Out of the blue came a request from a student from years past. She's finished the novel she workshopped in my class and is thinking about getting it edited "if it's worthy." Would I like to have a go?
Oh, how to answer that question! So many books are published--many not especially worthy in my opinion, but best sellers.
I can't tell someone that paying for editing will assure their book is published Editing is expensive--though I suspect at $5 dollars a page for very picky line-editing, my prices aren't out of line.
Anyway, I suggested she pay me to edit the first chapter and she could decide if it was worth it to her to spring for the whole book.
She sent me said first chapter and I leaped in. And was surprised to find how addictive the work is. I always enjoyed editing--with a few exceptions when the writing was truly terrible. But this is a nice story that I think I can improve with some judicious tweaks.
We'll see if it proves to be something she wants to pursue.
4 comments:
Good ideas, to try out her new book being edited by you, and your choice of Ms. Turkey for photos.
I always had to submit the first 100 pages of a work in progress to my editor and get feedback. Her editorial suggestions were quite minor, but just knowing my editor had approved the direction I was going in was helpful and reassuring.
I did a bit of editing once. I don't think it was appreciated.
Wishing your former student well and hope the time spent editing that chapter makes you wish for chapter 2.
We had 5 wild turkeys of varying ages finding snacks on our wet gravel driveway this morning.
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