Freelance editor

Keep trying more critique groups and trustworthy beta-readers not afraid to tell you the truth.

For professional feedback (unless you know a kindly writer) you have to shell out the sheckles, and there are so many scammers out there it's hard to know who's legit or not.

The share your work forum right here is a good start if you've not tried it already, otherwise brave friends who also write are better for you at this point. Make sure you are clear to them that you want to know "what's wrong with this, how can I make it better?" and are not after egoboos. When they know they won't hurt your feelings they can be more upfront about what needs work.

Unable to afford a pro feedback service--and I suspect the ones I looked at then were scammers, they were all advertising in writing magazines!--I managed to get a few friends to read and comment on my first novel. When two or more choked on the same points I did a rewrite.

I still do. One of my buds checked through my last book, listed some problems I was too close to see, and I fixed them.

That first book took 2-3 complete rewrites over a 2-year period, and I redid chapter one about 25 times--on a manual typewriter.

I was shopping it to print publishers during that period. Every time it came back I worked on it some more while writing my next two books.

This is a slow process, but sometimes it takes longer than you like to figure out your craft. You only get better at the piano by practicing every day, ditto for writing.

When I started I rewrote 98% of my copy. My early efforts had more blue pencil than typing! Then things shifted. After a couple years I rewrote about half my copy--now about 2% gets a tweaking. Practice, practice, practice!

Reading other writers--really good ones!--is the best way to learn. Reading outside of your target genre is the BEST thing. Too many romances read alike--one of my buds calls it literary incest. When I'm writing a mystery I'll read a romance, when writing romance I'll read a techno-thriller and so on.

Bottom line--SAVE your money, be patient, and put in more practice and reading. It'll pay off.

Good luck!

Anna Genoese.

http://www.aleuromancy.net/index.html


Gillhoughly's right, but if you really think this is the route for you, try her.

I'll second Gillhoughly and December. There are other routes to try before paying an editor, but if you really feel you want a professional critique, Anna's a professional editor -- and if she happens to be too busy to take on a client, she'll be able to give you names of other people who actually work in the business and know what they're doing. But be aware that a good editor is going to cost money.

I do know someone else who might be helpful, but I'd be reluctant to recommend her for a romance manuscript, as it's not her field.

Leslie Wainger also is now doing this. She's a terrific editor with many years of experience in the romance field.

She also wrote Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies.

Her rates seem quite reasonable, given her experience.


http://www.lesliewainger-bookdoctor.com/index.html

Susan G.

I haven't tried it myself but Harlequin also has a critique service.

http://www.eharlequin.com/store.html;jsessionid=2C5835CFB6ADD2F7C3E02C956FA3DD04?cid=548