Adventures of a dev editor being dev edited. Pt. 1
Hello everybody!
I’m currently working with an amazing author and human on a 12 book contemporary romance series. The people, places, and plots have been bouncing around in her head and her heart for fifteen years. I’m thrilled to be a part of her journey.
At the same time, I am being dev edited myself on a romcom and a novella as part of a four book series.
I found five romance dev editors on reedsy and tried them out on samples of my work. I share my experiences anonymously with you so you can see the range of responses I got ON EXACTLY THE SAME PAGES.
No AI used by me or them. Not judging, just saying.
DE #1 - Self-published author. Lots of five star reviews. Great person. Loved my writing and plot. Was big into counting how many notes they gave per page. Thought I’d found my person! I was wrong. Very wrong. Over a thousand dollars wrong. It still hurts. They: inserted jokes which were inappropriate, inserted dialogue which changed a character’s personality, lectured me on grammar DESPITE NOT FINDING ONE GRAMMAR MISTAKE. As an editor myself, if there are grammar mistakes in my writing, they are 98% of the time due to typos. 1% of the time because my other language sneaks in. Would only recommend to people who want the editor to be more of a co-author.
DE#2 - Not an author. A seasoned editor. Told me to “lose” half of my book. But loved the other half. Wanted more like that. Does not like reading more than one, two max, POVs. Disapproved of an irreverent and profane character’s existence. This was all helpful. They wanted the book I started to write. And which I may end up writing if my current book doesn’t resonate with other editors. So, they were well worth the money. They could have been more polite but it didn’t bother me. I do not tell writers to “lose” anything. I would recommend this editor to people who have medium to thick skins.
DE#3 - JACKPOT! Charged me the least. Has reviewed thousands of manuscripts over their career. Immediately got me and my book. Gave me notes which were extremely helpful. Wanted more of what #2 wanted to cut out. Hope to work with them forever.
DE#4 - Sigh. This person fired me. First, they corrected my grammar and syntax in two spots. But they were wrong. I do not make the grammar rules. I am not in charge of defining words or deciding what constitutes an idiom. So I just sent back neutral comments. “This is proper subject verb agreement. The subject is X, a collective noun, which requires a singular verb in this case.” & “This is an idiom which is standard and common.” No response. No worries. They were in the camp of DE#2. So I said, “From your comments, it feels like this book, or at least half of it, is not your kind of book. Which is fine because I often learn more from people in that position.” They became very defensive. Felt I was critiquing their critique? Said not able to work with me. It’s a shame. I would recommend them to people whose writing I thought was a match. Maybe. I worry about thin skinned editors.
Have a happy Saturday!
