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About Me
- moonrat
- I'm a recovering editorial assistant. I'm like most of my kind: impoverished coffee-and-gin survivalists, underpaid but ambitious, bitter but hopeful. Painfully self-conscious, woefully self-congratulatory, willfully self-indulgent. Yes, I'm white, but I'm trying to get over it. Accurate spelling (to the dismay of my boss) is not among my interests. So read forgivingly.
Favorite Backlist
- FAQ about the Ass
- Moonrat's Guide to Getting Published
- Moonrat's Guide to Getting a Job in Publishing
- What Makes a Dream Author
- Why You Should Never Submit Unagented to a Publishing Company
- How Royalties Work
- What's Safe to Publish Online?
- Rules for Not Making Editors Hate You
- Marketing Your Book (and Knowing What to Ask Your Publisher to Do)
- Things You Should Be Able to Expect from Your Editor
- It Is a Truth Universally Acknowledged That an Individual in Possession of a Word Processor Must Be in Want of a Book Deal (Lessons of Publishing from Jane Austen)
- Sonnets for Moonrat by Beloved Readers
I've been editing today
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Project Fill-in-the-Gaps
4 comments:
great interview! very informative as always, moonie!
awesome, informative post!
I hope it's okay to ask a follow-up question, which is, can you shed some moonie-light on why, if most editors (and I assume most early readers and editorial assistants)know within 20-50 pages whether they like something or not, would they still be reading a manuscript since September, especially in this economy? Wouldn't everyone be anxious to say "no?" "Still reading" is the response my fabulous agent gets when she calls to check.
I'm sorry for the whiny-ish question. Imagine I'm serving with lovely cheese fondue from Artisanal.
Thanks for the daily does of awesomeness.
I knew that first word was critical. And the first sentence. The first paragraph, too. The first page...absolutely. Page two...priceless. The rest of the book? Need I say? Bottom line is each line needs to sing a song that mesmerizes...the siren song of words wrapped in a gorgeous story. I love it when a book comes together....
Love the post. Love it. Love it! At the same time, assuming the pitch, proposal, and manuscript snag YOUR undivided attention, the "jillion other people" involved in the process make things a bit trickier, don't they?
I mean, my book proposal sailed easily through the pub board meeting at one house, but met a tidal wave of luke warm water when brought to the subsequent acquisitions meeting. Apparently, the sales staff is a big part of the decision making process, and they want something just a bit different.
So, the trick becomes pleasing one without alienating the other, doesn't it?
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