 10,000, 50,000,
or 100,000 copies of your book. The larger the order
placed, the more prominent the display will be of that
particular book. In other words, the larger the order, the
more likely you are to be placed at eye level in supermarket
racks. Or the drugstore. Or any other venue where they
stock the racks. As an aside, one of the things that the
distributors do with the books they remove when the new
month's shipment comes in is to take them to 7-11s and
places like that. People rarely go into convenience stores
with the intention of buying a book. But if they see an
enticing cover, they may just buy it. So it pays the
convenience stores and the distributors to keep their racks
stocked with fairly new books.

The size of the order helps decide the print run. But
there's another thing that will help swell the print run.
That's what sort of money the publisher is willing to put
behind the book to buy a good place for it in the bookstore.
I'm talking chain stores in particular here. The next time
you're in your neighborhood Waldens or Barnes and Noble,
take a look at the books featured on the end caps of the
gondolas, or up by the cash registers, or occupying racks
you *must* walk by to get into the store. Not to mention
any large table displays of books. Then there are the
dumps. Those are the cardboard displays holding one
author's books. Each and every one of those positions are
sold by the chain store. The more money the acquiring
editor has for that kind of purchase, the more clout s/he
has with marketing and the sales force. And if s/he can,
s/he will try for daily or weekly reports from the chains on
what the sales are like for that book by state or region or
nationally. Those reports are for sale, like everything
else. And the book whose publisher pays for them is going
to sink or swim very quickly. It's sort of like the weekly
reports of how a particular movie is doing nationwide.
Movie studios know very quickly which films have legs and
which don't. Same thing is true for books whose sales are
reported regularly.

It's the acquiring editor's job to oversee all of this and
get the best situation possible for your book.

There's one other job s/he must do. That's overseeing the
work of the second type of editor who will work on your
book: The line editor. It's his/her job to read the
line-edited book looking for errors both of a grammatical
and spelling sort as well as for logic problems. They send
the manuscript back to you with fascinating little sticky
notes stuck to the pages which say something like this: "On
page 37 heroine's mother has brown eyes. On page 240, she
has gray eyes. Which is it?" This is an invaluable
service. No matter how thoroughly you and your line editor
have gone over the manuscript, the copy editor will find
some really silly goofs, ones you can't believe you
committed.

The copy editor has another chore with regard to your
manuscript. S/he is the one who adds the instructions to
the printer, although the line editor might do this in a
small house. The copy editor knows whether a dash should be
an em or an en. And the line editor has negotiated the type
size, etc., plus any fancy type faces to be used for
accents, such as a drop capital. It's the copy editor's job
to make sure the instructions reach the printer about these
special features.

Then there's the art department. They will not just get the
cover done. They'll also design any advertising, posters,
dumps, or giveaways for the book. This will all be overseen
by the acquiring editor.

The acquiring editor will also do a number of other things
as well. S/he may well change the title of the book.
Generally, there's a good, logical reason behind this. They
may know that the month your book is scheduled to come out
another house, or even their own house, will be shipping a
title that's similar. Readers will think they've already
read your book if the titles are too close. Or they've had
similar titles in the past which didn't do well despite good
writing and a good cover. The readers just don't respond
well to that particular title. The subliminal message of it
doesn't appeal. Maybe. Who knows precisely, but it's not
worth the risk to test that type of title again with your
book.

The acquiring editor will also ask for input on the cover.
This is not the same as cover consultation or cover decision
rights for the author. What it means is, in our case, the
hero and heroine would be dressed a certain way due to the
time in which the book is set. We would normally send in
xerox copies of clothing and hairstyles taken from costume
books. We'd also send in pictures of particular structures
which are featured in the book. As an example, *Crystal
Rapture* had as one of the focuses the Crystal Palace in
which the First International Exhibition of Arts and
Industries was held. We sent in a picture of that which
duly appeared on the cover. The editor will also ask which
scene(s) you think would make a good cover vignette. Some
books lend themselves to this; others do not. But it will
be the editor's final choice, not yours.

Once all of this is done, and the book goes out to the
printer's, you'll get galleys or page proofs of the type set
book. If you're lucky, you'll get at least two days to go
over them. Then you have to ship them back to the acquiring
editor with any changes you want made. If these changes are
occasioned by printer errors, you will not be charged for
them. If, however, your changes are greater than a certain
fixed number set in your contract, you will pay the charges
for them. As another example drawn from the page proofs of
Crystal, the printer had several times set type with the
lines printed on top of each other. We typed up what was
supposed to be there, and they reset those sections. It
wasn't our fault, it was the printer's, and the printer had
to make good. On the other hand, we discovered a place in
Chapter three where the hero was given the wrong eye color.
We changed that, and were not charged for it for two
reasons: It didn't go beyond the change allotment we were
given, and it was the copy editor's fault for not having
caught it.

Given the number of people involved in the prduction of a
book, I think you can see why I say that getting the book
from concept to bookstore is a team effort. The editors, at
least if they're good, have just as much right to pride in
your book as you do. You didn't and can't do it by
yourself.

Sharon

Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight,
But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.

(The Pacifist by Belloc)