Belletrinsic

While it is up for debate whether a book can be “good” or “bad”—which is generally attributed to personal taste and opinion—there are definite indicators whether a book has been well or poorly executed. Often, I think someone categorizes a book as “bad” when it is poorly written or edited, but the reader may be unable to pinpoint why they struggled to read and enjoy the book. The assertion by many readers and writers that bookstores are full of junk stems, in part, from poor execution.

This point struck me the other night as I read a book I’d picked up at the bookstore earlier that day. I wanted something light and fun, with a touch of romance. I wasn’t expecting a literary work, but I had hoped to find something easily readable and with a nice flavor. I was severely disappointed.

What I found was poor execution in numerous aspects. The plot was nice and simple like I’d hoped, but there were glaring inconsistencies, trite stereotypes, and unoriginality in language and dialogue that prevented me from enjoying my purchase. Each time I stumbled because of the writing, it pulled me from the story. That is the worst thing that can happen to a reader, and it often ends with the book tossed, unfinished, into the goodwill bag.

Let me share some examples to illustrate the point.

The most teeth-grinding error for me was the incorrect spelling of a main character’s name. Now, if it had happened once—maybe, maybe twice—I would have forgiven it. When that same mispelling happens so many times throughout the book that I’m not sure which is the correct spelling, it becomes a major problem. In this case, it was one letter that caused the problem. A simple “r” was either included or left out each time. Many would consider this an inconsequential error, but when it prevented me from forming an idea of this character in my head, that’s a serious error.

The next example involves the breaking of a certain “rule” that I actually condone on a limited basis: starting a sentence with “and” or “but.” In certain cases, this is perfectly acceptable, but to do so with numerous sentences on the same page—and an untold number of times throughout the book—exhibits a laziness during editing. I tend to start sentences this way when I’m writing a first draft, but then excise them ruthlessly during editing. As is generally the case, removing the “and” or “but” improves clarity and flow.

Grammar and punctuation are there to help the reader. When a sentence is so convoluted as to make it incomprehensible, no one benefits. There are times where bending or breaking rules of grammar add life to a sentence, but continually ignoring those rules makes the writer look foolish and novice.

As for stereotypes, I found so many that the book became little more than a regurgitation of childhood tales. In this case, I am currently editing a nonfiction book at work on the same historic period. While some of the misinformation could be attributed to lack of research, the assertion by the author at the end of the book that numerous facts were accurate made me cringe. Some research may well have been done, but not enough.

I’ll stop there with the examples, but just know that there were also problems with characterization, cliches, and other examples of lazy or uneducated writing. The author isn’t the only one to take responsibility in a case like this; everyone involved in a book’s production is accountable when a poorly executed book makes its way into the marketplace. While it may be easy to write off this book as a juvenile effort by a new writer, it is far from accurate. This writer has numerous books listed in her biography.

The lesson for writers? Don’t be like this. Even when you have several publishing credits, take as much time to polish and perfect each book as you did with the first. Poor execution reflects most often on you. It is not up to your agent or editor to make your book perfect. You should do this before ever sending your book out. It is your name on the line. Be proud enough to do a good job.

Checking for Commas, by Jennifer Adams Grillone

When people find out I’m a book editor for a living, I can’t tell you how many of them say, “Oh, so you read through stuff and check for commas?” or some version of that. As important as a correctly placed comma may be, it is such a small part of what I do. So I thought I’d write about a fairly typical day in my life as an editor.

Head out on my forty-minute commute to the office. Stop for Dr. Pepper at my local gas station—caffeine a definite prerequisite for job. Arrive at work. Sort through forty-two emails, deleting those for male enhancement products. One nice email from a friend, one funny or smartass or flirtatious email from a coworker, and at least two emails indicating imminent disaster on book projects. Deal with disaster-is-pending emails, which takes a couple of hours. Check out Shelf Awareness, New York Times, and Publisher’s Weekly. Note more layoffs in book industry and another bookstore closed, along with more major magazines that have folded. Look for trends. Wonder when people will be sick of cupcakes.

Acquisitions meeting. Four different people have ten different opinions about what should be published and when. Try to come to some common ground in order to offer contracts to authors for books. Hope people haven’t read the latest article that says the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife got a $5 million dollar advance for her second book. Know I will be explaining to unknown, first-time authors with books written to niche markets that their audience, print run, and sales in no way resemble a New York Times fiction best-seller, though God knows we all wish they did.

Review index for another editor and help finish her training on indexing. Word automatic sort option is a good thing.

Lunch with my favorite photographer at a restaurant where he’s done the photos for the table topper menus. Talk about his trip to the Cayman Islands, my job, and the publishing industry shifting to the digital world. Will print magazines still exist in ten years? Will printed books? Remind myself that book publishing is an art, that it has never really been a good way to make money, that we are part of this anachronistic world because we love it.

Back at office, call author to see if they have adjusted to new trim size for their book. Larger discussion with team has taken place on whether market can bear the book at $24.99 instead of $19.99.

Angry email from agent on why their client has not been paid on delivery and acceptance of materials. After researching, appears all materials have not been delivered and are therefore not accepted.

Review printer proofs on four titles in a little gift book series. Check text, printing quality, and color. Must be turned in twenty-four hours to make up for late schedule, when editorial couldn’t decide if we wanted the books illustrated with original art or designed with more patterns and graphic elements. Decided on the latter, which I think is the correct choice in this case.

Hunker down for some real cookbook editing time. This involves making sure the instructions make sense, that the ingredients are listed in the order they appear in the instructions, that consistent measurements are used (1/2 cup shredded cheese, 1/2 cup cheese, shredded, 8 ounces grated cheese, etc.), that if the title of the recipe is Chocolate Delight it actually has chocolate in it, and so forth. Check readability, clarity, structure, grammar, spelling. Ten pages an hour is good progress and industry standard. Oh yeah, and check for commas.

Fairly mellow day in that I did not have to talk any authors or designers off a cliff, tell a photographer they had to reshoot a whole round of images, tell an author their book has been pushed out a whole year to a different publication season, tell an author they can’t have the title they wanted for the book, argue with sales about a price point or package for a title, meet with my supervisor to discuss the twenty-two things not finished on my to-do list instead of the two that are, or get yelled at by any variety of someones because emotions are high and deadlines are tight and people care about their books and don’t you know this has been their whole life for the past ten years goddammit!

At the very end of the day, a finished book is delivered. Take it out of the box and hold it in my hands. Smell that new-book inky smell, run my fingers over the spot gloss varnish on the front of the cover, see that the purple headband perfectly matches the tiny purple stripes we designed for the endsheets. I am holding a beautiful object that has taken years to create—from an idea, to an author I paired it with, to negotiating a contract, to commissioning the photography, to helping style the photos, to coaching the writing, to working with the designer on multiple rounds of layouts, to picking the cover image, to deciding it’s a jacketless hardback, to figuring out the pricing and budgets and margins, to looking at every single word on every single page multiple times. I have made a book. A thought or idea or little flash of insight is now a physical object in my hand. I’ve helped create something real and something beautiful and something that will last. Nothing beats that. It’s even worth checking for commas.

Jennifer Adams Grillone is the author of seven books and has worked as a writer and editor for fifteen years. She is currently senior editor for the publisher Gibbs Smith, where she manages the cookbook line. You can see books she had edited and books she has written by visiting her website at www.jennifergrillone.com

Saturday I attended a local writing event* hosted by a slew of authors from my area. Now, these aren’t just any writers—they’re well-known, popular writers who each have a different story on how they got published. But the thing with each of them is that it took many years and a lot of work before they got to that point.

The thing I noticed, both in their stories and in the questions asked by the aspiring authors attending, was that writers always want to get published NOW. We write what we think is a great book, do a few rounds of edits, and then send it off well before it’s ready. It’s a common theme.

Now, not everyone may follow this pattern, but I’ve noticed it time and again. I’ve even done it myself. That’s part of the publishing process, really. But don’t let yourself get hung up on it.

Most of the authors who spoke about getting published mentioned that it was their third, fourth, even eighth book that was the first published. Not the first one they wrote. There are always exceptions, but for the most part, it takes a good eight to ten years from the time you pick up a pen until your book hits the shelves. I’ve been at this five years already, and I’m still waiting to be accepted for publication.

The reason I bring this up is that the most talked about thing at that conference was getting an agent. The question that was brought up again and again: How do I get an agent? Who is your agent? Agent, agent, agent.

Honestly, if this is the first writing conference you’ve attended and you haven’t done research yourself on the intricacies of finding an agent, you’re not ready. You need to focus on your writing and revising a bit more. Then, after you’ve exhausted all of your own efforts, maybe it’s time to start googling to find out a bit more on agents and how to get one.

But until then, focus on the writing. Getting published will come in its own time.

*If you’re curious about the event, it was Writing for Charity, and the authors included Shannon Hale, Brandon Mull, James Dashner, Sara Zarr, Jessica Day George, and many others.

Please step away from the keyboard!

I understand, ma’am, that you’ve got a book you think it ready to start querying agents with.

Yes, yes. Just take it slow now. Move your finger off of that mouse and we can talk. Nice and easy.

How long ago did you finish writing it? Hmm. Yes, three months to write a book is excellent. And two months of editing? Good job, you.

Hold it! Don’t move a finger toward that send button!

So, five months since you first started working on the book, is that correct? That makes me ask the question: did you set the book aside at all? A week in between edits to “clear your head”?

Put the query down and no one gets hurt.

And during that week, did you think about the book at all? All the time? Really? So did the week actually “clear your head” or just make you irritated you couldn’t start querying already?

I said, let it be. You’re only hurting yourself by doing this.

And all those agents who blog. You didn’t think they were talking to you when they gave their advice? Are you too good for their help? It’s not like that? Really. So you’re just the exception. You don’t need to set your book aside for a few months and come back to it fresh. You, as a new writer, can just edit away. You know exactly what you’re doing. Is that how it is?

Don’t ruin your chance. You’ve only got one shot with this agent. Are you sure you’re ready?

I don’t think you are the exception. Sure you’ve been to writers conferences and you’ve done your homework. And you graduated from college as an English/journalism major? That’s great. But has it taught you how to write an entire book and then edit it? I didn’t think so. You’ve had to learn that on your own, haven’t you. You’ve taught yourself most of what you know about writing. But you haven’t taught yourself how to be patient, have you? You want to be the first-time author who hits it big without putting in the hours of work and tears first. I’m sorry to tell you this, but it’s probably not going to happen like that for you.

Aw, don’t cry. Just put the laptop down and we can help you. It’s not too late.

We want you to succeed, and so listening to all that advice about leaving the book alone for three, four months is good advice. Really. Why don’t we go get you a bag of chocolate and put this little manuscript in the freezer for a few months. Then, when you’ve nearly forgotten about it, you can come back and make it even better. I promise.

This dramatization is brought to you as part of a public service to first-time writers. Anything you write in a query letter can and will be used against you while looking for an agent. Make sure you get it right the first time.

In my last blog post, I discussed weaknesses in characters and how important it is to have them. Well, I have them too, and it’s not as fun having them as writing them for another character. My weakness? Impatience.

I want everything now and don’t want to put in the requisite time and effort to accomplish those tasks. I want things to come easily.

The reason I bring this up is because a good friend taught me this lesson this morning. She didn’t realize she was doing it, but I appreciate her teaching it to me all the same.

I’ve written two books now. The first one I had queried and gotten some positive feedback, but people weren’t loving the book enough. A friend just read the whole thing and gave me her comments. The important thing is that she did it in a loving, caring way.

Now I’m going back through the book with her comments in mind, and I see exactly what she means. And I’m also realizing that my impatience has hindered me, yet again.

Agents and editors love to give the advice to let a book sit for a few months, and then go back to it before even thinking of querying agents with it. Well, I was impatient and didn’t do that. I haven’t completely shot myself in the foot because of this, but it’s come pretty close.

I wanted to be the exception, the person who could write a book in a few weeks, edit in a few more, and then get an agent very quickly soon after. To be honest, I’m not at that point yet. I’m still learning, and that’s okay.

So the plan right now is to go back and fix book one (Surviving Eden) while putting book two (Jessamine) in the freezer for a bit.

I know Surviving Eden isn’t the book that’s going to get me an agent, but I need to learn the process of revising and editing my own work if I’m to do an even better job of it the second time around.

I’m stubborn, and so some lessons have to come the hard way. The most important ones, really. Take it from me, learn the easy way. It’s much better for the sanity.

Up late tonight for reasons I won’t go into (other than to say my mouth loves Indian food. Other parts of me . . . not so much). Anyway, while I’m sitting here wide awake, I was thinking about the first day of my writers conference. And the biggest feeling I have from it is that I’ve graduated.

Not in the traditional sense with a cap and gown, but more that I’ve moved on from the beginning stages of being a writer. A year ago, I’d never been to a conference and didn’t know much about finding an agent or even how to edit my book, really. However, this has been an intensive year for me in many ways. I’ve put myself through my own writing boot camp.

It started with a conference last August put on by author Shannon Hale, and it really opened my eyes to what it meant being a writer. Before that, I’d been working on my book for nearly four years and was only halfway done. After getting a taste of the writing life, though, I was addicted. I wanted to know more and do more.

Within a month I found out about Authonomy, a writing peer review site (among other things). I made some wonderful friends and received invaluable feedback on my first manuscript. That gave me the impetus to finish the dang book so I could go on to editing the thing.

Then came another writers conference in November, this time with SCBWI, and this time also involving agents and editors from New York. I got some one-on-one time with an agent and received more valuable feedback.

Soon after I finished several rounds of edits on my ms and began querying. I went through another boot camp of sorts learning about agents and the querying process. I should say I was rather successful for a first book that took four years to write considering I’m still waiting to hear back from four agents who’ve requested the manuscript.

And now, six months later, I’ve written another book, this one in three weeks. Through the laborious process of writing that initiall took me four years, I learned some incredible lessons about how to write. Or, more importantly, how I write.

So, that brings me back to the writers conference today. As I sat there listening to the presenters going over information I’d learned nine months ago, and people asking the editors questions I knew all the answers to, I realized I’ve graduated from the stage of beginning writer. Oh, there are still plenty of things I’ve yet to learn, but I really feel that I’ve gained enough experience that I can’t call myself a beginning writer. I’m moving well onto intermediate, even possibly toward advanced.

The moral of this story: writing and editing are about the doing. As Martha Mahalick, editor at Greenwillow, said today, editing is something you learn by experience. You gain knowledge by working with a mentor who shows you the ropes and guides you as you move along. Writing is exactly the same. First you have to write, and then you can get needed feedback on your writing. But you will never learn unless you start doing.

So writers, get out there. Learn by experience and from the experiences of others. Keep moving forward and someday you’ll get to the point where you feel like you’ve graduated from being one tinkering with writing to being a real writer. And that is a wonderful realization.

Epiphany: Last night I realized that I’m spinning my wheels a bit trying to write the sequel when I should be polishing up the first book so I can start querying.

What this means: It’s back to the grind for me, spending every free moment I have working on revising and rewriting my book. If I push myself a bit, I can get the first revision done in a few weeks, and then spend time fine-tuning from there. After revising the first four chapter last night, I realized that what I’ve got is pretty good, in that I need to fill in places, but it won’t take as long as I’d imagined earlier.

That said, you can expect me to return to my cave for the next few months, emerging for social interaction on occasion but more or less working steadfastly on achieving my dream.

Wish me luck! Or, maybe it would be better if you wished me stamina instead.

Many people liken writing a book to getting pregnant, which, unfortunately, is true on so many levels. The first initial spark is great, followed by the first dizzying weeks and months of writing the first draft. After the added pains of revising and rewriting, it’s time to hand that baby off to another individual who will take it the rest of the way toward publication. You’ll still be very involved in the process as this is your blood, sweat, and tears, but others step into the picture who have a little bit more experience with birthing books. (Okay, I’ll stop the analogy there.)

So what happens when you—joy of joys!—are finally accepted by a publisher for publication? Many things, most of which will be very foreign and new to you. Contracting is the first of those, but I’m going to skip over that topic for now. Let’s just assume you’ve signed on the dotted line (and hopefully not given your life away in the process).

–The next person you are likely to meet will be your editor. Now, remember this—your editor is the person you will deal with on an regular basis for the next few years. And, if you have a successful book and the publisher wants to continue working with you, it may be even longer than that.

While your editor will probably not become your best friend, nor, hopefully, your worst enemy, the relationship you foster will probably be somewhere in between the two extremes. There are times where you will love your editor for catching that potentially horrifying error (“Yes, there is an ‘l’ in public”), there will be other days where you might want to fight tooth and nail to keep that comma.

Through it all, remember that you are both human. Though she is very much a professional, she is not a superhero incapable of making a mistake. And even if you are an expert in your field, you don’t know everything, either.

So where does that leave the relationship you must build? Hopefully as a productive one, with a give and take. Talk to your editor when you have a question. If something your editor tells you in an email sends you to the heights of anger, wait to respond until you’ve calmed and can see things dispassionately. It is a business relationship, first and foremost, but one that is important for both of you.

–Once you meet your editor, you can expect that they will give you a schedule of dates when you will be expected to review the book and go through edits. You will also have an idea of when your book will be published, generally two years after it has been contracted, though it may be as soon as a year or more than three years until the publication date, depending on the publisher’s schedule.

There are a lot of factors that go into publication of books, so fighting to get yours published sooner is generally fruitless. In this tough economy, many books are being postponed until things rebound a bit. There’s nothing anyone can really do to control that, so be patient and know that your time will come soon enough.

Also, if you are planning to be gone most of the summer, let your editor know very early in the process. Vacations are wonderful, but they can really impact the schedule of your book. And if dates aren’t set in stone for time off and away from the computer, find out the book schedule so you can work around your editor’s needs. Honestly, it will save you both from a lot of hassle later on down the road.

–Understand that you will be required to work with your editor to make the text and the book as a whole the best possible. Yes, words will change and your favorite little scene may be cut. Your book may be too long to fit in the prescribed page count and you may have to trim it. These things happen.

Trust your editor when they make editorial changes. They have experience with editing all kinds of texts. If, however, you disagree with something they’ve changed, don’t become abusive of the stet. Instead, talk over things and try to understand why a change was made. Maybe your phrasing was awkward and there is another way to rewrite that you would like better.

–More often than not, your editor is working within constraints placed upon them by the publisher. They have to keep to a budget, so hiring that one illustrator from The New Yorker may not be possible. Work with them to find a good solution, and if you do get frustrated, let your editor know that—in a calm way. Explain why something isn’t working for you and see how you can come up with a compromise. Working with your editor instead of working against them will do more for your book and your relationship than you realize.

–One of the most frustrating aspects of getting your book published can be the design, both of the cover and the interior pages. You, as the writer, have don’t have much control over this. You can, however, discuss these things with your editor and see if a solution can be reached.

If it is the worst cover you have ever seen in your life, calm down a bit and tell your editor in a reasonable, detailed manner what exactly it is that bothers you. Declarations of “It’s ugly!” will get you nowhere. Is the font size and color wrong for the book? Tell them that. Do you not like the model they chose for the cover? Explain why. Don’t just brush it off as a total failure. I have seen some covers and designs that weren’t terribly attractive in the beginning become something extraordinary by a few small changes. Instead of demanding it be redesigned, discuss a few small changes that the publisher would be willing to make.

–There are numerous other aspects of working toward publication that I don’t have time to address right now. (If you do have questions, leave a comment and I’ll post about them later.) The thing to remember is that just about everyone you’ll come in contact with in the publishing world is there because they love books and want yours to succeed. Work with them and not against them and you can expect to have a good experience and produce a fantastic book.

In our new-fangled, sparkly world of instant communication, lines tend to blur. I’m starting to notice that blurring in my own life as I participate in several forms of social networking.

During the daytime, I’m a nonfiction book editor. I like my job; it’s fulfilling taking someone’s words and polishing them up a little brighter and making beautiful books. I don’t Twitter or Facebook during the day so I can focus on the work at hand. (With the minor exception of checking messages during lunch, and maybe responding to a few.)

At night, I write YA fiction books, and it’s something I’m very passionate about. Often I spend my evening hours writing, editing, and networking with other writers and publishing professionals online.

But I also have a social life (sort of). I have friends, roommates, and family, all of whom I keep up with on Facebook because it’s easy to see what people are doing and to send a quick note saying hi. (I also talk to them in real time, but for the purpose of this discussion, I do communicate with them frequently online.)

And now that it’s known that I’m an editor on Twitter, I am starting to get a following interested in knowing about the publishing world as well.

My problem? I use the same social networking sites to communicate with these four different groups of people. This is where the blurring comes in. Because I want my friends and family to find me, I use my real name, and since co-workers and authors I edit know my name, they find me the same way.

For a time I used a pseudonym for my writing to keep these different aspects of my life separate. But now that I’m querying agents and seeking to have my writing published, I decided to use my real name for this as well. This is where the blurring becomes more of a tangled web.

This morning, another aspect of my lines crossed as a well-known querying website posted a list with my name and company on it. (I’m not upset, just rather surprised that they found that information.) I’d tried to keep where I worked private because I was worried about the additional blurring. Since it is now out of my control, I’ll have to make sure that those lines don’t compete with others.

In some ways it’s fun to have all the aspects of my life in a few places that are easy for me to check, but it can be a big headache in other ways. When I tweet, I do so more about my personal life and my writing.

How do I juggle all these things without upsetting one group or another? I’m not sure. I’m testing these potentially tempestuous waters for the first time, as are many. There are some very vocal writers who don’t like knowing anything personal about the agents or editors they follow on Twitter; they’re following to get industry information and don’t want to hear that they have personal lives as well.

Lines are crossing, blurring, and twisting with all these new social media. It can be tough making sure that everyone is pleased, but you’re not going to be able to do it perfectly all the time. People will get upset. And if I’ve upset anyone with the blurring of my own lines, I do apologize. But at this point, I’m going to keep moving forward because I see a lot of benefit from participating in social media.

That said, I don’t tweet specifics about work; I don’t really tweet about work at all. If I do post anything related to editing, it will be knowledge I’ve learned without giving specific examples. My authors trust me not to divulge information about them or their work, and I’m not going to betray that trust. (And if any of the authors I work with are worried after reading this post, please call or email me and we can discuss.)

I will tweet about my personal life, though I try to keep the mundane out of it as much as possible. Knowing me, though, some of it is likely to slip in.

And my writing will be a good part of what I share, especially as I go through the same process of querying and writing and revising as so many other authors out there.

So this is my way of telling my Twitter followers and anyone I know personally that I don’t share information that is not mine to share. You needn’t worry. And if you ever feel like I’ve crossed one of these lines, let me know. I’d rather clear the air than let anything languish.

(And just so everyone knows, I’m writing this at home, sick. I was pondering it a lot since I’ve nothing else to do of at the moment, but I don’t want anyone to think I’m neglecting work.)