Laura

I and a number of other editors at CBA (Christian Bookseller’s Assoc) houses actually DO consider it our jobs to champion the book from birth to publication. We read the manuscripts a number of times. We give in-depth editorial reviews (mine have ranged from 6 pages to 28), and do the hands-on edit when the revised ms comes in. Yes, the final decision is the authors on what to revise and which edits to accept, but that’s as it should be. As you wrote, these aren’t my books, but the authors’.

What I love, though, about being an editor is that synergistic relationship with my authors. My job is to serve them as best I can, to encourage them, to redirect them if needed, to do whatever I can to help them bring out the power in their novels. It’s SO exciting when an author takes a manuscript from good to amazing; I’m humbled to be a part of that process. But my job doesn’t end with the edit: I work with design on the covers and with the authors on catalog and cover copy. Our fantastic marketing director for fiction, Julie Gwinn, knows she’s free to come to me to discuss and brainstorm on any of our novels. I encourage the salesmen, sending them excerpts to get them excited about the author and his/her writing. I champion the products through acquisitions, development, and publication. I’ve even gone on sales calls with our sales team to talk up our writers and their books with buyers.

The beauty is that I’m not the only one doing all this. I know several great editors in the CBA who do all I do. Some who do more. Because this is more than a job. It’s a passion. We love words, the craft, and the authors we serve. There really is nothing I’d rather do. Oh, sure, I have the occasional desire to chuck it all and go train dogs, but that doesn’t last long. All it takes to chase that away is starting to read the next manuscript, or talking with one of my authors, or being with industry pros who all love this crazy career as much as I do.

I talk regularly with a publishing friend of mine who once was a retailer, then an editor, and now a literary agent. Almost every conversation ends with the same glad pronouncement: “Isn’t this FUN?” Indeed, it is.

I am immeasurably blessed to get to do what I do.

Peace!

Karen Ball
Executive Editor, Fiction
B&H Publishing Group

The sad reality of what acquisitions editors do and don’t do these days do is precisely why my mother, Renni Browne, after a long career in New York publishing bailed on her senior editor position at William Morrow in 1980 to start a company dedicated to providing the feedback and guidance already then in decline in mainstream publishing. Because she was no longer allowed to do the work she loved, which was nurturing authors and helping good manuscripts become great books.

It’s such a shame that this doesn’t happen the way it use to, but there are lots of good people working independently and in firms like ours that still do what great in-house editors use to and who can really help improve the odds of warm reception by readers, reviewers, agents and publishers. It’s too bad that the writer has to shoulder the cost of the investment, but at least it’s an option for people who recognize the value of what a great editor can bring to a book.

If you’re looking for a terrific into the way things use to be, check out the book EDITOR TO AUTHOR, which is a compilation of editorial letters from Maxwell Perkins to his authors. It’s really pretty fascinating!