It's Up It's Up! And Welcome Carrie RO!

Yes yes yes! Voice In The Night is up on the website for Red Rose and ready to be read. If you'd like to read my debut novel, go to Red Rose's website and click on the link to my buy page. I'm so psyched!

Also, as promised, my wonderful editor Carrie Ro is here today, so without further ado I turn this blog entry over to her.

Thanks to Kat for allowing me the opportunity to “blog”.

I have to admit, I have not done this before so forgive me web experts if I’m doing your world of communication an injustice.

Having said that, hello, my name is Carrie. I’m a content editor for Red Rose Publishing. I’ve been editing for the e market for almost a year.

I have about 18 titles under my belt, with more to be assigned soon.
A little bit about my background. I went to school for Journalism and Mass Communication. I love to read and write. While reading I found myself saying, I would have worded that a different way or I would not have taken this character in that direction or that ending sure sucked. While purchasing a book on RRP’s site, I applied for an editing gig, and the rest is history.

Now that you know a little bit about me, let me get down to the “editor’s stuff” as Kat calls it.
If you are a new author, depending on the house you submit to, you will be assigned a couple of editors. If you sub to RRP you will be assigned two editors, content and line. Once a week we get a production schedule from the head of contents (hoc). It lists every book that has been contracted, is coming out and the release date. If there are new titles from a new author on the list we can email the hoc and let her know we want to pick up the book. We then email the author and ask for the most recent copy of the book and start the editing process rolling. You start to build a stable of authors by doing this. If that author submits again you more then likely will pick up their book, unless you are swamped and hoc feels it needs to be assigned to someone else. Most authors appreciate working with the same editor.

A manuscript (ms) goes through three rounds of edits with the content editor. The first round is the most intense. This is when I, the editor, read the book just like a potential reader would. If I have to pop popcorn and put on my fuzzy slippers, I will. :-) I look for everything. I’m really big on inconsistencies as most of my authors will tell you. If you tell me Susie’s hair is black and curly in chapter one and in chapter twelve her hair is brown and straight I’m going to get you on it. Now obviously that is a big one but I catch the subtle ones too. Another thing that irks me is name switching, if her name is Susie in chapter one and all of a sudden her name is Sara we have a problem. I find that this is the case when an author is working on a story and they leave it for a week or so and come back and forget what they wrote. If you have to write notes about where you story is going so when you come back to it you remember, please do it.

Two pieces of advice I would give to authors, from an editors stand point, is to know your reader. If you are writing for an American house you shouldn’t overly use phrases and clichéd terms that aren’t widely known in America . Phrases and clichéd terms are like seasoning, use just the right amount and you have a wonderful dish. Use too much and your meal is ruined. Same rings true with a story.
The second thing is to watch your point of view (pov) and head hopping. Your story should not be like a game of Sims. If one character starts out the scene it should remain with that character until scene end. A character would not describe their twinkling blue eyes. These are just two examples.

While I read the ms I let my author know when I laughed out loud or when it was funny or when it just didn’t work. I give the author the reaction as a reader, so they will know what the reader may be thinking while they read the story. I hope that this helps them when writing future stories. If I think something can easily be fixed I rewrite it right in the text with track changes so they can see what they wrote and how I feel it would be better worded.

After I give my comments, and rewrites in line with the text, I send it back to the author and ask for their thoughts on my comments. I hope we can work together for the best possible outcome.
Second round edits are a chance for me to go over the authors comments on my comments. Some time at this point we are going back and forth on what we think would be the best.

The third edit is a clean up. All track changes and marks and comments are erased. The dedication is added. And I send it back to the author for them to look over one last time. The ms is then sent back to the hoc to be assigned a line editor. I can not promise they will be as cool as I am. One can only hope. :-)

I hope that Kat is not looking at this saying, I didn’t go through that process at all!! That Carrie bullied me into everything! LOL.
I would have to say that I enjoy working with my authors. Some of them I speak to quite often, Kat is one of them! :-)

I hope that I was able to give a quick snap shot of the process I go through as a content editor. If you are thinking about subbing to Red Rose, look me up!

Carrie RO