When someone mentions the word “editor”, do you visualize your high school English teacher with a red pen in hand? Or do you imagine the editor of traditional publishing, who dictates changes the author must make to his manuscript? If so, you will be relieved to learn what a Stories To Tell editor does for you.
At Stories To Tell, the editor is your partner in producing a book, from the beginning of the project until it is printed. Your editor offers recommendations or suggestions to you. You, as the author, make the final decision as to whether you follow those recommendations or not. Your editor will guide you through the process of producing your book and will play different roles at different stages of the process.
When you have decided which stories you want to tell and recorded them, your editor will hold an editorial conference with you by telephone to work with you on substantive editing of your book. This phase of editing focuses on ways to make your book more coherent. After reading over your draft manuscript, tell you editor about changes you would like to make to your draft. If you would like suggestions for improvement, ask for them. Your editor may suggest different chapter organization or the reordering of the material. A common recommendation ways in which you can help your reader better understand why one of the stories is important or what its significance was to you. Your editor will focus on helping you tell your story better. However, some authors are happy with their draft and would prefer to keep it ‘as is’. In that case, simply don’t ask your editor for revision ideas – it’s your book, after all!
You will also submit your photographs or documents to illustrate your book. Your editor will also act as your photo editor. Your editor will help you decide which photos to use, where to place them in the book and how to create captions that will work effectively.
When you and your editor have finished with the substantive editing of your book, your editor’s role shifts to one of copy editor. Copy editing involves correctness. Your editor will make sure that your book is correct on the sentence and word levels. She will help you make corrections in grammar, spelling, punctuation or word choice. Your manuscript will be professional and correct. Your role will be to fact-check for the names and places that you’ve included in your stories, as these would be errors the editor would not recognize and correct.
Next, your Stories To Tell editor oversees the design of your book. You will receive our Cover Design Kit, allowing you to choose everything from the color, photographs and type font to be used on the dust jacket. Your editor can help you with suggestions for the custom design of your book.
Finally, your editor will review the final manuscript with you. With your authorization, it will be sent to the printer of your choice – again, a decision your editor will help you with. You will have benefitted benefit from our extensive experience, and received an outstanding book. Perhaps more important, you will have received a helpful, educational collaboration with an expert. As an author, once you’ve navigated the experience of book publishing, you may well want to do it again! Our clients say that working with their personal editor is one of the most enjoyable parts of producing their books.
