10 (mostly surprising) things I'm learning in the book editing process
Imagine me writing this with a red pen.
Back in October, I wrote a post reflecting on the lessons I’d learned to that point in the process of (hopefully!) becoming a published author.
As you might imagine, a lot has changed since then.
My agent took the book out on submission—a fancy term for “out to editors at publishing houses who might be interested in buying and publishing it”—and has since been picked up (YAY!).
We’re still more than a year away from the book actually being on shelves, but there’s plenty to do in the meantime. Given my experience working at a publishing house and what I’ve learned about the industry through many collaborations with authors and book marketing teams for my podcast, I can anticipate some of those to-dos… but not all of them.
At the moment, it’s all about editing.
My wonderful editor and I have talked a lot about the overall vision for the novel, and while a lot of the building blocks are already in place, she has lots of amazing suggestions to help me bring that vision to life even further. About three years into working on this book, I’ve now reworked it at least ten times, but something about this round feels so much more fun. It’s energizing to dive into changes to the manuscript with a boost of enthusiasm from another person who is invested in my work and who gets me and my writing. The focus of some other rounds of editing and revision has been subtracting, while this one is a little more about adding. I know that many of my fellow creatives can relate when I say that the latter is a huge treat… especially after doing quite a bit of the former.
I’m having a good time with these edits (at least so far), but that doesn’t mean the process is easy breezy. I do still have a newborn baby and I am still juggling what often feels like a dozen other freelance jobs and projects with that baby. These edits are due to my editor at the beginning of July, and I’m so grateful to have a nice runway for making them happen.
Currently Reading: Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Córdova
The premise of this Meant to Be series is so fun—a series of classic Disney stories retold from fresh, diverse voices in our contemporary romance space. As you can probably gather if you love Ariel and her under-the-sea pals as much as I do, Kiss the Girl is author Zoraida Córdova’s take on The Little Mermaid. I’m not loving it as much as I loved By the Book (Jasmine Guillory’s retelling of Beauty and the Beast), but I can see how it would be a huge hit with anyone who enjoys reading about life as a musician. Plus, the characters are tons of fun.
It’s fun to chat with people about the questions they have about the publishing industry and process, and I’m excited to bring you along with me as much as I can over the next year and a half.
Since I’m smack in the middle of a big editing stage, it seems like the right time to check in and share what I’m learning.
Here’s what I’ve gathered so far from this phase of big book edits, many of them on the surprising side…
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