Sunday, November 1, 2009

Hiring an Editor

Avoidance is sometimes a necessary strategy, so I am putting off the press release for the moment. The information I had come up with was enough to satisfy my first brush with the media. Back to the book... After I had my book reviewed by the institutions mentioned in the book as well as a professional genealogist and a St. Louis County librarian, I hired an editor. When she emailed suggested changes back to me, they were few and mostly inconsequential. Now, I would love to think that I am such a great writer that the manuscript was pretty perfect when I sent it to her, but I know that is not the case.

In retrospect, it might have been better to give her the book after the book designer had laid it out. Quite a few changes were made once I was able to see how the book would look. The problem with having the editor review the text after the lay out is that you rack up additional fees with the designer when changes are made. On the other hand, the editor never saw the final draft of the book. I had settled up the bill with her long before then. I did, however, have other sets of eyes review it, including someone who works at the local newspaper. My advice is to get the editor involved after the entire book is laid out. That's what I'll do next time.

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