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From the
Introduction of The Frugal Editor. I chose this so that readers
could see that, though this book is full of nitty-gritty essentials on
everything from choosing and editor to grammar horrors frequently seen
by agents and editors, it's light and entertaining reading.
(c)
Copyright 2007
Teachers
interested in reproducing portions of this book at no cost need only
contact me.
If he were only the
guy in the Lamisil ad with purple warts on his head I wouldn't worry
about him. You know, the one who causes toenails to yellow, the one you
try to eradicate at the risk of executing your liver. According to the
commercials, that gremlin is easy to avoid. Simply ask your
doctor for Lamisil.
If you imagine the
gremlin as the guy you had nightmares about when you were a kid, the one
who hid under your bed and cleverly disappeared when your parents peeked
under to search for him, well, he hasn't reappeared in decades. If he is
the chap who showed up in fairytales so we wouldn't get bored, we
authors might welcome him as inspiration for a short story.
But no. He is the
dirty, lowdown creep who will make the passive tense
reappear in your manuscript after you've edited it twice,
maybe three times. And he has relatives. Enough of them to plague every
writer in existence. You won't be able to see them, won't know where
they come from, but you'll know they have been at work when your book
appears in print. Telltale signs will crop up in typos, grammar errors,
widows , and other ugly formatting problems, and so I worry about them a
lot. You should, too.
 I can't tell you how
to eliminate these gremlins. After all, there are homicide laws. But I
can tell you how to make their lives harder. You recognize they exist
and then purge any inclination you might have to let someone else bring
them to justice. For as real as these gremlins are--regardless of how
often we're told they're "only imaginary"--there is a myth that's passed
on to us as honest-to-goodness truth. That's the story authors believe
about editors and publishers.
We writers believe
the stories because it's convenient to think that magical personages
hired by publishers make books come off the press in immaculate form.
Perfect. Pristine. That can happen, but I've come upon an occasional
typo in books that are published by revered names in our industry.
Worse, a few exist in my own books--more in some than in others. Some
showed up before I knew I had to take charge of my own books' destinies.
Some showed up after I knew that, but didn't know much about my part in
editing . So, you can trust my hard-won experience when I tell you it
behooves an author to do the very best she can--on her own--to eradicate
the gremlins' work. If these guys get one up on Random House and Farrar,
Straus & Giroux, other publishers and authors are easy touches.
So, how to do what
seems to elude the best and brightest of word warriors? That's what I'm
here for. I can't possibly cover all the possible tracks that gremlins
leave, but I can pass along antidotes for what I see most frequently in
the critique groups I facilitate and the classes I teach.
Some of this
information will seem pretty basic, but you need to know the gremlin's
secret. His motto is, "When authors and editors are looking for the big
stuff, I'll diddle with the puny mistakes they're not likely to see." Of
course, this guy is devious. He's not above going after more humiliating
errors like using apostrophes in plurals. He knows your weak moments,
your tired moments.
This book isn't only
about what to watch for. It's also about how to make the editing
process easier. You’ll find lots of information; some that you will
refer to time and again is in the sidebars. The sidebars are not listed
in the Contents. Mark them by creasing your page corners (you can tell I
believe in making a book your own) or use your index.
You'll also learn
both manual and electronic techniques for digging errors out of your
copy and keeping them out.
The most
important part of the process is getting over the idea that someone else
will do this for you or that it doesn't matter. It matters big. When you
submit queries to agents. When you submit proposals to publishers. When
your publisher submits a galley for you to examine and authorize. So
bear with me. Make the guidelines in this book part of your working
habits. You'll need several tricks up your own sleeve to keep all the
gremlins at bay.
The Frugal Editor is
complete with a helpful index and appendixes.
 Carolyn
Howard-Johnson's promotion campaign for the Frugal Editor won New
Generation's Award for Marketing and the book was a finalist in the
how-to category.
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