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I had a unique experience the other day, something that really surprised me. An author whose first book I'd been editing for several months recently landed literary agency representation, and the agent was able to sell the book to a major international publisher within a matter of weeks.
That wasn't the experience to which I'm referring, though. I've helped dozens of authors get their books represented by agents who went on to get them published. The experience I found so unique was that I was just as pleased as the author was with her success. In fact, I felt better about her book's sale than I have about placing any of my own books with a publisher. And then I realized why.
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Writing is a tough business. For a writer to turn out a good story, she has to be dedicated. But writing isn't the toughest part of getting a book published--not by a long shot. The toughest part is finding an editor willing to take a chance on a new, untested, unknown author. A publisher, after all, invests a lot of money in a book. He'd like to believe that his investment isn't going to be wasted. That means he has to have faith not only in the finished product, but also in the writer's ability and willingness to work at making the book a success. And that's where a good, knowledgeable, experienced editor or ghostwriter or book doctor is worth his weight in gold.
Inexperienced writers--no matter how long they've been writing or how much they love their craft--simply can't know what publishers are, and aren't, looking for in a book. But an experienced editor does. And he can steer the book in the right direction. He can suggest ways to strengthen the story line. He can advise the author on how to create more believable dialogue. He can offer advice on structure and formatting and pacing and all of the other things that go into transforming a good story into a marketable one.
And that's exactly what an editor is looking for when he picks up a manuscript and scans the first few pages. That and PROOF that the author knows his way around the publishing industry. And he gets that proof from a well prepared, properly formatted, perfectly edited manuscript.
Remember that an editor has to find what he's hoping to find quickly, or the book will end up in the rejection pile. It's unfortunate, but it's true. When an editor has 30 manuscripts to read in a day, guess how many he's looking to reject right off the bat so he doesn't have to schlep them home to read that night. Yep, all of them. But when he does find that needle in the proverbial slush pile, he'll get behind it all the way to Barnes & Noble.
So if you're having trouble convincing a publisher to take a close look at your book, consider hiring a professional editor/doctor/ghostwriter/mentor. Be sure to get references, though; and always put your agreement in writing so you know exactly how much you're going to end up paying--and what you're going to get for your money.
Hire the best you can, and the rest--as they say--will be child's play.
Until then...
Smoke if you got 'em.
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