The editor's view: Sam Eades

On why publishers ghost authors, the best books about editing, and the traps writers can fall into...

Hi everyone, happy Monday!

I am delighted to welcome Sam Eades to today’s Substack. Sam previously worked at Orion Publishing Group, part of Hachette UK, running the fiction team and working with a wide range of bestselling authors. This year, she went freelance, and we caught up with her to talk about what this change has looked like, her top editorial tips, and much more including advice for working parents. This piece also touches on ghosting, but I know that is a topic that some of you would like a bigger post on, so I will try to do one in due course.

Hi Sam! Welcome to The Honest Editor. You recently left a big publishing house to go freelance. Can you please tell us a bit about your role now?

I am a freelance editor working with authors directly and through literary agents, publishers and creative writing academies. It is so different from working in-house in that my time is completely my own! I set my own hours and schedule and am solely responsible for the work I bring in. I wake up every Monday excited about the working week as it is so varied, and I’m learning all the time as I stretch into genres outside my comfort zone. I feel privileged to be using my experience and expertise to build an author’s confidence in their voice and story before they go out on submission. Sometimes I am the first person to have ever read their work, which is so special.

You work closely with authors on their edits - what are the main traps that you would say writers fall into, that you help them to work through?

When I approach a structural edit or manuscript assessment I look at the follow areas and assess what is working and what isn’t: pitch/promise, people, plot, perspective, prose and place. Common themes that emerge are around openings and conclusions, how to start with a bang and end with fireworks! I often come across opening chapters that are heavy on description and scene setting, rather than action. When self-editing, a writer should ask themselves whether they are starting the story in the right place, and what might the impact be if they plunge into the story a few chapters later. Readers are sophisticated, and are able to immerse themselves in fictional worlds quickly without too much handholding from the author, so be courageous in your opening. Then when thinking about endings, it must be such a relief to get to the end of a manuscript as a writer, and a potential pitfall is to rush through those final scenes. My advice would be to spend longer in those final chapters and let readers spend more time with your characters as they find resolution. This will encourage readers to talk about your book long after they’ve finished the final page.

As a working mother, have you got any advice for those who juggle multiple responsibilities in this way? How do you find the time and headspace to be creative (I think you are a very creative soul!)

Thanks for the kind words Phoebe, I feel you are so creative too! I’m still very much learning the ropes as a working mother (my girls have just turned four and six). From my experience, if it feels like it is difficult all the time to juggle work and family, and you feel like you are failing on all fronts, it is time to reassess work/life balance and boundaries. I have consciously reduced my working hours to make myself more available for my family, and I’m much happier as a result. Whilst it was scary at the time to do so, it was the best decision I have made, and by being happier and healthier, the quality of my work has improved. Something that gave me the courage to make the change was completing the Leaders Plus Cross Sector Fellowship, a programme for parents in leadership roles: Introducing the Leaders Plus Cross-Sector Fellowship. The support network I formed after this course has been amazing.

I’m working with a brilliant coach, Janine Giovanni Coaching, and one of the things we’ve talked about is how to make time for creative thinking. She asked me to draw a cup (mine was a champagne glass, former publicist here!) and mark the level of how creative I was feeling and the level I wanted to be at. She then asked me to write down one side what takes away my creative energy and on the other what fills up my creative energy. It was a useful exercise and I make time in my week to refill my glass, and for me that is spending time in nature, with friends, to read for pleasure and to listen to music. I’m also mindful about what drains my energy, and if too much of my time is being spent on those activities.

My other tip for working parents is to make friends at the school gates! Find your tribe and help each other out when the inevitable childcare crisis happens (in my case forgetting to book the after-school club!).

Going back to your time in-house, what were the challenges of being at the head of a big team? And the benefits?

The benefits were the people! I worked with a team of exceptionally bright women who inspired me every day. The downside of running a large team was that the time I used to spend working closely with authors on their manuscripts was squeezed into the margins of my working week – the further up the ladder I rose, the less time I had to edit, which is where I find the most joy in the job.

What advice would you give to authors who want to use a freelance editor? Is this something all authors ought to do prior to approaching agents?

A freelance editor can be an expensive service, and it might be that a first-time writer isn’t in a position to pay for an editor. If that is the case, there are plenty of books and courses that give authors the tools to self-edit their work. Also, as Juliet Mushens, Sue Armstrong and Nelle Andrews said in their interviews, most agents work with authors to edit their books before submission (this trio are exceptional editors as well as agents). However, if it is something you do want to investigate, there are so many places to find editors at varying price points. As well as Reedsy, I would look at: the Faber Academy, Randle Editorial & Literary Consultancy, The Novelry, Curtis Brown Creative and Blue Pencil Agency. Their websites have clear descriptions of the services they can provide for a writer, the prices, timelines and what the deliverables would be. I must also highlight five fantastic freelance editors who were kind enough to guide me through the process of going freelance and are all fantastic at what they do:
Jamie Coleman thebestwordsinthebestorder
Richard Roper Roper Editorial | Book Editor
Katie Seaman Katie Seaman | Freelance Book Editor & Coach
Francesca Brown Who we are | Brown Cowan: creative copywriting
Richard Arcus Freelance Book Editor | Arcus Editorial

Plus, if an author is looking specifically for a coach to help them shape their career, Kelly Weekes runs a coaching programme and events: Kelly Weekes - Marketing Mentor and accredited Coach.

What do you think authors should look for when approaching freelance editors? What kind of attributes do you feel are important to the author-editor relationship?

I would look at an editor’s specialism in their bio; have they worked in your genre before or on books that are similar to yours? Read over client testimonials to get a feel for their approach to editing; do you want direct, thorough or more nurturing? Be clear about your expectations of the service you need and your vision for the book – and in return a freelance editor will be able to be clear about whether they feel they are able to meet those expectations or if you should approach someone else.

A lot of authors have been asking me recently about 'ghosting' - editors ghosting authors, publishers ghosting agents, agents ghosting authors, etc. Can you shed any light as to why this happens, if you feel it does?

I think it is important for everyone in the industry to acknowledge that ghosting happens a lot, and what we can collectively do to tackle it. There are multiple reasons for why it happens; often it stems from a fear of communicating bad news to an author and how that news might make an author feel. Sometimes it is due to burnout: a person might be experiencing physical and emotional exhaustion that impacts communication as their workload mounts up when team members aren’t replaced etc. There is also an overreliance on email for communication rather than picking up the phone. I think publishers, authors and agents entering into a working relationship where expectations are clear from the outset is one part of the solution.

Can you recommend any great books that might help authors with the editorial process?

Absolutely! My go-to editing manual is On Editing by Helen Corner-Bryant and Kathryn Price. It is practical and clear, and particularly good on explaining the importance of “showing not telling”.

Will Storr’s The Science of Storytelling is particularly useful when thinking about creating believable characters.

I really love this podcast interview with Sophie Hannah about adopting a positive mindset and always thinking of the best possible outcome rather than the worst.

I also recommend the following newsletters:

For creative inspiration and prompts: Heart Leap | Suzy Walker | Substack.
And yours! I always point debut writers to this post on structural editing as it breaks down the process into bitesize chunks.

Finally, the best books to read before editing are books in your chosen genre! I often pull together a reading list for my authors before they tackle the edit as well as TV shows or podcasts that explore similar themes. Great stories feed an author’s creative inspiration and might lead to a story or character heading in an unexpected direction.

Thank you so much Sam for sharing your insight and wisdom with us! You can find out more about her editorial services (and read testimonials) here.

That’s it for today - as always, feel free to comment below if this resonated with you, and do share the newsletter with your friends. If there are topics you’d like to see covered, just drop me a message.

Thanks for reading,

Phoebe x