Edits and such

My cast is off, but my arm is still not back to normal. My husband, who broke his elbow once, told me to be patient. Patient? I am not patient! I want to be able to use my arm Now! Every day it gets better though, so I guess resting it in the sling is the best idea. I can type, but not for very long. I have three books in for edits right now: A World Between - which is a science fiction novella to be paired with Virtual Murder will be coming out soon in paperback, so we're finishing edits and blurbs for that one. I just finished Apocalypse, a book for Changeling Press, and another book, Renegade Aquarius, for Ellora's cave, both under my pen name. So I've been busy this past week. All the books arrived for edits the day after I broke my arm (on Monday) so I had to call my editors and tell them to be patient. (they are patient, lol) And now I'm finishing up here and should be done by the new year.

I'm very concerned about edits. Have you ever picked up a book and been pulled out of the story by typos and poor editing? It's hard to get involved in the tale - you spend your time wishing you had a red pen. As an author, I try to turn in a clean copy. But when you are writing you get so lost in your own story you often push everything else to the back of your mind. A good editor is essential to an author. I don't know many authors who won't agree with me. A good editor is also important to the publisher. Putting out a poorly edited book makes the publisher look bad. When I read a book and find an editing error, I don't blame the author. I think, 'the editor and proofreader should have caught that!' Because in most of my publishing companies, there is an editor who works closely with me, and then there are proofreaders (usually two) who go through the book afterwards with a fine-tooth comb and clear up any typos they find.

Also, if you read a book with faulty editing, remember this: an author rarely has access to the final edition of their own book. The book gets edited by someone else, proofed by someone else, and published without the author's final approval. The author, after the first round of edits are done, doesn't see the book until it comes out in print. So it's important the author feels confident that the publisher is doing his best to put out a clean copy.

For one of my publishers - this is how it works. My contract does not give me ' final approval' for my manuscript. After first edits, I am obliged to OK the corrections already made and ignore the editing faults with the assurence they will be corrected by my editor. My other publishers all have a different policy - we work on the book together until the proofreaders get it, and I get all the edit copies and can go through them. Which method do I prefer? The second one, of course. I'm a perfectionist and I like to think my book is going out into the world with as few faults as possible. What kind of editing process would you prefer? (which reminds me, I better get back to work!)