Editing books that aren't readable

I have wrestled with this for a long time now and am interested in hearing how other editors cope.

Many times I have gotten in editing jobs from indie writers where the writing flat out stinks. After reading the first few pages (I do a sample edit as a job interview) I turn those down and recommend the writer work on their craft and find beta readers. They're just not ready to hire an editor. Many of them thank me for my honesty, so that's something. I always direct them here to AW for help.

A few times though, the sample pages were good enough that I'd accept the job, then find the rest of the book to be a howling hot mess of OMG-are-you-kidding barf cookies.

In one case I managed to do a hundred pages before reaching my gagging point. I charged the writer for the work I'd done, refunded the balance with a sincere apology, and made some suggestions on how to improve a deeply flawed story. Never heard from him again, which was understandable.

In another case I accepted the job and hung on to the extremely grim end of a book that made me physically ill every time I opened the file. If you've read slush, you know how bad it can get. The opening pages were not too bad, which was why I accepted, but it got steadily worse. The book was twice as long going back to the client due to the countless corrections and editorial comments on every page.

All I could do was lie back, cringe, and think of the rent.

For all that, he wanted me to edit his next three in his series. After I finished screaming in horror from a fetal position under the bed, I let him know I was fully booked and not available. I don't think I'm too sensitive, but it took weeks to get some of that crap out of my brain, it was so bad. I called it Post Traumatic Editing Syndrome.

My latest job -- months ago! -- was a dismal mash of a fantasy killfest that made my eyes bleed. Somehow I powered through, still thinking of the rent. The writer was pleased with my work, if surprised that it needed anything more than simple proofing since he thought it was perfect as is, and thanked me for the extra effort.

So other editors, I gotta ask:

When you get in the dregs from the crap barrel, do you put on your game face and power through?

Do you politely turn such jobs down?

Do you get in well written books and are able to edit with a clear conscience?

Or have I got some kind of weird invisible beacon that only attracts the worst? It is a matter of conscience for me to not accept money on something that's unreadable, but it seems that's all I get.

I read of editors who are swamped with work and wonder if they're powering through the crap regardless or getting good writers who make the work fun.

PS, If you are not comfortable posting in public, feel free to PM me. I won't tell!

Old Hack said:

A few of my editor-friends give advice to writers, acting as editorial advisors rather than editors: they give very broad advice rather than editing the ms, and suggest ways in which the writers can learn to be better. They all say that the more they charge for this advice the more respectfully they're treated by their author-clients, and that it's much easier than doing full, detailed edits.

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By this are you talking about developmental editing or feedback? I do the latter, but haven't had a client in months. My rates are more than reasonable, and I have raised prices. Apparently my resume (there is a LOT of it) is not sufficient to convince anyone to try it.

I am not keen to try developmental, though I have done that for pro friends. The writer in me can get in the way and I'd take a book in a different direction than the other writer. The non-pros not always happy with the suggestions offered. But again, most of those works are awful.

If "editorial advisor" is a job title, I might be up to that, but with the proviso that I get paid for pages read if I'm not able to finish the whole book. Again, I'm anticipating getting more hot messes, not readable MS! If you could PM me any websites for these advisors, I'd love to see how they do it!


Bufty -- thank you, I fixed that goof!

Hbooks said:

It stands to reason that the manuscripts that are already well-edited, well-crafted, and lacking major structural issues are being sent to agents, and hopefully eventually editors at publishing houses, therefore bypassing you, right?

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My target clients are the indie writers who intend to self-publish. Most of them are simply not ready. I turn away the "I just finished my book, please edit and tell me what you think!" I see their job listings on the EFA site and it's all too clear they're clueless on what editors do. Sometimes I'll send a quick mail to set them straight about getting beta readers and writing more drafts as needed before hiring an editor.

I don't mind line editing and am good at it. This is about gouge your eyes out with a spork bad writing. How do other editors deal with it?

Harlequin said:

Bad as in, not even at the level of high school written English

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I am familiar with that! Edited a non-fiction book with a co-editor. One of the chapters she snagged was an incoherent collection of words by someone with a PhD in one of the sciences and a teacher at a university. It had to be completely rewritten by my friend, who was not amused. The work was not remotely technical, but it did have to be turned into something with noun-verb-subject sentences!

Have you joined up with other editors? Maybe join some indie groups and target more professional indies

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I am in the Editorial Freelancers Association. When I raised this topic at a local meeting, asking for advice, everyone went quiet as though I'd cut the cheese in church. I suppose no one wanted to admit that they'll accept unreadable drek so long as they get paid for it. No one made any kind of reply, even in private.

At this point I do not have the energy to hang out in indie writing groups. The ones I know about are wanting support from other writers, not a sales pitch from an underemployed editor. Some have rules against that sort of thing.

I still ask, do I suck it up, lie back, and think of the rent because that's what other editors do? (They just don't admit it.) I don't think I can do that!

cornflake said:

Charge them by the hour.

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I'd go broke. Most of the bad/wholly-not-ready writers take less than a minute to suss out and then I refuse the job. Oh, wait, I AM broke!

Recently checked out the work of another editor who works for cheap, excessively cheap. The writer was halfway good, but the editing was terrible. But that editor had a really nice looking website.

Time for me to get busy. Checking Whosis for name availability. I need a makeover.

Lissibith said:

As an editor, I used to try to politely power through and try to catch/address most of what I could. Then I realized life is short and there are a billion other things I could be doing, so now if something is utter crap, I'll just send it back and let them know why.

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Hee! "Utter crap" describes a few of past jobs that came in. I can edit mediocre and down right boring, but the crap (so to speak!) builds up. One job took weeks longer than it should because I hated opening the file knowing that the stuff would only keep getting worse. Usually a writer gets better as he goes along, but this one hit bottom and began tunneling.