Editing

These days, my novel Lostine’s May 2026 launch date fast approaching, Editing is particularly on the brain.

In the milieu of Publishing, one hears of Editors as the Supreme Court of the Publishing Business. One hears of Editors as if they are omniscient about language usage, spelling, capitalization, grammar – and even, ridiculously, “correct profanity” in a publication. That’s all true.

But every Editor is also the keeper of a particular Stable. Each Editor wades in and shovels considerable manure from stalls occupied by writers who consume the Editor’s time, but never prepare to race by training hard – namely, self-editing. I just watched an interview of a literary agent at the Curtis Brown Agency, who said that most of what she receives as manuscript submissions from writers “read like first drafts.”! I have also listened to a lot of writers who assume that they can/should just leave the editing to the publisher. But editing is not free. Editing is no lark. Editing takes time and work. At minimum, Editing is the fine polishing of what will be sold to consumers. If a writer doesn’t self-edit to the full extent of the writer’s own skill, the hours of the minutia of editing must be paid for by the Publisher. Editing is a production cost. Publisher’s are business people. For every person in business, costs are downers. In Publishing, costs tip the balance against publication. SELF-edit your work!