Writer and Book Editor, John Matthew Fox, made this video with his 9 Things Every Writer Should Know after he edited 51 novels over the past year.
Are there any tips that ring true to you or that you disagree with? Do you have any of your own to share in the comments below?
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Ashley Renee Smith love his strengths-focused approach. Need more of this in the industry. And while I edit more in the nonfiction space than fiction, much of this rings true. Authors are usually concerned about the wrong stuff, they underestimate revisions, and over-optimism is rampant. POV is a consistent pain point I see among the fiction crowd (and even my own writing sometimes :-P). Something huge here for people scared of hiring an editor is what he discussed about not superimposing your view. The best editors won't try to "rewrite" the book. They'll home in on the author's vision and bring it to the surface more. Being more open about the measurements of success is another huge one I see in fiction and nonfiction. (And fiction authors tend to struggle in that area more than NF.)
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I was fortunate to have an editor who was unremittingly meticulous, hard-working, and kind. I spent months revising ---- near tears a lot of the time and grinding my teeth. But she was correct in her calls, which humbled me and improved the book. I changed the ending entirely, which paved the way to a sequel. My editor taught me a lot about structure and self-discipline. I feel immense gratitude; it can't have been easy for her, either.