Writers, what are your dreams?
Need a hand to realise them...? This site aims to provide you with helpful information and services, all from established publishing professionals who've worked across the board in traditional publishing houses, to make your writing and publishing dreams a reality. Whether you want to know about traditional publishing, self-publishing, ebooks or just need some writing tips ... you've come to the right place.
Hi and welcome to www.editorandauthor.com. I'm Karin Cox, a publishing professional with more than 12 years of traditional publishing editorial experience in Australia and the UK. I now work as a fulltime inhouse author for Steve Parish Publishing and as a part-time "book doctor", freelance writer and editor, and I've written and published more than 28 books across a range of topics. Like most writers, I'm still not satisfied! I'm also a poet and an aspiring short fiction writer and novelist, with several credits to my name already but trying to find the time to complete several more works in progress.
And I'm not the only one - many people I meet tell me they "have a book inside them" and have a dream of being published. I'm thrilled that so many people want to take up the wonderful creative pursuit that is writing; however, the publishing industry is extremely competitive and even the best manuscripts can sit on a publisher's desk for months before being given a cursory glance and rejected. This "slushpile hell" can drag on for years, with rejection letter after rejection letter getting would-be authors down. Authors lament the fact that publishers wield all the power, while they wait for their manuscripts to trickle back to them accompanied by a "this doesn't fit our list" rejection letter. But, few authors realise there is much they can do to improve their chances of getting published traditionally, or that there may be an equally satisfying way to circumvent traditional publishing entirely.
Sometimes, increasing your chance of publication can be as simple as doing much of the hard work for a publisher before they even set eyes on your manuscript, by using a professional editor or writer to help assess, edit or rework your manuscript and make it the best it can be prior to submitting it for publication. Sometimes, authors may be able to publish their work themselves without a great outlay, maintaining professional quality and getting a bigger cut of the profits in doing so. And all authors can avail themselves of information about how to attract a loyal fan base, how to market their own work, and how to think outside the box when it comes to manuscript publishing options. A host of new media and publishing methods, including Print on Demand and ebooks, might just suit the outcome you want to achieve as an author and may save you sitting on your hands for years. Click here to see what a professional editor can do for you or here to contact Karin, who'll happily help with any queries.
"Editors are lifesavers in the sea of words -- think Pamela Anderson in Baywatch but substitute the little red floatation device for a red ballpoint and the red one-piece for, well, something less overtly sexy. They'll drag your gasping text out of a frothy dumper more times than you can count, if you let them, and they'll do it so effortlessly no one will even know you were floundering." -- Karin Cox, 2010
