The editorial process for "Citizen's Guide to Police Use of Force" is going painfully slow. How slow? No actual work done since I rejected my editor's last set of changes. There's been minor contact, but the next vital step, where she returns the manuscript with her suggestions is two or three weeks late. I think we're already behind schedule and this shouldn't be hard.
The last one was bad. I should have got a clue when I noticed the "Track Changes" function had been turned off. Maybe hoping I wouldn't notice the changes because they would be so smooth? I sent it back, rejected utterly. It wasn't an editing job, it was an unauthorized re-write, and not a good one.
I'm pretending I'm writing this blog post so that any would-be writers reading this learn some of the pitfalls. I'm still learning them. And up until now, working with my publisher, YMAA has been really wonderful. But really I'm just writing to vent a little.
I want to get this book finished. Done. And then I don't want to even look at it again. Sick and tired of every last word. But I always feel that way toward the end of the process. I'll get over it.
2 comments:
I'm sorry to hear this. For what it's worth there are people out there that want to hear what you have to say about this subject, not what some editor thinks about a subject they probably have no experience with.
:-(
Josh
Vent away! I think most authors hear about how editors have a hard time working with authors who can't deal with their 'precious prose' and then of course those newbie authors don't want to be that hard-to-work-with author ... and later may hear too late about books that haven't, ahem, turned out very well due to editorial shenanigans. I think writers should keep open minds to all sides--not just open to the idea that their prose can be improved, but that their prose can be messed-up. Thanks for sharing.
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