suzanneu – Suzanne the Editor

I see the question almost every time I hop onto a Facebook writing group: “Do I absolutely need an editor?” Before I type out an answer, though, I pause to consider the possible scenarios behind why the writer is asking this. Has the writer heard horror stories about corrupt or high-and-mighty editors? Is there a worry that the writer’s work will be stolen? Does the writer want to finish the project and submit it ASAP? Has the writer fallen on hard times, perhaps because of economic crisis? There are many questions and many answers, but most of the time, the main problem is money: tight funds, no job, balking at editors’ rates, etc. Finances are a valid concern that often stands as the mountain between a person’s reality as an amateur writer and the dream of becoming an established author.

So you want to be a fiction writer. You want to make it to the best seller list in a week. You want to earn multiple Hugo Awards. You want your books featured on every New York bookstore’s front display. You want Lionsgate to buy the rights to your masterpiece. You want journalists and agents groveling at your feet. Well, I’m here to let you in on a little secret: if you want all that (and, honestly, who doesn’t?), you’re going to need to make sure your author name has the right oomph. Think about it: the names of popular authors are their entire brands! Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling, George R. R. Martin, Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks, and John Grisham. (Many of these have—or are—pen names, by the way.) Their names evoke delight and fear and anguish and excitement and . . . you get the idea.

Author: suzanneu

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