Launching a NEW Service: Covert Critiques

I've been providing critiques as a member of a limited-market nonprofit for several years. I've also paid for a critique for my own work, so I know the value of an objective, professional opinion. It only occurred to me a few months ago that I should offer critiques  as part of my editing services, so today I launch the Covert Critique!

The best part is that if an author chooses to hire me to edit the work I critiqued, I will deduct the cost of the critique from the total for the editing project. 

Have you had any of your writing critiqued professionally?

 

Why I Prefer Print — in Pictures

 These two books were passed down to me from my Grandpa, whose name you see inscribed inside and who received them from his young son, who grew up to be Uncle Jimmy. I was captivated by the stories and ended up collecting 34 of the 38 books that were published in the Trixie Belden mystery series.

The first book is 56 years old, and the other is 51! They are showing their age and falling apart, but that is part of their charm. I am holding something in my hands that my grandfather, who passed away in the early 1970s, held in his hands and kept on a shelf. Maybe he shook his head and smiled at his young son’s choice of book for him. After all, these books feature a set of teenage, horse-loving sleuths and were marketed to young girls. Maybe Uncle Jimmy gave these books to his father to hide the fact that he wanted to read them himself?

Can you pass an e-book down to your children and grandchildren? Can you write in it, run your hands over it, and know you are holding a piece of the past?

You can have a device and know that there are 483 e-books saved in it, or you can have shelves of history that you can see, touch, inscribe, cherish, share, and hand down. That keeps me firmly in the world of print.

Do Authors Need Editors?

Okay, so I have to share this excellent article I found by Dick Margulis that you can read here: Editor-Author Relationship. It’s called “The Editor-Author Relationship: Five Reasons Why Self-publishing Authors Need an Editor.”

It really should say ALL authors need an editor, self-published or otherwise. It’s so true! I’m glad Dick wrote this so I didn’t have to (because if I’d written it, some of my authors might think I was targeting them even though that couldn’t be farther from the truth).

No one’s manuscript is perfect, not even my own. I’m not afraid to admit that, being an editor myself. Sometimes my eyes see things the way I meant to type them and not as I actually typed them. My editors are on my team. An editor’s goal is to present the author’s work in the best light possible, making the author look that much better! Sometimes an editor will give the author advice about additional points that could be made that the author might have overlooked. They work hard even though it’s likely that their efforts won’t be credited within the pages of that book. It doesn’t matter.

Editors may attempt to teach authors ways to improve their writing, but we are not your high school English teacher, as Dick says, “[rapping] your knuckles for forgetting some arcane rule.” So don’t fear the editing process; embrace it!