Someone on a forum asked for advice in finding an editor who can help him get published. My reply, as you can see, went a little beyond his basic question of "Can you recommend an editor who can help me find a publisher for my book?"
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Sure, I can. But, a word of caution. Few book editors have both conventional publishing house connections (rare) and literary representation (even more rare) to go along with their editing skills. Also, not all book editors will tackle all properties. Some of the reasons an editor may pass on a book are these:
- It's fiction, and the editor handles only nonfiction, or vice versa.
- The amount of work required is more than the editor can handle at the time, meaning the book requires more work than he's able to devote to it.
- The author's style doesn't appeal to the editor, and he doesn't believe he can contribute to the project and still remain true to the author's literary voice.
- The work is a Children's/Young Adult book, and the editor handles only Adult titles, or vice versa.
- The genre is one the editor doesn't like (Romance or Mystery, for example) or one with which the editor hasn't any experience or comfort level.
- The remuneration offered is not worth the effort.
- The work is nowhere near ready for editing and preparation for publishing.
If you're interested in sharing a few pages from your book's beginning, I'll be happy to look it over and advise you on my suggestions for the best way to proceed. If it's something I think has potential, I might make an offer to handle it myself. I work on fiction and nonfiction, all genres. I also have an agent who's always open to new, talented client recommendations, and as an author with more than ninety published books, I have close ties to several dozen conventional, mainstream publishers currently looking for quality work, both Young Adult/Juvenile and Adult books. You can contact me through my Author's Guild Website HERE.
If your book shows any potential to succeed at all, I'll tell you so. If it's not yet ready for Prime Time, I'll tell you that, too, and advise you on how to get it ready for its world premiere. In short, if I take it on, it's publishable. If it's publishable, I can find a literary agent and a publisher for it. No charge for the consultation, of course. I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing fledgling authors get their works published by mainstream houses.
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D. J. Herda is author of the new ebook series of writing advice, About Writing Right, available at amazon and at fine booksellers everywhere.