The following is an excerpt from my publisher’s blog. If you want to read the entire article, which should be of interest to anyone who writes, go to this address:
http://thecockeyedpessimist.blogspo...?showComment=1441659205855#c18490041958266235
THE BOOK DOCTOR
Karen Owen is a freelance editor of manuscripts, a monthly opinion columnist at The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, VA, and the former publisher of Van Neste Books. She lives with her husband, novelist and Hammett Prize-winner, Howard Owen, in Richmond, Virginia.
“When I was a publisher, I did not have the financial wherewithal to hire any assistants. I was chief financial operator, editor, creative director, book-packer and promotions person, and the joke was: ‘I am Van Neste Books.’ Unless a manuscript grabbed my attention by the second chapter, I did not have the luxury to finish reading it.
“The same was true if I ascertained that the editing required to whip the manuscript into shape would be too onerous. Assuming the writer was no William Faulkner, there were times when I was forced to move on to the next item in my in-box.
“And forget Thomas Wolfe. For most publishers, the days of indulgence by a Maxwell Perkins are gone. They don’t have the staffs or the time to wrestle a story to the ground. It may sound shallow, but neither do they want overly long word counts, as the costs to publish these books can be prohibitive.
http://thecockeyedpessimist.blogspo...?showComment=1441659205855#c18490041958266235
THE BOOK DOCTOR
Karen Owen is a freelance editor of manuscripts, a monthly opinion columnist at The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, VA, and the former publisher of Van Neste Books. She lives with her husband, novelist and Hammett Prize-winner, Howard Owen, in Richmond, Virginia.
“When I was a publisher, I did not have the financial wherewithal to hire any assistants. I was chief financial operator, editor, creative director, book-packer and promotions person, and the joke was: ‘I am Van Neste Books.’ Unless a manuscript grabbed my attention by the second chapter, I did not have the luxury to finish reading it.
“The same was true if I ascertained that the editing required to whip the manuscript into shape would be too onerous. Assuming the writer was no William Faulkner, there were times when I was forced to move on to the next item in my in-box.
“And forget Thomas Wolfe. For most publishers, the days of indulgence by a Maxwell Perkins are gone. They don’t have the staffs or the time to wrestle a story to the ground. It may sound shallow, but neither do they want overly long word counts, as the costs to publish these books can be prohibitive.