My Work Ethics

To writers considering using a personal editor:

I strive to produce the highest quality in my work and to offer the greatest value to all my clients. Editing books and coaching writers has been my full-time profession for 40+ years.

I believe in working on one book at a time and devoting all my attention to it until it is finished, without letting my focus be interrupted. That's why my telephone hours are limited, and my e-mail replies delayed at times.

My clients are:

• authors — previously published and some unpublished
  
• publishers — usually mid-sized independent presses
  and some nonfiction self-publishers

I edit mystery fiction and thrillers, some fantasy and sci-fi,
and most nonfiction. Authors I've edited have been published by St. Martin's Press, Berkley Prime Crime, Midnight Ink, Intrigue, Viking, Rodale, and many other presses large and small.

Since the publication of my most recent book,
DON'T SABOTAGE YOUR SUBMISSION (the expanded version for all writers of the original DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY), I now require all fiction writers who work with me to read either one of these books and apply my recommendations to their own manuscripts before sending me their work. (If your local public and college libraries don't already have copies for you to borrow, you can request them to acquire copies for their permanent collections.)

To see some of the books I've edited for clients, please click on published work. For a list of non-book publications that I edited or wrote in the past, click the button at the end of published work.

Referrals received and given

Referrals from my clients, students, and colleagues in publishing are the source of my editing and consulting work. I do not advertise, nor do I wish to be queried by those who simply Google "editing" — they are often shopping around to learn what prices are charged. I can tell you now that mine will never be the lowest rate available.

As for my making referrals to others in the business, whenever the needs of a client go beyond my own expertise, I suggest further sources of information and make referrals to other experts in the industry. However, I refuse to list "preferred vendors" on my Web site and receive a fee for doing so, because I don't believe anyone can be assured of access to the best in the industry when referrals are for sale.

Also — I do not make referrals to agents. I feel it would be unethical for me to let an author believe that engaging me would lead to an agent referral. When a client chooses me as her or his editor, I'd like both of us to be comfortable with the knowledge that it's because of my publishing experience and editorial skills.

Subject Matter

Along the same lines, I feel it would be unethical for me to accept an assignment to edit a book that either does not interest me (military, for example) or has to reach a market I don't know (poetry, Christian). It would also be unethical for me to edit a book that I believe has an unlikely chance of finding an agent or a publisher. That's why I ask prospective clients who feel they are ready for editing to furnish a sample of their manuscript and fill out a questionnaire (which can be downloaded by clicking ready?).

I have no wish to profit from the naiveté of any writer.

Choices I offer

I believe that most new fiction writers can benefit from an edit and critique of the first 25 or so pages of a manuscript. The same is true for a new writer of nonfiction with one exception: consider getting a critique on the first chapter that deals directly with the content of the book, omitting the introduction, preface, and other preliminary material.

A critique of a "partial" — jargon for the first few chapters of a manuscript — empowers the writer to apply the lessons of the critique to the balance of the draft, thereby raising the manuscript to a higher level of readiness for a full edit. I do not offer critiques in place of editing, because reading a manuscript in its entirety, making notes about it, and writing a thorough analysis of it takes me almost as much time as actually editing it. And an edit gives authors much more value for their money than a critique.

• Critiques of entire books are general in the suggestions offered, leaving the writer to interpret how to actually apply those suggestions to the text. I believe a full-length critique may be of use to a well-established author who is in the process of developing another book, but of little value to a new author.
  
• Critiques of single chapters, on the other hand, when combined with an edit of the same 25 or so pages, is something I do recommend to help new writers evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of what they are working on. However, after I critique any part of a book manuscript, if writers wish to have the remainder of their chapters edited, I require that they first apply the suggestions already received to the remainder.
  
• Editing offers the same suggestions as a critique, but provides a great many more specific recommendations and suggestions. Most important, editing shows how those suggestions could be applied.
  
• Market-Savvy Editing^SM lets me provide the same detailed benefits as all of the above-described editorial services, with the added value of a marketing perspective — which is what all informed critiques should reflect.

Accepting a manuscript for editing does not mean I can ensure or even predict its publication. No one can. The market is crowded, competitive, and fickle. So if you meet someone who claims to ensure successful publication, run — don't walk — and find someone else.

Sometimes as I get deeper into the editing of a manuscript, I begin to see that it is not sustaining its initial promise as a marketable book. If I believe that further editing is unlikely to sufficiently improve that book's chances for success, I stop and explain to the author what I'm observing. I return the unexpended part of the author's retainer together with the pages already edited. The author ends up with the same evaluation that a critique would have provided, plus something more detailed and functional: the editing of one's own writing — a tangible product from which to learn more effective techniques for future writing efforts.

Naturally, my opinion is that of only one person. Some editors and publishing advocates thrive on telling authors what they want to hear, but I won't.

Only once did a client strongly disagree with an evaluation of mine — which is every author's right, of course. She found another manuscript editor who, she later informed me, praised the work. To my knowledge, that novel is still unpublished. Usually an author who learns that a manuscript is not likely to produce the hoped-for result — even with substantial editing and rewriting — is grateful for the opportunity to save years of further effort, cost, and disappointment.

Self-Publishers

When it comes to editing the work of a self-publisher — whose investment of effort and money is even greater and whose success depends on far more than the merit of the manuscript itself — I attempt to learn how he or she plans to distribute a book before I take on its editing. If I find that the content has promise but marketing plan is unrealistic, inadequate, or unlikely to help the author reach the desired goal — and if I see how the plan for marketing and distribution of the book could be significantly improved — I might suggest working with that author in a consulting capacity before actually performing the editing. After a while, the manuscript and the author become ready for the next step, and at that point I can refer the author to an expert in book marketing who is willing to take on a beginning publisher — especially a first-time self-publisher who has begun to acquire some market savvy.

Once in a while I meet a self-publisher with an inadequate plan who is not interested in learning how to market effectively. The author assumes that simply printing a book is sufficient to get it into bookstores and on Oprah. In that case I decline to take the editing altogether, regardless of the merit of the book's content. I prefer to edit books that I believe have a decent chance of reaching the publisher's intended market.

Confidentiality

I do not discuss work-in-progress at any time with anyone other than the client.

When a book is published and its author or publisher sends me my own copy or two, that is the time I tell others about the book and promote it as widely as I'm able to. I list it on this Website (together with a way for readers to order it), mention it when I publish my annual newsletter, display it in my office and at trade shows I attend, and talk it up whenever I can in my workshops and other public appearances. If the author also sends me a press packet I am often able to promote the book more effectively.

As part of my desire to create a long-lasting, positive relationship with each of my clients, I invite you to check my references and my clients' evaluations, and to learn for yourself both the quality of my work and my integrity as an editor.

My Experience

When I began my career in niche publishing in New York City more than 44 years ago, I wasn't planning to become an editor. I was planning to use my training in commercial art and design. But I soon discovered that publishing had a great demand for skills I'd always taken for granted: reading and writing.

I learned to edit in the best possible way — as understudy to talented editors — and eventually worked my way up to the position of a busy managing editor. Like many editors before and since who miss the hands-on editorial work, in 1983 I decided to become an even busier full-time independent editor.

After my first 9 years of employment in New York, I started a family and wrote my first book — a history. The research for that book motivated me to go to college. I attended the University of Maine-Portland and in four years received my B.A. in English with highest honors. The English Department offered me a position — not as a teaching assistant but as an instructor of writing — and I accepted. After two years of graduate school, during which time I organized the graduate student body, serve as its president and newsletter editor, and taught both day and evening classes in writing, I earned my M.A. in English. Shortly after, I was hired by Empire State College of the State University of New York as a writing mentor to independent study students.

Mentoring others convinced me of what I'd long suspected: that writing could be taught more effectively outside the classroom than in it, through one-on-one coaching and a gentle but instructive process of editing — similar to what takes place in an editorial meeting. That one-on-one process informs all my work. It's what encouraged me to hang out my shingle as an independent editor in 1983.

In working with writers who wanted only to get published, I recognized the great need to educate writers in the skills that would help them approach the competitive world of publishing and survive in it.

So I entered the classroom once again, this time by initiating the first outreach program in publishing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. For 9 years I led a series of evening and summer classes that introduced about 2,000 Midwest writers to the workings of the book industry and to the ways of using market savvy to become published authors. From time to time I still teach a class or two at UW and elsewhere. (Please see my itinerary at http://bellarosabooks.com/

Similar classes were requested by Alverno College and various writer's conferences — including two sponsored by Cardinal Stritch University, where I had the honor in 1998 of being invited as keynote speaker.

I served on the boards of Women in Communications for Southeast Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Society for Technical Communication, and presented numerous sessions on writing and editing to my peers at state and regional STC conferences and one international convention.

For 4 years I had the privilege of serving on the board of directors of MidAmerica Publishers Association, a regional trade association of small presses, university presses, and a few highly successful self-publishers. That membership taught me what it really takes to market a niche book. I became MAPA's vice-president, then president, joined Publishers Marketing Association (PMA), and spoke at publishers' conventions throughout the Midwest on how to streamline the editorial process.

At the national PMA-BEA Publishing University I led many workshops over the years — the most recent in the summer of 2007 — and for two PMA universities I developed the curriculum and secured speakers for all the sessions on book design, editorial, and production.

One of the nonfiction crime books I ghosted in the mid-90s qualified me for membership in Mystery Writers of America. Shortly after relocating my business from Wisconsin to Greensboro, NC, I was invited to join the board of MWA's Southeast region. I served on it 6 years and edited the regional quarterly for 7.

Now that my 10th book is out, DON'T MURDER YOUR MYSTERY, I've been presenting at many additional writers conferences and chapter meetings around the country. A list of appearances can be seen here: http://marketsavvybookediting.com/training.html

Other organizations to which I cheerfully pay dues include Sisters in Crime, Wisconsin Regional Writers, North Carolina Writers' Network, Small Publishers Association of North America, and Mensa. Since 1991, Who's Who of American Women has seen fit to list me in its pages.

Over the years, in addition to editing many hundreds of book manuscripts, I've written 60+ articles, co-authored a simulation game, and written 8 pre-sold books, 4 of them as ghostwriter. My only noncommissioned book is one that I self-published because I knew I could reach its niche market directly. It's about my adventures teaching English communication skills to Korean schoolteachers abroad through UNESCO. It's called OPEN GATE, and a few brand new copies are still available from me at a much lower cost than they are currently being sold for by the used book dealers on Amazon.com.

My column on Market-Savvy^SM book publishing ran for two years in Badger Book Quarterly, and two of my articles on "Market-Savvy^SM Editing" (reprinted on this site) were written for the 5th and 6th editions of John Kremer's popular 1001 Ways to Market Your Books.

After a lifetime of working in the vigorous climates of New York, Maine, and Wisconsin, in 1999 I moved to Greensboro, NC, so I could enjoy many more years in publishing without having to put down my editor's pencil to pick up a snow shovel. I continue to delight in having my work help authors and publishers produce superior work they can be proud of — and helps them win awards.

Please visit awards for a list of these, and published work for information about some of the books I've edited and authored.

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