Do you need a book editor? (And how the **** do you find a good one?)

Screenwriting Tricks for Authors

I’m very frequently asked by writers who are serious about breaking into publishing or screenwriting for editor referrals. And this is SO tricky! But I’ve decided to tackle it today because miraculously, someone else has written exactly the post that you need to read, which means I don’t have to!

So you actually get three posts today. One is, the Oscar nominations are out (postponed because of the wildfires). and I’ve started a post with comments on some of the movies I’ve seen, that I’ll keep adding to now that I have time to watch a few others. I’ll hone in on some of the most important storytelling tricks I see in them. And I’d love to get recommendations from you all to narrow down my Watch list - or talk me into some that I’m not interested in!

• Oscars post here.

I will continue my Die Hard analysis, don’t worry!

• Die Hard Sequence 1 Breakdown

• Die Hard Sequence 2 Breakdown

But it’s the New Year, when we should ALL be committing to the book or script we’re going to write this year.

And this post by writer and editor Katy Loftus is so important that I’m just going to talk about it and then send you to read it.

I’m very frequently asked by writers who are serious about breaking into publishing for editor referrals.

Katy says in her post (after being asked the same question): "I baulked at the work involved in answering her questions fully, because it was so overwhelming."

Amen to that! And I am so grateful that she’s written it (and an entire followup post, but read the first one first) so that I never have to. Because you need to hear it. It is crucial information for anyone who's just starting out as an author (or who’s published but floundering, which is a whole lot of published authors right now.).

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

I’ve hired a developmental editor before — and this was after I’d published six or seven novels with traditional publishers. I’ve published with several different publishing houses and the fact is, the quality of editor varies wildly, and some houses don’t edit much at all. I went outside the Big Five house I was with because I knew my book needed more work and I wasn’t getting what I needed from my at-the-time-editor.

I’m really glad I did. But it was thousands of dollars. Which I could afford. A lot of aspiring writers can’t.

And there are a lot of people out there advertising themselves as developmental editors and/or coaches who are plain wrong for your book, or simply unqualified. Which is why I almost never make this kind of recommendation myself.

The same goes for screenplays and developmental editors — only in my experience (which includes being on the Board of Directors of the WGAW, the screenwriters’ union, and seeing a lot of this kind of thing) there are even more unqualified people advertising themselves as script editors.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t get the kind of help you need. But you have to take the search for that help seriously. And the truth is, most people reading this just won’t.

I’m a full-time novelist myself. I’ve been making my living from screenwriting, novels, and a combination of both for all of my adult life. I don’t have enough time to do my OWN writing. And yet, I can offer individualized feedback to my yearly paid subscribers — because I know very well that most people will never step up and ask for it.

This is crazy, to me. Why wouldn’t you ask?

But then I remember. They don’t ask because for most people, writing is just TOO HARD.

Most people’s dream of professional writing is just that—a dream. Dreams are great, because you get the endorphin rush of fantasy without having to do any real work.

Personally, I love the work of writing. It’s frustrating and it’s hard - Mary Higgins Clark’s “Like clawing your way through concrete with your bare hands” is the quote that comes to mind. But it’s also profoundly satisfying to me. That’s the way I’m built. It’s the way all the professional writers I know are built. Most people aren’t, really. And it’s so easy to tell a real writer from a writer in fantasy only.

This is maybe hard to read, if you’re unpublished.

But when a real writer gets hit by the gloom-and-doom statistics of how few people ever get published and how far fewer people actually make a viable living from it, and how publishing is all a celebrity game now anyway, they’re going to say, “F*** that, I’m one of the ones who will.”

And the truth is, drive and sheer will are far better indicators of success than talent is.

There are exceptions. I’m working with a very talented writer right now who will read this post, promptly have a panic attack, and send me a message thanking me for the wakeup call because now she can stop wasting her time thinking she can ever produce a publishable book. (Yeah, you know I’m talking to you!)

But the fact is, she is a pro writer. She’s a seasoned journalist who is agonizing her way through her first novel because she is gainfully employed more than full-time doing massively important work and she doesn’t have a lot of time to write on her novel. And learning a new medium is HARD.

But she is writing it. And she’s committed enough to ask for help when she needs it.

That’s what a professional does.

The answer to the question of this post’s title is — whether you’re going for a traditional publishing contract or indie publishing —

OF COURSE YOU NEED AN EDITOR.

But as Katy points out, there are ways to get the feedback you need besides hiring a professional editor for thousands of dollars.

Look, I’m not going to lie. You need to brace yourself before you read Katy’s posts. A lot of you will read them and get profoundly discouraged by any number of things: the state of the publishing industry; the number of drafts you really are going to have to do before your book is publishable: the amount of work you’re going to have to do just to find the feedback you need, never mind how much work you’re going to have to do after you get that feedback.

I’ve been a professional writer for decades, and I had PTSD flashbacks reading it, myself.

BUT. I’d like to point out that you already have a writing community you can go to for help with all this. And a lot of you are already yearly paid subscribers to this newsletter, and could be asking these kinds of questions in the private Screenwriting Tricks for Authors forum right now—but for whatever reason, you haven’t been.

(If you need the invite email resent, message me and let me know.)

So read the posts, freak out, do some breathing, go back and read again, maybe print one or both out and underline a few actionable items, and pick one thing to start with.

Many thanks to Katy for saying it all for us!

• How Do I Get a Book Edited Reliably (Budget Version)

• An insider’s tips on finding the right edit(or) for your novel - Midrange options

—Alex

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