What is an editor?
An editor is the person who is, I would say, the midwife for the book. And the editor, I also describe as being the engine that drives the train of the book and everything that goes around it, along the track and through publication and past that. So in the first place, the editor is the person who has to decide that this is a book worth publishing. They then have to sell it to their colleagues internally, because an editor just doesn't think "Oh, I like this book I'll just go ahead and buy it". The whole company has to want to buy the book, and the whole company has to think it's worthwhile. So the first job of an editor is to read the manuscript, decide that they want it, and they have to want it a lot, because it's such a big job to get a book published; to take it to a meeting - an editorial meeting, and say "I think this book is great, I want you to read it, I want you to discuss it with me and let's see what you think". And then, they have to slug it out, and sometimes it's slugging it out; because sometimes people would say "Oh, I'm not so sure about that" and if the editor is really passionate and holds on and holds on, and convinces their colleagues. In the best case scenario, one's colleagues say "This is great, we want to publish it". So then they, it's the editor's job to get the calculations in, to work out with the advances. The editor then has to decide with the other people, in this case the CEO of the company, how much money you're going to be able to offer for the book. The editor then has to negotiate that with the agent, and that can take some time. And it's not just the amount for the advance; it's all the points in the contract, for example - the royalties, the reserve against returns, the audio rights, the translation rights, and first year and so on so forth and dozens of clauses in the contract. So then, when that is done, and that's done & dusted, the book is either then bought on a finished manuscript, or if it's is non-fiction, it can be bought on a synopsis - which is a proposal detailing what that author wants to write, why they want to write it, and so on. If it's in a synopsis, the editor then has to kick his or her high heels off, often he is waiting for the manuscript to be delivered, and they're there along the way if they're needed, if the author needs help. But basically it could be 2 years along the line or more. If it is a finished manuscript, the editor then gets to work with the author. Now sometimes a manuscript and I'd say it's quite rarely, is ready to go that it's just so perfect that, that's it. But often there is a lot of work that needs to be done. And not only with non-fiction, it can be with novelists. It can be with novelists who are internationally known, who are fantastically talented, but who need help. And I see an editor as being the person who has a conversation with the author. It's not prescriptive, it's about working with the author in a very empathetic way, because the end is to make the book as good as it can possibly be.
