Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Uncle Google and the Diamond in the Rough


For me, as for most people, 'Uncle Google' is a life saver…

And I was back at the computer again, searching for someone who would be willing to go through my Diamond in the Rough’. 



This time I was looking for freelance editors, and I found some through Google and also through Goodreads.

I also decided (can you believe it?) that I would listen to good advice from people who had been in this business much longer than me. 

The advice I gathered from a variety of writers’ groups included:
- take your time
- get sample edits
- choose the editor who, your gut feels, is the one you could work with.

And so I:
- took my time and contacted a range of editors
- asked for sample edits, and read these thoroughly
and
- faced another problem. There were two editors who I felt I could really work with, but I had to make a decision.

I won't lie, it was a hard decision, but in the end I chose my lovely editor Alison Williams, who did really wonderful work. 

You can find her web page here: https://alisonwilliamswriting.wordpress.com/
She edited, provided five pages of editorial feedback and, oh wow, quite some work to do afterwards.
Of course I didn’t agree with everything she suggested (sorry Alison) but most of her remarks were helpful and, after a second edit, I was finally ready to submit my manuscript to publishers.

I felt much more confident than before - until I realised that I’d made another grave mistake…

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