Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Self-Publishing Resources: Three(ish) From Me

My expertise in the self-publishing arena? Bupkis. I've made it as far as culling info for editors. Since I'm such a loving and generous Whore, I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

~lash flutter~


1. If you don't know what kind of editor you need, K.K. Rusch breaks down the classifications here: http://kriswrites.com/2013/01/30/the-business-rusch-hiring-editors/

2. Once you've figured out what kind of editor you want, it's on to cost estimates. More than a car, less than orthodontia for your mini baseball team?  Here's a starting point courtesy of the Editorial Freelancers Association: http://www.the-efa.org/res/rates.php

3. After you've sold your kidney and half a liver, in whom do you entrust your book? You want someone with experience in your genre, sub-genre is even better. Then you want someone who is willing to do a "free test" of X number of pages to see if they want to deal with your work and if you can deal with theirs. For what do you need to beware? The SFWA breaks it down here: http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/editors/#What

4. Where do you begin to find a good editor worth his/her fee? That's a lot harder. Networking is the best answer. If you're just looking for a reference list as a  leaping-off point then there is the invaluable Predators & Editors: http://pred-ed.com/peesla.htm

If you're hunting using a personality-check filter, then I offer up this slightly outdated twitter listing courtesy of Galley Cat: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/the-best-book-editors-on-twitter_b11241

So, dear reader, do you have a great editorial resource? Share, please? Pretty, pretty please?

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the cool links. I do beta work and thinking one day of moving into the profession (getting paid for what I do). I wish I had asked for a few test pages from some authors. It would have saved me a lot of headaches! When you send something to an editor or beta don't send a first draft you haven't even bothered to check for basic errors. And if you send your work to be judged, don't get mad when you are judged. you pay them for respectful honesty.

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    1. "Respectful Honesty" <-- exactly!

      I totally agree that exchanging sample pages is a must-do for CPs and Betas too.

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