[Editing] Beth Bruno

[D.Varsha]

Hi,

Has anyone here got their work edited by Ms. Beth Bruno of heard of her. I had her edit some sample pages. She seems very knowledgeable and helpful sorts. Would really appreciate a reply. Thank you.

Varsha
www.varshadixit.com

 

[Fallen]

Link? This Beth Bruno?

 

[D.Varsha]

http://www.book-editing.com/book-consultant-bios/beth-bruno/index.html Thanks!

 

[Thedrellum]

This part of their "About Us" bothers me:

In short, the final part of the writing process is having a professional book editor and proofreader (not your neighbors or your kid's English teacher) polish the manuscript before it's offered to an agent or publisher.

This is just not true. Granted, they are going to say this because their business is designed around getting writers to pay them to edit. However, a "professional" book editor/proofreader (i.e., one that you pay to look at your work) is not necessary before either submitting to agents or publishers.

Once you've gone through your manuscript yourself, you can find a lot of good feedback either in a local writer's group or through beta readers you find on-line (at AW, for example).

None of this is to say that I think paying someone for their editing services is a bad idea. I have been paid to edit in the past and hope to do so in the future, but the idea that anyone MUST get a book editor/proofreader to look at their work before submitting to an agent or publisher is, well, stupid.

Now, if you're planning on self-publishing then you might want to do the above because you won't be getting the editing/copyediting services that publishers (and often agents) provide before your work enters the wider world.

 

[D.Varsha]

Thank you for that very sensible advice. I'm actually thinking of going the self publishing route as the traditional approach is not working for me. From agents I'm getting trite rejections and one editor who read my book said I write well...so muddled by these ambiguous feedback.

New to the forum. What are Beta readers? TU

 

[Maryn]

Beta readers are the last person to "test your product" (read the book) before it goes on the market. You give them a manuscript you believe is fully polished and ready to be seen by agents/publishers/readers, and they tell you what's not yet perfect.

The term is borrowed from "best testing" in industry.

We have a forum where people can say a little about their novel and seek beta readers for it, but experience says that you're far, far more likely to have a good beta experience--or get a beta at all--if you wait to ask, using the time to become an active member here, to critique the work of others, to get yourself known a bit, especially by the people who write in the same genre you do.

Maryn, who wrote the infamous "Why I Won't Beta Read Your Novel" thread

 

[D.Varsha]

Beta readers are the last person to "test your product" (read the book) before it goes on the market. You give them a manuscript you believe is fully polished and ready to be seen by agents/publishers/readers, and they tell you what's not yet perfect.

The term is borrowed from "best testing" in industry.

We have a forum where people can say a little about their novel and seek beta readers for it, but experience says that you're far, far more likely to have a good beta experience--or get a beta at all--if you wait to ask, using the time to become an active member here, to critique the work of others, to get yourself known a bit, especially by the people who write in the same genre you do.

Maryn, who wrote the infamous "Why I Won't Beta Read Your Novel" thread

Thanks Maryn, that is some cool insight. My two worries with Beta Testing would be first the thought of plagiarism and secondly how do you judge the qualifications of one doing the testing for you? Have you ever done Beta testing for someone else or have your MS beta tested?

 

[Cathy C]

Beta readers are just that---readers. The're going to read it with an eye to stuff that confuses them or bugs them. Betas are great for finding things that you thought was clearly spelled out, but in reality never made it onto the page. They also catch where, for example, you called your secondary character "Bob" instead of "Robert", which he'd been in every other scene.

The nice thing about betas is many of them (outside of AW anyway)!have no desire to be writers, so plagiarism isn't really an issue. They read because they love to read. As for betas you might find here, we've got good peeps. They know better than to try to steal.

 

[D.Varsha]

Beta readers are just that---readers. The're going to read it with an eye to stuff that confuses them or bugs them. Betas are great for finding things that you thought was clearly spelled out, but in reality never made it onto the page. They also catch where, for example, you called your secondary character "Bob" instead of "Robert", which he'd been in every other scene.

The nice thing about betas is many of them (outside of AW anyway)!have no desire to be writers, so plagiarism isn't really an issue. They read because they love to read. As for betas you might find here, we've got good peeps. They know better than to try to steal.

Thank you Cathy for that clarification and congrats on ur book. It looks gr8.