Has anybody used Pat LoBurtto's editorial service or know anything about him? Seems a decent fellow but for what I'm considering paying it makes sense to do some research.
Why are you paying an editor? I thought that was for your publisher to do.
Hi,
I contacted Mr. Lobrutto about editing my novel and he quoted me about $8K. I asked if he'd consider doing a critique for $1K and I didn't hear from him again. Something tells me he was looking for that house payment and, when he didn't get it, blew me off.
As for editors, no good book is a good book without one. Anyone who says you don't need an editor is a fucking idiot, someone who hasn't published much, if at all. I've done 18 books as a ghostwriter and have always used one or two editors per project. I've also edited some bestsellers, and was able to contribute information that the authors felt was vital to the success of their books.
Anyone who says you don't need an editor is an idiot.
Good editors will charge a minimum of $1K for a critique, then about $2-3K for a read with line edits. An editor in my town, who's done many books but no really cool bestsellers, charges $4K for writing down comments in the margins and in any space she can find. My fave editors use Word Track Changes feature so I can see what they've done, not to mention be able to read the fucking thing.
Find a good editor. . . .
Hi,
I contacted Mr. Lobrutto about editing my novel and he quoted me about $8K. I asked if he'd consider doing a critique for $1K and I didn't hear from him again. Something tells me he was looking for that house payment and, when he didn't get it, blew me off.
As for editors, no good book is a good book without one. Anyone who says you don't need an editor is a fucking idiot, someone who hasn't published much, if at all. I've done 18 books as a ghostwriter and have always used one or two editors per project. I've also edited some bestsellers, and was able to contribute information that the authors felt was vital to the success of their books.
Anyone who says you don't need an editor is an idiot.
Good editors will charge a minimum of $1K for a critique, then about $2-3K for a read with line edits. An editor in my town, who's done many books but no really cool bestsellers, charges $4K for writing down comments in the margins and in any space she can find. My fave editors use Word Track Changes feature so I can see what they've done, not to mention be able to read the fucking thing.
Find a good editor. . . .
As for a book being good enough to get a publisher, I suppose that's true. If you can get a publisher to look at it. Anyone in this business who is honest knows that for nobody-schmucks like me, who have no connections, getting a publisher to look at your book is a very long shot. Getting an agent to read a good book is a very long short....
Writers are a strange bunch. They are the only people I know who think they are supposed to be able to start a successful business or develop a product without investing some of their own money.
As for a book being good enough to get a publisher, I suppose that's true. If you can get a publisher to look at it. Anyone in this business who is honest knows that for nobody-schmucks like me, who have no connections, getting a publisher to look at your book is a very long shot. Getting an agent to read a good book is a very long short. And I've had enough positive responses to my work by objective readers to know that my work is good. If I hadn't, I'd have stopped a long time ago. Regardless of what agent websites or xeroxed rejections say, the majority of queries get a cursory glance at best, and if they don't immediately tickle the fancy of whoever happened to see it (be that the agent or some flunky) or come with some kind of ancillary information such as endorsements or recommendations, they go into the rejection pile.
I used to think this was because they are stupid, and some may be, but for the majority it's a matter of what engineers call signal-to-noise ratio. The volume of material they receive is simply so high that rising above the noise is close to impossible. Yes, nobodies do get picked up from time to time but the percentage is like .1% or less and is not repeatable. It's basically stochastic, like the lottery. So anything you can do to skew the odds in your favor can do nothing but increase your chances.
$8K was the figure he quoted me as well. For this you get a thorough reading, a line edit, then as much back and forth discussion as you need to improve your work. After that, according to the words that came out of his mouth, he will aid you in finding the right agents and editors. Sounded like a damn good deal to me if you have $8K. You could easily spend this much on writing courses and seminars and come away with less tangible assistance. Unfortunately, I ain't got $8K to plunck down.
Writers are a strange bunch. They are the only people I know who think they are supposed to be able to start a successful business or develop a product without investing some of their own money. I don't know of any other businesses like that.
....
. But the best contacts are published authors. I would spend your money attending some of the less expensive writing conferences and chumming up to authors. You might even meet some agents there and persuade them to take a closer look at your stuff.
.....
Are they really though? I've often heard it said by published authors that they are reluctant to refer somehting to their agent because of the possibly fall-out if the agent says not interested.
Someone chime in and tell me if I'm confused here.
Writers are a strange bunch. They are the only people I know who think they are supposed to be able to start a successful business or develop a product without investing some of their own money. I don't know of any other businesses like that.
As for a book being good enough to get a publisher, I suppose that's true. If you can get a publisher to look at it. Anyone in this business who is honest knows that for nobody-schmucks like me, who have no connections, getting a publisher to look at your book is a very long shot. Getting an agent to read a good book is a very long short. And I've had enough positive responses to my work by objective readers to know that my work is good. If I hadn't, I'd have stopped a long time ago. Regardless of what agent websites or xeroxed rejections say, the majority of queries get a cursory glance at best, and if they don't immediately tickle the fancy of whoever happened to see it (be that the agent or some flunky) or come with some kind of ancillary information such as endorsements or recommendations, they go into the rejection pile.
I used to think this was because they are stupid, and some may be, but for the majority it's a matter of what engineers call signal-to-noise ratio. The volume of material they receive is simply so high that rising above the noise is close to impossible. Yes, nobodies do get picked up from time to time but the percentage is like .1% or less and is not repeatable. It's basically stochastic, like the lottery. So anything you can do to skew the odds in your favor can do nothing but increase your chances.
$8K was the figure he quoted me as well. For this you get a thorough reading, a line edit, then as much back and forth discussion as you need to improve your work. After that, according to the words that came out of his mouth, he will aid you in finding the right agents and editors. Sounded like a damn good deal to me if you have $8K. You could easily spend this much on writing courses and seminars and come away with less tangible assistance. Unfortunately, I ain't got $8K to plunck down.
Writers are a strange bunch. They are the only people I know who think they are supposed to be able to start a successful business or develop a product without investing some of their own money. I don't know of any other businesses like that.