3 ms·

I’d add (for fiction the only market I have exposure to): - the editor: if a good traditional editor gets involved in your project they can make a huge differe

I’d add (for fiction the only market I have exposure to): - the editor: if a good traditional editor gets involved in your project they can make a huge difference in the quality of your books. Many people seem to think editors are just marking up your punctuation. In reality they are more akin to product managers in software. They help set the tone of the books and ensure that the vision is adhered to. - which leads me to copy editors. The traditional publishers employ all the best ones. You can hire independent copy editors but their quality is a crapshoot. And you don’t find out until it’s too late. - the sales rep network. If reps like your book they will get it in front of people. Independent of marketing the boots on the ground factor can make a huge difference. Now, you won’t necessarily get any of these benefits going with a publisher but you can’t get any of them self publishing.

bachmeier 3y ago
> if a good traditional editor gets involved in your project they can make a huge difference in the quality of your books I've also heard about mediocre editors that waste a lot of author time, and bad editors that ruin the project.
- ghaff 3y ago
  My developmental editor for my semi-technical book was “fine” but he didn’t do any of the structural re-factoring I did for my second edition. The company was using a new set of copy editors for the second edition and they were much better than the first. Overall I can’t really complain about the editing but I think the benefits were relatively modest.
stubish 3y ago
The major publishers seem to have gutted their editing staff over the last decade or so, and submitted manuscripts changed little before publishing. The primary editor you get barely has time to read it, and an outsourced copy editor (who are probably the better ones, yes).

bachmeier 3y ago

> if a good traditional editor gets involved in your project they can make a huge difference in the quality of your books I've also heard about mediocre editors that waste a lot of author time, and bad editors that ruin the project.

ghaff 3y ago
My developmental editor for my semi-technical book was “fine” but he didn’t do any of the structural re-factoring I did for my second edition. The company was using a new set of copy editors for the second edition and they were much better than the first. Overall I can’t really complain about the editing but I think the benefits were relatively modest.

stubish 3y ago

The major publishers seem to have gutted their editing staff over the last decade or so, and submitted manuscripts changed little before publishing. The primary editor you get barely has time to read it, and an outsourced copy editor (who are probably the better ones, yes).