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- Jan 18, 2007
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*Forget that I'm a writer; listen to the editor for a minute.*
Please stop.
Please stop for just a minute before you push that button and hit send. Take a moment to look at what you're sending out. ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS CORRECT? I mean--you wouldn't send that snippet to an excerpt contest with that grammatical error glaring from the first line, would you? You wouldn't mistake the noun for the verb and send it out to be voted on, right? I mean, you and I both know that excerpt is from an unedited novel that isn't out yet.
Apparently, only I know that 'breath' is not a verb.
There's something wrong with our relationship.
Any time you put your work out there on the web, it is an advertisement for what you do. If you put an unedited snippet on your website and you have spelling errors in it, or enter a contest where the public votes and have a grammatical error in it--what do you think people will think of you? Let me say this as clearly as I know how:
EVERYTHING MUST BE EDITED. EVERYTHING.
I realize that I'm only your editor, but your career is important to me. I spend a lot of time working on your material to make it as professional and polished as I can before it hits the great beyond. If I can edit your novel, why not trust me to take a look at your excerpts BEFORE you send them out?
Please.
Thank you.
*disclaimer--not all editors will feel the same way as the one who made this post. They may not want to check out your excerpts, etc before you send them out for the world to read. If your editor doesn't, then have someone else check them for you. You have no idea how stupid you will look if you send a glaring error out in the first line of an excerpt submitted to a popular vote contest. Trust me.*
Please stop.
Please stop for just a minute before you push that button and hit send. Take a moment to look at what you're sending out. ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS CORRECT? I mean--you wouldn't send that snippet to an excerpt contest with that grammatical error glaring from the first line, would you? You wouldn't mistake the noun for the verb and send it out to be voted on, right? I mean, you and I both know that excerpt is from an unedited novel that isn't out yet.
Apparently, only I know that 'breath' is not a verb.
There's something wrong with our relationship.
Any time you put your work out there on the web, it is an advertisement for what you do. If you put an unedited snippet on your website and you have spelling errors in it, or enter a contest where the public votes and have a grammatical error in it--what do you think people will think of you? Let me say this as clearly as I know how:
EVERYTHING MUST BE EDITED. EVERYTHING.
I realize that I'm only your editor, but your career is important to me. I spend a lot of time working on your material to make it as professional and polished as I can before it hits the great beyond. If I can edit your novel, why not trust me to take a look at your excerpts BEFORE you send them out?
Please.
Thank you.
*disclaimer--not all editors will feel the same way as the one who made this post. They may not want to check out your excerpts, etc before you send them out for the world to read. If your editor doesn't, then have someone else check them for you. You have no idea how stupid you will look if you send a glaring error out in the first line of an excerpt submitted to a popular vote contest. Trust me.*