The editorial process...

How editors approach your manuscript, and why...

I’ve already written about what happens when editors receive submissions from literary agents that we might want to acquire, but what about what happens to existing manuscripts that we have on our lists? How does the editorial process really work?

I’ll break it down: when an editor acquires a new novel, they generally have the whole script available (this is different in non-fiction, when editors usually buy books based on a proposal, and perhaps a sample and chapter outline). But as a fiction editor, I will have the entire book in the vast majority of cases (and for commercial fiction, this is usually about 80,000-100,000 words). So once a book is acquired, and I’ve been introduced to the author, and the requisite paperwork has been or is being done, I will do what is known as the structural edit.

The way I do this is (and everyone works in slightly different ways, but this approach works for me!) I transfer the manuscript onto my Kindle, and read it all the way through whilst making notes using a paper and pen (I know, old school), then type up and reorder those notes into a letter to the author.

At this stage, I’m looking at the manuscript almost as one giant puzzle (particularly as I work on a lot of crime/thriller books) and trying to stay focused on the major factors: plot, characterization (including descriptions, motivations, etc), style (including points of view), dialogue, and the structure itself (the opening, the ending, any cliff-hanger moments, the story arc, chapter openers and closings). I really enjoy this process – obviously, the script is already in a pretty good condition, as we wouldn’t have wanted to buy it otherwise, but at this point the author and their agent will have each read the script so many times that (hopefully!) it is helpful for another pair of eyes to come in. I’ll already have read the script once (or sometimes twice) by this point, too, but this is my chance to really get to grips with it. If there are major changes, I might have already discussed these with the author during the acquisition process, to check a) whether we agree on the direction the manuscript should go in and their vision aligns with mine and b) how they respond to editorial notes too. As I mentioned before in my acquisitions post, it’s key that the author-editor relationship is one of mutual respect and care.

The depth and length of my editorial letters really can vary. I’ve been known to send as many as 12 pages, and as few as perhaps 2. I always do point out and reiterate the things I love about the book, then move on to the more constructive feedback – and it is intended to be constructive, never critical. I know what it is like to be an author on the receiving end of editorial notes, and I always want my authors to feel as though they can discuss any of the thoughts with me, and that they are suggestions, not orders.

Sometimes, I might point out a problem and offer a proposed solution, as it were, and other times I might not have a solution and might flag the issue to the author and ask them what they think. I often ask questions in my editorial letters, and try to catch things a writer may have missed (sometimes there are loose ends, plot points that go nowhere, characters that get accidentally forgotten about!) and I always offer a call (or if convenient location-wise, an in-person meeting, if the author would find that helpful) and I really love brainstorming ideas with my list of writers – sometimes it does take a little bit of extra thought to find the solution to particularly sticky plot points, and two heads are better than one!

Of course, sometimes feedback is subjective, but I tend to think that if I don’t understand something in a novel or I misinterpret what an author is trying to do, there is a good chance the average reader might feel the same. Being an editor and a writer is like wearing different hats, and as publishers we have to put our ‘reader’ hat on sometimes too, and work out what the average person who reads in this genre might think. In commercial fiction of course there are also genre promises authors make to readers – in crime fiction this might be the introduction of red herrings or twists – that isn’t to say a novel has to have these things, but I would point out to a writer if a book did not, and ask them whether they might want to add something in or whether they’ve considered this. In a romance novel, one needs a bit of will-they, won’t-they, and I’m always keeping in mind the final result and the reader reviews an author might get (as I genuinely want the best for my writers and I of course always want them to receive glowing reviews!) It is worth saying here though that you really can never please everyone, and every single author receives negative Amazon reviews, it is just par for the course. Ideally, you hope that your review rating stays about 4, and if you’re receiving a lot of reviews (i.e. thousands) and your average remains above 4, I’d say you’re doing just fine.

There are, too, certain things that you pick up on as editor when you reach a good amount of experience in your career: readers often respond badly to animal abuse, for example, and while I’d never say to a writer ‘you have to take this out’, I might just flag to them that this is a response we see a lot, and are they happy with that? I’m certainly never going to advocate for taking all the life and colour and darkness and personality from a novel, but I want to share the knowledge of the mass market readership that I have with my list of writers and then let them make their own informed decisions. With my third novel, I was told by my agent to remove the death of a child, because at that time foreign markets were responding particularly badly to this as a plot device, and she was concerned it might affect my translation sales. (You’ll have to read the book to find out whether I took this on board or not…😉)

One of the things I find particularly interesting to try out and discuss with authors is points of view – it can make a huge difference changing from first to third, and sometimes an author might try a couple of chapters to see how it reads, before making such a large change. I also often recommend cutting characters to my list of authors – too many characters is something I see quite a lot and I always recommend that less is more – it’s better, in my view, to have four brilliantly well-developed main characters with enough space on the page to breathe, than trying to pack in too many and ending up with them all being slightly under-developed as a result.

Anyway – I will type up my notes and send them across to the author and agent, ideally within a few weeks of acquisition, as I know that the author is usually keen to get started. If there is a US editor involved, I will often collaborate with them first and we will send the author one set of notes (I think it can be quite confusing for authors to end up with multiple sets, and I’d never want to send them notes that disagreed with one another unless we had discussed this and had a plan for how to relay to the author).

I then await the author’s response – I always feel a bit anxious at this point, a little like when I send over a new jacket, and I do say to my authors that they are very welcome to have a think and absorb the notes before getting back to me, as it can take a little bit of time for things to settle in one’s brain. If they are happy to crack on, then brilliant, but if a call is needed then that is fine too.

Often there will be a couple of rounds of edits, which can take a few months, and it really is fine to query an editor’s notes – ask if you’re not sure what something means, or put forward an alternative suggestion, but do try to keep an open mind and know that an editor has your best interests at heart. There is no ‘right’ answer when it comes to this sort of thing, so it is totally fine for it to be a collaborative discussion between you both (and your agent too if necessary) and it’s really important that you as an author feel happy with the end result – it is your book, and your name on the cover.

After the structural edits are done, the next stage might be a line edit. I do this less than I used to, as my list is largely more established, but this is when an editor will go through line by line using tracked changes and mark up more detailed areas for improvement – this might cover word choice, inconsistencies, tone, areas for more humour (or sexual tension, or horror, or whatever applies!) and tightening – is there a sharper, more succinct way to phrase something? I like to think of this as polishing the novel; the structural edit has accounted for the main changes and development, and now we are adding a bit of a shine.

The script then goes back to the author again, and they can either accept or reject the changes, and hopefully make their own amends based on this edit. After this, we send the script to a copy-editor. Our copy-editors are all freelance and out of house, and they usually have about 2 weeks to turn around a manuscript, marking up (again using tracked changes) any inconsistencies or errors (e.g. is a child going to school on a Sunday? Is your main character wearing yellow in one scene and red minutes later?) and setting the novel to the ‘house style’ of the publishing house. They will add in markers for the typesetters, denoting chapter headings, text messages, stylistic choices, etc. and then all of this will go back to the author again for them to go through. Side note – I think copy-editors are amazing and have no idea how they do it! They can be incredibly eagle-eyed and detailed.

Once the author has done this round, we at the publishing house get the script back, and this is when it goes ‘into production.’ Our brilliant production teams really do keep all our books on track (which is crucial to meet publication dates) and they will liaise with the typesetters and the printers to get the books finalised. An author will see their page proofs once the book has been typeset (these are PDFs, and the first time the book looks a little more like a book, and if we are doing early proof copies to send out for endorsements, it will usually be from this version of the text) and it will then be proofread at the same time, so any final errors (spelling, grammar, punctuation) will be ironed out. Our assistants or managing editors collate the author’s comments and the proofreader’s comments, and the typesetters take in any corrections. Ideally, these are fairly minimal at this stage.

After this, the books are finally off to be printed! I’ve been to visit our printers a few times and it is really fascinating – you can see the huge machines churning out the paper, the boards being stuck onto the hardbacks, the vats of sticky glue (I’m always tempted to stick my hands in, but then you’d end up in a Winnie-the-Pooh and his honey situation!), the spray that creates beautiful edges – and the whole thing is quite magical! Sometimes we can take authors too so if this is something you are interested in then do ask your editor if it might be possible at some stage. The staff at the printers are always so lovely, and you get to wear a hard hat and a day-glow jacket…plus see your words turned into an actual, real-life novel.

So, there you have it – that’s the fiction editorial process in a nutshell. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to pop them in the comments section below, and if you are enjoying The Honest Editor, please do share it with your friends!

There are now over 1,000 people subscribed to this newsletter, and I’d love to reach more and help publishing feel as transparent as possible. What else would you find helpful to hear about? Let me know, and thanks for reading.

Phoebe x