Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

This is the last post of Ask an Editor week with Kimberly Blythe, head editor at Omnific Publishing . Your response to her thoughtful answers has been wonderful---sooooooo we'll do it again! A couple of the questions I received were more appropriately suited to an acquisitions editor, so guess what I did...yep, I lined up an acquisitions editor to answer them. At the May Insecure Writers Support Group , I'll solicit even more questions. Sorry for the delay, but March & April sort of filled up. And while I'm in apology mode, sorry I'm behind in repaying many of your visits. I've had some shite go down this week that's kept me away from the social networks. But I'll be around, and I look forward to it. If you missed Kim's earlier answers, you can find them here: Editing What You Love...and What You Don't Most Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Pre-query Advice How Editors Get Paid Today we have from Kim one last piece of advice:...

Thanks for all the great comments yesterday! I'm so happy you're finding these insights from Kimberly Blythe, head editor at Omnific Publishing , as helpful and interesting as I do. If you're just joining Ask the Editor week, you can find the earlier answers here: Editing What You Love...And What You Don't Most Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Pre-query Advice Q   L.Diane : How do most editors get paid? (Hourly, salary, by the job if freelance...?) I ask because I read a post from an author who stated that editors get paid a percentage based on sales and that really made me laugh because NO WAY would they work like that!/ Kittie : I'd also like to know how editors get paid. A Kim: Many independent or small to mid-sized publishers are indeed working on a royalties-based paradigm these days. (These companies will usually pay the authors like this, giving them a percent of what is actually sold as it sells, rather than an advance to earn back throug...

Welcome to day three of Ask the Editor week, in which Kimberly Blythe, head editor at  Omnific Publishing  is answering questions from bloggers. Thanks for your comments the last couple of days! I find today's advice to be particularly valuable---it's not easy to do, especially in an industry that pushes us to crank books into the world at lighting speed, but setting your story aside for a while makes a huge difference in your ability to effectively edit it. If you missed her earlier answers, you can find them here: Editing What You Love...and What You Don't Most Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Q Suzanne: Is there one piece of editing advice you could give that we could all look out for in our own ms before submitting to an editor or agent? A Kim: I would advise writers to let their story sit untouched for a few months before they go back and review it. Time and distance is a great way to find things that will confuse other readers. You will never ...

Welcome to day two of Ask the Editor week, in which Kimberly Blythe, head editor at Omnific Publishing is answering questions from bloggers. By the way, Omnific is celebrating its 4 year anniversary with a loaded Kindle Fire giveaway! Visit The Book Avenue to enter.  If you missed Kim's earlier answers, you can find them here: Editing What You Love...and What You Don't Q : Liz : What are some common changes you see editors asking for? I know every book is different, but are there some themes/problems that always seem to pop up? / Mary : What common mistakes does she see most? / Rena : I was wondering what part of editing is the most commonly addressed? Basic grammar, plot issues, choppy writing? A : Kim:  There are a few common issues that seem to come up in rough drafts of novels, and they're ones that authors find it hard to see in their own stories. 1. Point of view issues: Multiple points of view in one book is becoming more and more common these days....

I'm so excited to welcome Kimberly Blythe to my blog. Kim is head editor at Omnific Publishing , and I've had the pleasure of working with her on a few different projects. I'm unfailingly impressed by her professionalism, objectivity, and mastery of the English language, so I was very happy when she agreed to answer questions asked by some of you during this month's Insecure Writers Support Group . Initially, I planned to post her responses to blogger questions in one shot, but as you'll see, her answers were so thoughtful and informative that I decided each one deserved it's own post---so I hereby declare this to be Kimberly Blythe Week! Each day this week, you'll get a new piece of her wisdom. At the end of this post you'll see her bio as well as links to find her on her social networks. Today, Kim answers two questions at the opposite end of the spectrum. In tomorrow's post, she'll give great advice on the most common mistakes she se...

Today I'd like to direct you to a few authorly places: With the eBook revolution, are signed books going the way of the dinosaur?  No way! says Marcus Clearspring, author of Writing Investigated. He's got an interesting guest post over at Arlee Bird's place about   Electronic book signing .   If you check it out, please be sure to let me know if you think this is something worth trying.  Here is an excellent post by The Fallen Monkey on the top three grammatical errors she sees in manuscripts, complete with a punctuation cheat sheet.  The article is concise, clear, and provides great examples. The Monkey is a  former high school English teacher, current manuscript editor, and all around cool chick. At Thoroughly Smitten, you can read my take on one of the most famous couples in literature:  Fictional Felicity:  Rhett & Scarlett (by far the least authorly post of the four---be warned!) Omnific Publishing has started an " Ask an ...

I've got a guest post today over at the Savvy Authors website in which I dish out ten quick tips for giving your manuscript a final polish before it goes into editing.  Just thought I'd pass on some things I've noted through my editing role that've helped me with my own writing. Arg! I just noticed a problem w/ my post over there.  The strikeouts for my example were eliminated, so it's a little confusing.  I've notified my contact, but until it gets straightened out, this version of points 6-10 will be easier to follow:   For the points below, I’ll use the following excerpt (in which it will become abundantly clear I spent way too many hours reading Archie comics at my grandma’s).   There’s nothing wrong with the excerpt grammatically, but I’m sure you’ll agree it can be improved.   We’ll refine it in stages. Excerpt             Joe wanted to go to the pool. “Hey, Alex, do you want to go to the...

Welcome to the Harry Potter Blogfest   hosted by Michael at the In Time... blog. My entry is a re-worked scene from my novel-length fanfiction Professor Burbage and the Potions Master .  For me, this blogfest ended up being more an experiment in editing rather than writing---the original scene is 900+ words, but Michael's a very strict professor, and his requirement was 500 words, so I've chopped this baby down to nearly half its original size (525 words). It wasn't nearly as impossible a task as I at first thought it would be---merely a matter of removing unneccessary dialogue tags, paring back on overly detailed physical descriptions, cutting redundant phrasing, and searching out ways to say things more efficiently.  That's all.  What's amazing is that the scene lost absolutely nothing, but is now a smoother, sleeker version of its original self.  Editing rocks.  Thanks for making me challenge myself, Michael. Professor Elson and the Potions Master ...

Great news!  Through July 31. 2012, Seers of Light - the first book in the Light Series is on sale for only $2.99 in Kindle ! Jennifer DeLucy is a highly creative, wonderfully genuine person whom I had the pleasure of working with when I was assigned as Developmental Editor on her debut novel, Seers of Light.  Seers of Light is the first book in The Light Series , a paranormal journey of self-discovery, adventure, and romance. Jennifer was inspired to tell this story after a personal exploration of various paths of philosophy and spirituality, including near death experiences.  All of these things come together in Seers of Light in a remarkably accessible, engaging, can't-put-it-down way.  Not only is Jennifer a gifted writer, she is also a talented musician and actually wrote the song for the Seers of Light trailer: I recently asked Jennifer about some of my favorite aspects of Seers of Light, and she was kind enough to answer.  Thanks Jen!...

In addition to being an author, I am also blessed to be able to work as a Developmental Editor at Omnific Publishing .  I say "blessed" because I'm odd in that editing is one of my favorite parts of the writing process.  I love taking a step back from my own manuscript and looking at it from the readers' perspective.  There's something so satisfying about tweaking, rewriting, adding, deleting, and in general polishing that baby up.  Like I told my editors on Three Daves ---I felt like my story had been to the spa. At first the prospect of editing and critiquing other authors' works was a bit daunting to me.  Writing is such a personal thing, and they'd be understandably territorial. But I've been doubly blessed by getting to work with extremely cool writers with professional attitudes.  They are passionate about their manuscripts and so they want them to be the best they can be and were eager for and appreciative of my feedback.  I've truly felt ...