Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Some tough decisions



It’s interesting being both a writer and a publisher. I see both sides of the story. Occasionally we have to do things that might seem unfriendly towards the writer but actually we are working on the same side. 

Returns
We offer our books sale or return to book shops. We keep our fingers crossed that they don’t return them. They’re usually not fit to be sold afterwards and even if they are, the mechanics of warehousing can be complex. Many publishers will charge back the cost of returns against the writer’s royalties. So, it’s in our mutual interest to avoid this. Perhaps we don’t need to be so keen to see our books get into bookshops except where we know we shall definitely sell.

Tuesday, 14 April 2015

All in a day’s editing



Working on the big edit

This in many ways is the trickiest. This is where the big changes happen. Does the story work? Is the structure sound? Is it all logical? Is the resolution satisfying? Does time work? Are the characters rounded and believable? Do they develop?
Generally speaking, if we’ve accepted something for publication, almost all of this is already in place. Unfortunately, alas, never completely. There’s always something to be done.