1.

THE MARKET IS FULL OF BOOKS ON HOW TO WRITE. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT MESSAGE?

2.

HOW DID YOU GET YOUR START AS AN EDITOR?

3.

YOU WRITE, SO WHY DON'T YOU CALL YOURSELF A WRITER?

4.

SO YOU’RE SAYING YOU KNOW HOW WRITERS CAN GET PUBLISHED?

5.

WHERE DO YOU GET THE STATISTICS YOU USE, SUCH AS 28 MILLION REJECTIONS?

6.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR AUTHORS SEEKING PUBLICATION?

Q. THE MARKET IS FULL OF BOOKS ON HOW TO WRITE. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT MESSAGE?

A. I tell writers what the industry doesn't want them to know:
    • how their submissions are actually handled by an agent's or editor's first reader (or just "reader") — whom I call the screener-outer;
    • why manuscripts are judged on craft before content, and
    • why 90 percent of submissions are rejected in the first few pages — about 4.7 million a year.
    As soon as a screener-outer spots one or two clues to average writing, whether by page 10, or 2, or paragraph 2, that first reader stops reading.
    Manuscripts are tossed onto the "no" pile rapidly, long before anyone reads far enough to evaluate plot and character.

    Second, I explain the clues to quick rejection and show how to find and fix these dead giveaways to average writing. This gives a writer's manuscript a better chance of being read.

    Third, in DON'T SABOTAGE YOUR SUBMISSION, I review examples from 212 authors who write romance, short story, young adult, paranormal, mystery, and so on, and I show how others have solved the same problems that every fiction writer deals with. When writers see examples that offer options for, say, an intriguing opening hook, or effective body language, they try techniques they never realized were possible.

    P.J. Parrish, the award-winning New York Times best-selling author of nine thrillers, calls my selection of examples in the Agatha Award winner Don't Murder Your Mystery "Wonderful."

Q. HOW DID YOU GET YOUR START AS AN EDITOR?

A. I wanted to be a commercial artist. I made it into one of New York City's competitive-entry high schools, Music & Art (now LaGuardia), graduated at 16, and got my first day job—in public relations. I was a lowly clerk, but I could watch real artists at work.

   What a shock! I knew right away I could never produce as fast as they did. They got a design right the first time. I'm a tinkerer, a fine-tuner.

   But I'd been reading from age 4 and I had a photographic memory for details — including spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Those were the dark ages — no monitor glowing with email. At work, as that lowly clerk, I hand-carried the writers' rough drafts from one desk to another. Enroute I tinkered and fine-tuned. Did I get into trouble? No, my supervisor actually promoted me.

   I'd always taken reading and writing ability for granted — didn't everyone have those skills? I went from copy editor — a job I hadn't even known existed — to other roles and eventually to managing editor for a rapidly growing niche publisher. I learned the business of production (precomputer) and publishing on the job from other editors, and I'm still learning even after 44 years in the business.

Q. YOU WRITE, SO WHY DON'T YOU CALL YOURSELF A WRITER?

A. Writing is hard; I do it only when I have to — like when clients pay me enough to ghostwrite their books, or when something I strongly believe in compels me to write. For my two most recent books on writing to get published I was compelled by seeing so many manuscripts continuing to be murdered.

   I have enormous respect for anyone who even tries to create a book. But I'm an editor. I've studied editing and I keep up with developments in my field. I deplore the term writer/slash/editor, which says to me, "I really want to write, but while I'm waiting for the next big break I'll take on whatever editing I can get on the side so I can earn some extra money." I'm sorry, but if that's what all the slash/editor is about, I keep my distance. I don't intend to contribute to reducing my field’s professionalism.

  People come up to doctors at parties with physical complaints, not to say "I could be a doctor, too, if I wanted to take the time and effort to go to med school, study, be an intern...." Writers, on the other hand, have people say to them, "I could write, too, if I had the time." And I meet people who say, "I could be an editor too because I love to find mistakes." Fixing commas and spelling is not what editing is all about. I want to show writers of fiction how to use suspense, dialogue, conflict, description, and lots more so they stop sabotaging their submissions.

Q. SO YOU’RE SAYING YOU KNOW HOW WRITERS CAN GET PUBLISHED?

A. Yes and no. Good writing, landing on the right agent’s desk, then the right editor’s desk at a publishing house, has the potential for publication. But if anyone says they can get you published and all you have to do is buy this, pay that...run the other way. For a manuscript to be read by a legitimate agent or publisher, writers must replace ineffective techniques with effective ones so they aren't immediately labeled "amateur."

  That word isn't mine; "amateur" is well-established in the industry to separate the professionals from the unhappily unpublished.

    For example, most manuscripts suffer from what I call gesturitis: pointless, stereotyped body language following a line of dialogue. The character paused and took a deep breath, another ran a hand through his hair. A frown creased her brow. He nodded and smiled. She shrugged and shook her head. He smiled and looked around. She looked at him. I yawned.

   This is body language illiteracy. All that moving around contributes no insight into character, no meaning to the story. And just putting quotation marks around a sentence doesn't make it dialogue.

   To the screener-outer, differences from one manuscript to another in plot and character become insignificant. In fact, identical images and phrasing make it seem as if the same author wrote almost all thesubmissions. Editors get a sense of déjà view—the feeling we've viewed the same writer’s work before.

Q. WHERE DO YOU GET THE STATISTICS YOU USE, SUCH AS 4.7 MILLION REJECTIONS?

A. Bowker is the publishing industry’s major source of data, and they report that 47,541 were new adult fiction.
   I've interviewed many agents, and they estimate one in a hundred manuscripts becomes a book. Other agents cite far worse statistics, but I’m looking at the best case scenario. I’m no statistician, but I figure that for every one of the 47,541 titles published, at least 4.7 million rejections had to occur.

Q. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR AUTHORS SEEKING PUBLICATION?

A. You wouldn't expect to play a violin solo at Carnegie Hall without years of taking lessons, practicing, and listening to virtuosos perform. Writing is the only profession I know in which the beginner expects to solo before an audience on the first try. Some writers actually brag about not reading books — when the best advice for becoming a writer is to read widely, to study the craft of writing, to learn to listen to what good writing “sounds” like, and to practice, practice, practice by writing, writing, writing.
   Ask for feedback from people who don't know you and won't tell you what you hope to hear. Take the art of writing seriously if you expect to be taken seriously by publishing's screener-outers.