Writers' Services: assembling the right team

You know all those house building programmes that have become so popular in recent years? From Grand Designs to The House That £100k Built – they celebrate DIY builders, designing and constructing their own homes.

One thing you will notice, though, is that however hands-on the home owners are, they will recognise the limits of their own skills and bring in professionals to do aspects of the work – like plastering, plumbing and electrics – that just have to be done right. Even when they DO have those skills, they bring in the professionals to check they are doing things right.

Publishing your own book is like building your own house. Some of those observing the self-publishing phenomenon from the outside – and some of those nervously contemplating attempting it themselves for the first time – imagine that it means the author doing everything alone, from the moment they write The End at the bottom of the very first draft until the book starts flying off the (real or virtual) shelves.

In truth an indie author, like the DIY builder, is more like the manager of a micro-business, taking responsibility for each stage of construction, but knowing when and how to bring in the professionals to help. So what are those professional services you are going to need?

 EDITING

 To carry on with the house building metaphor a bit longer – that first draft isn’t even the blueprint for the published novel. It’s more like the rough sketches for that Grand Design you’ve been dreaming of. You’re going to have to do quite a bit more work on it yourself, bash it into shape, make your vision clearer for your readers. So you go through as many rewrites as it needs until it’s as good as you can possibly make it. And then you need to call in the editors!

First off – a word or warning. Close friends and family do NOT make good editors. Even if they are the best-read people you know. Even if they are writers themselves. They love you. They believe in you. They want you to succeed. And with the best will in the world, they are going to read your work through rose-tinted spectacles.

 What you need to do is find someone you can trust to be ruthlessly honest. Who understands the genre you are writing in and the standards you need to meet. Who can pull apart the work you have just spent the last few months bleeding over without making you feel as if you’re a complete waste of space. And who can help you build it up again so that it is still YOUR book, not theirs, but even better than you ever thought possible.

 It may sounds as if we’re asking for the impossible – but they do exist, these people. We know. We’ve found a few of them – and we’re recommending some of them here. (Another excellent source of recommended service providers is the Alliance of Independent Authors Partner Members.)

 Broadly speaking, there are three types of editing. The lines between them are a bit blurry, and I find it’s easier to think of them as three separate processes.

 First is STRUCTURAL EDITING. This is taking a macro view of the book. If you have sub-plots going nowhere, scenes that advance nothing or characters that fail to come alive; if parts of your story are told in the wrong sequence, you’ve begun it too early or dragged on the ending too long: this is where it should be picked up. At this stage, you want someone who can judge the ms as a whole, and who knows the rules and standards of your genre (and I’m including lit fic as a genre here). Good beta-readers can be excellent at this (but bear in mind what I said about not using friends and family).

CATRIONA TROTH is a structural editor with experience of working with both fiction and non-fiction MSS. 

The next stage is COPY EDITING. When all those big, macro issues have been fixed, it’s time to take a finer-grained look at your ms. A good copy editor will still look at issues of pace. But they will focus at the level of individual sentences and paragraphs. Are you using unnecessary verbiage? Or is this scene underwritten? They’ll spot if a character’s eyes change colour part way through the book. They will also check (or at least question) factual detail. (Was the model of car you describe available when your story was set? Is it really possible to shoot someone at that distance with the gun you’ve given your villain?)  

And finally there is PROOFREADING. This is editing as a lay person understands it: checking spelling, grammar, punctuation. In a manuscript being prepared for publication, it also includes checking that you are using things like em-dashes, en-dashes and hyphens in the correct professional way.

Is all this really necessary? Well, the reading public seems to think so. As reviews on Amazon clearly show, readers can be savagely critical of self-published books that are full of slip-shod amateur errors.

PERRY ILES has been the proofreader for almost all of Triskele' books.

Two other terms you may hear are ‘manuscript critique service’ and ‘beta reader.’ 

 A professional manuscript critique service (such as Cornerstones in the UK) is likely to offer a range of services from which you can choose a package suited to you. They may look at your whole MS, or only an extract. In addition to the editing services above, they will often bring to bear their experience of the market to give you an idea of the commercial viability of your book. Critiquing service may also look at an MS at an earlier stage of development than final editing.

LORRAINE MACE and JOHN HUDSPITH both offer a critiquing service that covers elements of both structural and copy editing.

Polly Courtney worked with editor JOY TIBBS on her novels Feral Youth, Golden Handcuffs and Poles Apart.

 A beta reader, on the other hand, is likely to be a trusted volunteer. Like beta testers in the software industry, who evaluate pre-release software, a beta reader will read your MS when it is close to release and let you know if any part of the book is not working for them. They are likely to focus on the same sorts of areas as structural editor – pace, engagement with characters, any major plot holes. But as they are readers, not generally writers or editors, they may point out problems but not necessarily suggest how to fix them.

 DESIGN ELEMENTS

 So now you have a wonderful story, thoroughly edited to a professional standard. What next? 

COVER DESIGN. 

Self-publishing packages like Kindle Direct Publishing make it very easy for authors to select a few elements from a pool of images and fonts, put them together through a semi-automated process and come up with their own cover design. So why do you need to bother paying a professional designer? 

 Well, for one thing, there is a high risk that your cover is going to end up looking suspiciously like at least half a dozen others, as authors pick from the same limited stock of options. Secondly, it’s amazing how tiny things about the way a cover is put together can change how professional it looks. Most of us do it at an entirely unconscious level, but put two covers together and we will instinctively prefer the one that obeys all those hidden ‘rules’ about visual impact. Designers understand that. 

 So find a good designer, one who can realise your unique vision for your book. And shop around. Designers can be expensive – but they don’t have to be. There are some outstanding ones out there who are also very affordable.  

INTERIOR FORMATTING

The last stage before uploading your ms to a publishing service is INTERIOR FORMATTING. Now, this is something a lot of indie authors do for themselves. It’s not intrinsically difficult and there are plenty of programs and packages out there which can help you with the process. But you need to be aware of the rules about laying out the book as a whole (what goes in the ‘front matter’ before the main text, and in what order, and what goes in the back matter), and about laying out individual pages (first pages of chapters vs. the rest, how page numbering works). You need to understand about balancing the fonts used in the text with those used in headings. And finally you need to understand the differences between formatting print books and eBooks, and the subtle differences between different eBook formats.

 If you are prepared to take the time to learn the rules, then by all means tackle this step yourself. But a slip-up at this stage can make your book scream ‘amateur.’ So if you are not completely confident, it is worth employing someone experienced so do your interior formatting for you. 

JD SMITH has created both cover design and the interior formatting for all of Triskele's books. 

 Once the book is formatted, you have an MS ready to upload to your publishing service. And that really has been made very easy. So long as you are reasonably comfortable around computers, there is no reason why you shouldn’t do that for yourself. (See our Leaving Prints chapter in The Triskele Trail for a post-formatting checklist.) 

 And there you have it. You’ve launched your book. You have made all the decisions about how the book should be presented to the world. And you’ve assembled the team around you who can help you realise that vision. Congratulations, you are an independent professional!

Writers' Services: Joy Tibbs

Joy Tibbs: Joy of Editing

Providing structural and copy editing services as well as basic proofreading.

Website: www.joyofediting.co.uk

Email: joyediting@gmail.com

Triskele Meets Joy Tibbs:

What kind of editing do you do? 
This depends on the client. I can help with structural and copy editing, and with proofreading. I advise on plot consistency, flow, character development, repetition and a range of other issues as well as dealing with basic spelling and grammar.


How do you approach working with a client on a manuscript?
I normally read the first few chapters of a manuscript before advising on the type of editing service the client requires. Once this has been agreed, I read the full manuscript through once. I then perform the first round of edits in Word using tracked changes and adding comments in the margins. Once the client has responded to the comments and implemented the changes, I perform a final read-through to pick up any last-minute typos.

How would you describe a successful author/editor relationship?

A successful author/editor relationship must be extremely honest. While an author may wish to hear how wonderful his or her manuscript is, it is more helpful for the editor to provide constructive criticism in a sensitive way. The editor should never try to change the author’s voice, unless specifically requested to do so. The author/editor relationship is about working together to make the finished product as good as it can possibly be.

Recommendation:

Joy is quite literally a joy to work with. She has worked on three of my novels and she'll certainly be my first choice for the next one. It's rare to find someone with an eye for detail as well as a clear view of the bigger picture, but Joy has both. She's also extremely efficient and reliable. Thank you, Joy!

 Polly Courtney, author of Feral Youth, Golden Handcuffs and Poles Apart.

Writers' Services: John Hudspith

John Hudspith Editing Services 

website|: www.johnhudspith.co.uk 

email: johnny@johnhudspith.co.uk

What kind of editing do you do?

Some might describe what I do as `heavy` editing. But see, that depends on the level of understanding of the craft the individual writer is at; some needing more help than others. `Help` being the key word here, because when you employ an editor, you must realise he is not a machine or robot programmed to exactness and thereby guaranteeing perfection with your work. No, your editor is a hired help, a fellow of the craft, a writer himself, and what you are in fact doing by employing this chap or chappess is handing a fellow artist a chisel and inviting him to give you a hand. And that is exactly what I do; examine structure, pace, characterisation, dialogue, mood, tone, props, production values and camera angles and give a hand with getting these things into shape – ensuring all the while that the writer’s voice/style receives the most important enhancement of all and that `story` works.

How do you approach working with a client on a manuscript?

I ask for three chapters, synopsis, what the inspiration is for the work and a little information about the writer. I read the chapters, study the synopsis, then provide an appraisal along with the first chapter edited and a quotation for completing the work. There is no charge for the appraisal and sample edits. Before any writer engages with me I want them to see what I can bring to their work. Before parting with your hard-earned, always ask for a free sample and ensure the editor engages with your work, your voice, and can bring something delicious to your table. If your editor doesn’t make you drool, find one that does.

How would you describe a successful author/editor relationship?

A successful editor will be aware of the conventions and reader perceptions of every genre in which he works. A successful editor, with in-depth knowledge of the craft, will teach his writer these things of reader perceptions and camera angles and voice and the nuance of words. To edit the work of another and watch them learn as the process moves along is to watch a writer evolve and I’m privileged to have experienced this many times upon reading the work of returning writers and finding they have taken on board all I said about narrative POV values and mood creators, and their word choice is now so picky I could cry. And so it goes on. A successful author/editor relationship is one of passionate teacher and hungry pupil.

You can read more about John Hudspith here.

RECOMMENDATION

Siobhan Daiko submitted the opening chapters of `The Orchid Tree` - a historical romance set in post-war colonial Hong Kong. She had a suspicion that her novel wasn’t quite working, but didn’t know why. I found the narrative voice had a unique sparseness to it, a knack for succinct imagery and storytelling, and indeed the read brought a fragrant feel, almost as if one was sitting with the book beneath an orchid tree. There wasn’t much editing to do. Fluff was a rarity, as were typos and grammatical issues, and character actions and reactions and resulting mood and tone were all in top condition. An easy job for me, but we did eventually uncover the cause of Siobhan’s suspicions...

Siobhan says:

`I was feeling despondent about The Orchid Tree. Something wasn’t right with it, but I was too close
to the writing to figure out what that “something” was. I’d seen Johnny’s name online and had heard nothing but good words about him. I sent off for a sample edit and quote, which came back within days. Impressed by his professionalism, and willingness to spread payments by working on the novel in blocks, I sent off my first section. And so began my journey with Johnny.

He applied everything he talks about in his posts “on editing” to my work, focusing on reader enjoyment and flagging up what he calls “distorters”, but also giving praise and encouragement. Comments like “wonderful imagery, beautifully done,” “an absorbing voice”, “mood and character captured perfectly” made me feel as if I hadn’t written such rubbish after all. At first, there were only minor edits and instances where he suggested I should cut what he calls “fluff”. It was rare for Johnny to have to chip in. Then, after I’d sent him the third section, he flagged up where I’d been going wrong. My protagonist had started acting out of character and reader empathy had fallen away. A halleluiah moment for me.

Major rewrites ensued, at no extra cost, and emails flew back and forth as we worked together. Again, Johnny was hugely encouraging, with comments like, “this is perfect” or “this is a tingle moment”. I trust Johnny’s judgement and I’m sure The Orchid Tree is a much better novel now. So grateful to Johnny; he’s brilliant. My confidence has soared and I’m ready to send my baby out there for others to read… and to write the sequel. Watch this space!`

Siobhan Daiko. Italy.

Writers' Services: Lorraine Mace

Lorraine Mace Critique Service

website: http://www.lorrainemace.com/index_files/critiques.htm

As a former Writers Bureau tutor and provider of short story critiques to one of the UK’s top writing magazines, Lorraine Mace’s experience provides a solid foundation for her private critique service.

She has mentored to publication authors of fiction and non-fiction. Her client base includes journalists, short story writers, novelists and authors of a wide range of non-fiction books. Writers receive a report covering manuscript presentation, title, opening paragraphs, story resolution, dialogue, characterisation and an overall assessment. They also get back their original document marked up with track changes to show comments and advice directly on the text. 

The critiques cover not only where improvements are needed, but also detail what it is that writers are doing right! This is something that is often overlooked when work is appraised, but it is an important aspect in a writer’s progress.

Lorraine is the co-author of The Writer’s ABC Checklist, author of children's book Vlad the Inhaler and (writing as Frances di Plino) author of Crooked Cat Publishing’s crime thrillers featuring D.I. Paolo Storey: Bad Moon Rising, Someday Never Comes and Call It Pretending. The fourth in the series, Looking for a Reason, is contracted for publication October 2014.

Triskele meets Lorraine Mace:

What kind of editing do you do?

This depends on the clients’ needs. I have some regular clients, who spell out up front exactly where they would like me to concentrate my efforts, but generally my reports cover grammar, punctuation, plot, theme, pace, voice, opening hooks and cliff-hanger ends to chapters and scenes. I also work with a number of non-fiction authors. In all cases I comment on what is working in the manuscript, as well as what isn’t.

How do you approach working with a client on a manuscript?

I like to establish upfront what the client expects and how (and whether) this can be accommodated. I am flexible on the type of help given. For example, an experienced writer is in need of different feedback and assistance to that required by a beginner writer.

How would you describe a successful author/editor relationship?

For me, trust is the key ingredient. Unless the relationship is built on trust there will always be difficulties. As a writer myself, I know how important it is to seek feedback from people whose opinions I value, but who don’t expect me to follow their ideas blindly. I want my clients to feel the same way. When I make suggestions for changes, that’s all they are – suggestions. It is up to the author to decide how, or if, to follow through on the ideas.

You can read more about Lorraine Mace here.

Recommendation:

After using several critique services with some disappointment, I tried Lorraine Mace, with Flash 500 stories first, and then with longer short story MS and I recommend her without reserve. The full-page report on structure, character, plot, and other key elements is thorough and professional. There are also line-by-line editorial comments using Word review programme which is a great way to learn as well as to improve a particular story: Lorraine misses nothing. Most important for me though is her ‘eye for story’; her capacity to see deeply into the potential of a story you have only been skirting around without realising it. Eagle-eyed she is but her feedback is constructive and encouraging, and she responds to a request for clarification – not all critique services do that. She sticks to her estimated turn-around time too.

Trish Nicholson – award-winning short story writer and author of travel memoir books

Writers' Services: Catriona Troth

Catriona Troth

Website: www.catrionatroth.com
email: catriona.troth@gmail.com

After more than twenty years writing and editing technical material for a largely non-technical audience, I have made the shift into freelance writing and am now writing about the subjects dearest to my heart. As a STRUCTURAL EDITOR, I help people find the strongest way to present their ideas and the clearest language in which to present them. I have helped people formulate the best structure for their non-fiction books, and also provided crits for fiction MS with an eye to structure and consistency.

Meet Catriona Troth:

What kind of editing do you do?
I like to take an eagle-eye view of an MS. In another life, I spent twenty years writing reports based on technical data  for a non-technical audience many of whom did not have English as a first language but who needed to understand the implications of the results.  It gave me a good grounding in how to organise information so that it flows logically, and how to express it in a way that is clear, concise and unambiguous.

When it comes to fiction, I am good at spotting where scenes need to be reorganised, and I will home in on inconsistencies and anachronisms.  Just don't ask me to do detailed, line by line proofreading!

How do you approach working with a client on a manuscript? If it's a writer whose work I don't know, I like to have an initial meeting (which these days can be via Skype) so I can understand exactly what the author is trying to achieve.  After that, I am happy to offer an initial assessment of a chapter or two, just to be sure that we both feel we can work together.

For fiction, I would then read the whole MS and return a report that gives both an overview of its strengths and weaknesses and in-line comments pointing to specific issues.

The process for non-fiction can be more iterative, but my initial feedback is likely to include: 

·         an initial map of how might be presented ·         suggestions for changes to the structure ·         an assessment of any gaps ·         some ‘friendly challenges’ about the ideas presented

How would you describe a successful author/editor relationship?

It is vital that the editor remembers that this is not their book. Whatever suggestions they make must respect the author's own voice, style and intention. As for the author, they need to be able to take any criticism on the chin. But they also need to remember that the editor's view is just that - a view. If after they have listened to what the editor has to say and given themselves time to digest it, it still feels wrong, then they should stick to their guns.

Recommendation:

Catriona is a careful and sensitive editor, with an eye for the big picture. She asks the right questions at the right time and works from initiative when appropriate. Her writing and editing skills are excellent and she would be an asset to any writing project. I look forward to working with her again: Orna Ross: Founder, Alliance of Independent Authors

Writers' Services: Perry Iles

Perry Iles

email: chamberproof@yahoo.co.uk

Proofreading novels, novellas, short stories, articles, academic papers and all things abstruse, recondite, arcane or obscure. No length limits – anything from haikus to Russian novels considered. 

Triskele meets Perry Iles:

What kind of editing do you do?

How much money have you got? I’m an editorial slut that way. Seriously though, I look after the small stuff. It’s more proofreading than editing, so I’m less of an editor and more of a proofreader with attitude. Typos, spelling, consistency, layout, basic grammar and common sense. I often find myself making suggestions on word-choice and smoothing sentences off a little, but large scale structure, characterization and narrative arc are not my areas. I’m the guy who polishes what Stephen King would call your little red wagon before you drive it home.

How do you approach working with a client on a manuscript?

I tell them what I do, what I don’t do and how much I want. I give them some background about me and invite them to email me a sample manuscript to look at if they need further convincing. I seldom meet clients face to face, and usually do my work using MS Track Changes on the documents they send me. If people don’t like Track Changes I mark suggestions and alterations in a different colour on their manuscript.

How would you describe a successful author/editor relationship?

Keeping to deadlines, not overstepping the mark, charging people what I say I’m going to charge them and making sure they understand what I do and equally importantly what I don’t do.

You can read more about Perry Iles here.

Writers' Services: JD Smith

JD Smith Design

website: http://www.jdsmith-design.com/

email: info@jdsmith-design.co.uk

Suitable for publishers outsourcing design, small press, indie collaboratives and self-published authors, JD Smith offers a range of professional graphic design and typesetting services to clients worldwide.

Cover Design: the finishing touch to any book, and the first thing many readers will see. From dust jackets for hardback books to ebook covers, each one is thoughtfully designed to your requirements, bearing in mind the market and genre, and provided to your printer's specification.

Typesetting: drop capitals at the beginning of chapters, well chosen fonts designed for ease of reading, correct paragraph indents, gutters, new chapter spacing, alternating headers, and ebook conversion - all elements that are considered and incorporated when typesetting your manuscript.

Marketing Materials: be it postcards, posters and bookmarks for your launch, or advertising in magazines, each item can be designed to the style of your book cover. Don't know a printer or want the hassle of finding a reliable one? Just ask. Working with a variety of printers and with vast knowledge of the industry, I can source competitive prices with a reliable service and have them delivered to your door.

Meet JD Smith:

JD Smith lives and works in the English Lake District. Having worked as a graphic designer for over 12 years, and a booklover to boot, she understands the industry.

Jane spends most of her time attempting to remain professional, efficient, talented and affordable, because so many of her lovely clients have given her testimonials to that effect, whilst trying to keep her three children from switching off the wireless router, unplugging power cables and writing on her Facebook wall.

The pseudonym JD Smith was created as the username on a writers' messageboard many years ago, and was adopted as her preferred Editor's title when launching the writing magazine Words with JAM. Jane is also a writer of historical fiction.

"Jane Dixon-Smith came recommended by a friend. I'm delighted with the cover she created for me. She's fast and easy to work with and really cared about giving me what I wanted."
Sue Moorcroft, author of All That Mullarkey and Love Writing

Writers' Services: Interior Design

The last stage before uploading your ms to a publishing service is INTERIOR FORMATTING.

Now, this is something a lot of indie authors do for themselves. It’s not intrinsically difficult and there are plenty of programs and packages out there which can help you with the process. But you need to be aware of the rules about laying out the book as a whole (what goes in the ‘front matter’ before the main text, and in what order, and what goes in the back matter), and about laying out individual pages (first pages of chapters vs. the rest, how page numbering works). You need to understand about balancing the fonts used in the text with those used in headings. And finally you need to understand the differences between formatting print books and eBooks, and the subtle differences between different eBook formats. 

If you are prepared to take the time to learn the rules, then by all means tackle this step yourself. But a slip-up at this stage can make your book scream ‘amateur.’ So if you are not completely confident, it is worth employing someone experienced so do your interior formatting for you.  

The beautiful interiors of Triskele's books have been designed by all been designed by JD Smith. Read more…

Writers' Services: Cover Design

Self-publishing packages like Kindle Direct Publishing make it very easy for authors to select a few elements from a pool of images and fonts, put them together through a semi-automated process and come up with their own cover design. So why do you need to bother paying a professional designer?

Well, for one thing, there is a high risk that your cover is going to end up looking suspiciously like at least half a dozen others, as authors pick from the same limited stock of options. Secondly, it’s amazing how tiny things about the way a cover is put together can change how professional it looks. Most of us do it at an entirely unconscious level, but put two covers together and we will instinctively prefer the one that obeys all those hidden ‘rules’ about visual impact. Designers understand that.

 So find a good designer, one who can realise your unique vision for your book. And shop around. Designers can be expensive – but they don’t have to be. There are some outstanding ones out there who are also very affordable.

All Triskele's eye-catching covers have been designed by JD Smith. Read more...

Writers' Services: Proofreading

PROOFREADING is editing as a lay person understands it: checking spelling, grammar, punctuation. In a manuscript being prepared for publication, it also includes checking that you are using things like em-dashes, en-dashes and hyphens in the correct professional way.  

All Triskele's books have been proofread before publication by PERRY ILES, who describes himself as a 'proofreader with attitude.' Read More...

Writers' Services: Copy Editor

When any big, macro issues have been fixed, it’s time to take a finer-grained look at your MS.

A good COPY EDITOR will still look at issues of pace, but they will focus at the level of individual sentences and paragraphs. Are you using unnecessary verbiage? Or is this scene underwritten? They’ll spot if a character’s eyes change colour part way through the book. They will also check (or at least question) factual detail. (Was the model of car you describe available when your story was set? Is it really possible to shoot someone at that distance with the gun you’ve given your villain?)

 Perhaps the best analogy here is to a film editor, taking your ‘footage,’ spotting bloopers, and helping you to make the selections and cuts to hone your pacing, your atmosphere and the clarity of your storytelling.

LORRAINE MACE and JOHN HUDSPITH both offer a critiquing service that covers elements of both structural and copy editing 

Polly Courtney, author of Feral Youth, Golden Handcuffs and Poles Apart, recommends her editor, JOY TIBBS, whose service also covers elements of both structural and copy editing.

Writers' Services: Structural Editing

STRUCTURAL EDITORS take a macro view of the book.

If you have sub-plots going nowhere, scenes that advance nothing or characters that fail to come alive; if parts of your story are told in the wrong sequence, you’ve begun it too early or dragged on the ending too long: this is where it should be picked up. At this stage, you want someone who can judge the MS as a whole, and who knows the rules and standards of your genre (and in this context, lit fic is a genre).

 Good beta-readers can be excellent at this – however, bear in mind that they are READERS, not necessarily writers or editors. They can tell you where part of your book is not working for them, but they probably won’t suggest how to fix it.

 If your book is NON-FICTION then you may choose work with a structural editor at a much earlier stage, when you are working out how to construct your book, how to order and present your ideas. 

Triskele author CATRIONA TROTH has worked a structural editor for both fiction and non-fiction.   Catriona worked with Orna Ross of the Alliance of Independent Authors to develop the structure for their guide to self publishing. Read more...

LORRAINE MACE and JOHN HUDSPITH both offer a critiquing service that covers elements of both structural and copy editing.

Polly Courtney, author of Feral Youth, Golden Handcuffs and Poles Apart, recommends her editor, JOY TIBBS, whose service also covers elements of both structural and copy editing.