Hi all. Please can someone enlighten me about editing, copy writing, proof reading etc? Does your m.s. have to go through all this before it reaches a publisher or after the publisher has seen it? Does an agent sort this out? Or do you have to do it? I keep seeing these words used again and again but I'm completely bewildered where they all fit into the scheme of things. Thanks
Thank you Lorraine for outlining each part of the puzzle. Now I am very clear on the how, what and why. It takes a much longer journey than I first thought. It does seem daunting but as they say, 'If it's worth doing it's worth doing well.' Thanks again.
Hi, Elsie,
A few extra thoughts:
Your mss is an unpolished piece of work. An editor will sort out the glitches in appearance, in punctuation and grammar, and in plot. As an unknown, your work has one chance to hit the agent between the eyes, and you want it to do that for the right reasons. It's in your own interests to make sure that what you send for consideration is as good as it can be.
The agent may make suggestions on how it can be improved further, if they have a specific publisher in mind who has particular requirements, but they don't have their own editors to do any of this - it's down to you. (If they suggest anything like this, you've made an impression, so you're doing well, though nothing is guaranteed.)
Even then, a publisher could insist on using their own in-house editors for the final work.
Proof reading is reading over the proofs - the copy that has been set up ready to press the 'Print' button. It's a stage on from editing. This means checking for every thing you see inside a book, from the very first page to the last. Does the first chapter start on the right-hand page? Have you got long spaces at the ends of the lines? Are your dashes appearing as hyphens? Do you need little artistic squiggly things between scenes, to mark the breaks? Is the page numbering correct? If you're lucky, your publisher will take care of this. (Let's think positively here!)
If you are an author of note, with a publishing contract, the company will do all of this for you and more, because you are their cash cow. If you are a newbie upon whom they are taking a punt, they will be less willing to spend their own money.
Hope this helps, and doesn't seem too daunting: writing is just the first step!
Lorraine
Thank you all for your replies. This has helped me to understand the way the system works. I can see there is a lot more involved in getting your m.s. into a publishers hands and not just writing it, sending it and keeping your fingers crossed. It seems a good level of perfection is also needed. Thank you again for your help.