I went sailing over the weekend with some friends of mine. It was a 2 hour drive each way, and with time to burn I decided to listen to the Rocking Self-Publishing Podcast. I was completely blown away by the interview with Harry Dewulf. He really cares about his craft, and the lengths he goes for his writers are above and beyond what I thought was possible in an editor-for-hire.
I immediately sent the link to the podcast to various friends. I also emailed Harry. He’s a great guy, even offered to Skype with me about my current work in progress, for free. I had to decline, mostly out of shame that the project isn’t as far along as I wanted it to be. But I also told him I’m going to try to get him to edit it when it’s done.
Link: Rocking Self-Publishing Podcast with Harry Dewulf
Link: Harry’s Website…
Link: Harry’s Blog…
John L. Monk 
Loved the podcast, and sure wish I could afford to have him work on my books! (Maybe someday.) All the while I was listening, I kept chuckling to myself, thinking the first thing I’d do if I ever won the lottery would be to get a great developmental editor to help me. Wait. First, I’d buy Boo a new fishing boat…
I think it is something some folks could budget for, over the course of a few months to a year (depending). Also, he seems very willing to work with folks on the price, and the price also seems to fluctuate depending on how much work needs to be done.
I think it’s well worth the money — if you aren’t on a very fixed income, like me. (Probably worth his weight in gold, but don’t tell him that!)
What if a great developmental editor says delete this character, add another one in his place, and change the ending to the polar opposite of what you wrote? This stuff happens….I recently wrote back into existence a character I’d deleted after wasting $400 on an editor who said my novel was “not Catholic enough.” Funny. I still trust people. Would I be hanging out with the likes of John otherwise???
A great developmental editor helps you to write the book you want to write. It’s very rare that I’d suggest wholesale deletion of a character – occasionally it occurs to me that two (or more!) minor characters might be combined. As for changing endings… sometimes I do go all out to sell an alternative ending to an author. But I expect my authors to resist when they know they’re right. More often, though, when it comes to structural changes, my advice takes the form “something is missing here” or “there’s an opportunity for something here”. But with more detail than that, obviously.
Trust matters in a writer-editor relationship.
“Not catholic enough” is rather missing the point, these days. Noone needs to appeal to everyone any more.
You make me laugh Carol. I don’t think a “great” developmental editor would tell you to do things you don’t want to do, or which don’t make sense. If you get time, give that podcast a listen, it’s very enjoyable 🙂
Carol, I’m sure that happens, but I guess I’m becoming an optimist in my middle age. I can’t help thinking that if a developmental editor comes up with such a drastic change and it’s right for the story, the old proverbial light bulb should start glowing in the author’s brain. So I bet you had major doubts from the moment your editor suggested those changes.
I’ve had those lightbulb moments as both a beta reader and as an editor. Once, I read a wonderful novel which seemed to set something up, but it never happened in the end. I told the author that in my opinion there was a family secret that had to come out, that it would be the answer to not only the intrigue in this book, but it would explain important aspects of the prequel. It also gave double meaning to the title, as a bonus. I didn’t say what I thought the secret had to be, but lightbulb! The author immediately got it and said she couldn’t believe it. It was right there — as if she’d very adeptly set it up, but she’d somehow missed it. If it had been wrong for her book, she’d have known it, though — and she’d have said so.
To get the right developmental editor for her, a writer might have to kiss (and pay) a lot of frogs. That’s something we all must be worried about. Is it worth the money? We’ll never know without taking that chance I guess.
As for John — we are forever enraptured by his wit and charm and incorrigible snarkiness! (heh heh)
And poise.
This is absolutely my favourite outcome. It shows that while often its about mutual trust between the author and the editor, sometimes its enough for both to trust the story.
good looks, good looks…don’t forget the good looks!
^
You guys tickle me senseless. No, wait, that’s the tiny ants all over my desk! Tiny ants! All over my desk! Crawling up my arms! Arghhhhhhh!!!!