The Editorial Process

If you’re interested in trying to land a traditional publishing deal, you need a plan. You will have to be prepared to query many agents. Getting started I always recommend starting with a list of 100 agents who represent work in your genre. I recommend making the list of 100 ahead of time because the…

In any profession, having contacts can help you succeed. Yet most of us don’t start off knowing anyone who can help us get published. I’ve often said, “It isn’t who you know, it’s who you get to know.” Successful writers read books and blogs, join writers’ groups, attend conferences, and somehow eventually connect with the…

Recently I was looking for an apartment to rent – I’m moving back to LA from Palm Springs – and found a possibility on one of the rental sites (you know, like Apartment.com or Zillow). The property described sounded like what I was looking for and the rent was about right for the age of…

A while back I took a class on the algebra of symmetries and it turned out to be taught by a philosopher masquerading as a mathematics professor. Algebra, he told us, comes from the word al-jabr, which means restoration by balancing. “Restoring the unknown,” the teacher said. He went on to talk about how having…

If you’ve ever hit “send” on an edit and then immediately had self-doubt about your work, you’re not alone. Second-guessing an edit is an occupational hazard. What should you do if that happens? Worrying About an Edit You’ve Sent First, it’s common to think, “Gosh, I should have phrased that differently” or “Now that I…

Editors sometimes focus on selling services (“I copyedit fiction, particularly genre fiction like romance and mystery”) and there’s nothing wrong with that if your clients know what you mean. For example, if you’re pitching book publishers or packagers, they don’t need to be told that copyediting includes making sure a manuscript adheres to house style….