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
I think Adrian Sroka has put it all in a nutshell. One needs to realise that getting published isn't easy - and that's putting it mildly. Most publishers (and agents) nowadays are very happy with the authors they already have on tap, so they aren't looking for new writers. Especially untrained ones.
To give you an idea of their viewpoint, a freelance editor will charge at least £10 per 1,000 words to edit a manuscript. There's a lot of work involved in getting a manuscript ready to present to the public, and the more that the author can do to make life easier and cheaper for the agent / publisher, the more chance one has of being accepted.
I guess one could say that it's as necessary to learn how to become an author as it is to become an electrician. But it's worth the effort. If you can produce a book that people want to buy and read, that's an achievement to be proud of.
Elsie, you mean copy editing, not copy writing :)
Publishing is a many-splendoured thing, and what the publisher provides as part of their service depends on the individual entity. One might expect an organisation such as Harper Collins, for example, to edit, copy edit and proof read amongst other things, though the latter is really down to the author. Whereas at the other end of the scale you have the Indie author, small press author or self-publisher who will be expected to do just about everything themselves. I've done the last two and both are, hard work, believe me, though my small press publisher did suggest final re-writes and edits which I understand many don't.
Writing 'copy' ...I dabbled in this a few years ago for a webmaster and it basically means putting together short articles for websites, advertising, catalogues, journals, etc. Whatever the agency's been asked to produce. It's usually paid per article which will have a specific word-count requirement and you generally don't need any specific knowledge of the subject unless it's for a specialist publication. Have to say I found it a pretty soul-less exercise that didn't pay very well.
Elsie, a covering letter, synopsis and first three chapters will have to show that the author has taken the utmost care to ensure the finished product - looks professionally written and not amateurish. A would-be author will be rejected for poor grammar, or bad punctuation.
An author, however, may be forgiven for the odd grammatical error, or a missing apostrophe, comma, period, in a complete manuscript, but too many errors will result in rejection.
Agents, insist on the highest standards. They can afford to be harshly-rejecting, because they get thousands of submission in a year.
I hope that helps.
Good luck.