“Persistence means that you write every day, and you keep working on it even when you’re not sure about it, even when you don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere. That kind of persistence pays off.”
Most of us like to think that we’re pretty self sufficient, but the reality is that we need a lot of help from people around us to enable our success. Support roles are invaluable at keeping the world spinning round and keeping quality products at our fingertips. Perhaps no one knows this more than a book editor. For one, they help writers sound good. They make sure there is balance and consistency throughout a novel, and give it an overall sense of polish it would not otherwise have. The more unknown side of book editing though is to read through countless potential books and decide which are going to make the cut, which are worth our time and money. Today’s guest tells us all about the rewards, challenges and pressures of deciding what we get to read, and how we get to read it.
“In a way what I am is kind of a project manager for getting a book to publication. I see that all the way from the time it’s just a manuscript to the point of publication.”
“Getting my attention is only part of it, being a good writer is most of it.”
Interview Contents
2:00 – The ins and outs of being an editor.
4:25 – Editing a children’s book.
6:00 – The similarities between editing a picture book and an adult novel.
7:30 – How much input do you have on art?
9:20 – The most difficult aspects of editing a children’s book.
10:20 – Questioning if you’re headed in the right direction.
12:55 – Difficult aspects of editing a young adult novel.
14:05 – How many books do you work on at once?
15:05 – Problem solving.
16:10 – How has being an editor changed Wendy’s own writing.
19:55 – Deciding what books to acquire and what mail to read from potential authors.
27:40 – Advice to aspiring writers.
30:40 – Advice to aspiring book editors.
Links
No links today!
