Editors Need Time To Read (more thoughts)

I was thinking more about this today and wanted to add a bit more (for insight or simply confusion).

I mentioned earlier that the editors need time to get through your writing. We have to remember that editors do have a lot more on their plate than simply sitting around and reading new submissions. Agents too have many of these same issues, but let's just focus on those editors for now.

The editor that I was talking to last week openly admited that for her to get work done, she has to disappear to her home and work. There was simply too much to do while in her office. Now, what is she doing? She's editing projects of her current writers, reviewing marketing plans, examining and writing new cover material, dealing with the artists... the list goes on and on. Now, we add in meetings with all of the departments, reviewing junior editor's suggestions, more meetings, countless phone calls. Ugh.

Now, let's add in the process a manuscript is going to go through when it hits the publisher. Potentially it is sent to an outside reader, maybe even two. Then to a junior editor, then to the editorial meeting, then to a senior editor. Potentially the manuscript idea is sent to marketing where the number gurus see if numerically your book will sell. In other words, this process is not going to happen over night.

One editor I work with even adds in extensive revision notes for projects she is thinking seriously about.

Let's now talk about when they are reading these projects? After a busy day at the office, they grab a stack of stories and read them on the way home, or sitting in the quiet of their own home, assuming they don't have any family things on their schedule. Yes, editors are human and do need to do things other than work on your projects.

Chew on that a bit and let me know what you think.

Scott