Blog Number Six

BLOG Number Six.  The number one biggest misconception new writers have is to think "Mistakes don't matter.  An editor will fix it."

"Not true, grasshopper."  Editors don't edit.  They acquire.  In most cases, they don't even read your book.  There are housewives in New York City who earn a good living as a "professional reader."  They are paid per manuscript to read through an editor's slush pile and sift the wheat from the chaff.  This is the person who will decide your Fate.  She's usually a stay-at-home mom with a couple of screaming kids begging for her attention.  If you don't catch her interest in the first three pages, all your hard work is shredded for recycle or returned in your SASE.

That acquisitions editor you've been "courting" for the last few months only reads the books that make it through Level One.  Unless, of course, you've been to a conference and met with an editor.  Conferences are an invaluable tool.  Do not discount them as fluff.

If the editor gives you his/her business card and tells you how to "flag" your envelope to get attention, lordy, you have climbed from the gutter onto the curb.  You've made that first step.

Editors usually acquire for only one line which is their specialty.  They need to find possibly four titles each month and already have their calendar booked about a year in advance.

For Heaven's sake....don't make your book a 250,000 word, 600 page epic.  Believe it or not, because of the high price of paper these days, and the number of trees they have to cut down to make the pulp to make the paper, editors cannot AFFORD to invest a great amount of money into a new author.

You are unproven and unknown.

They will not let you forget it.