Editor

I take on a few clients per year. Clients that are a good fit write about subjects I like and know.

They include:

• biographies that include but not limited to public personalities
• health care including integrative/alternative medical modalities
• cooking/culinary
• sports, fitness & yoga
• Entrepreneurial& non-profit topics
• Clients in need of book proposal guidance and/or crafting.( My book proposal that sold, All American Girls, was the third book proposal that I wrote and the first one to get published. I sent it to 10 agents. Nine accepted it.

Because I teach, writers often ask for advice about selecting editors. When shopping for one, how do you chose? My answer is always the same: very carefully. Editors come in all shapes and sizes and have as many intentions. some writers turned editors prefer the process of guiding students along. some writers turned editors have done so because they need to augment income not made by selling their own writing. Some writers turned editors portion a percentage of time to editing so that they can pursue their own writing for publication dreams.How do you chose?

Some questions to ask:

1. Does the editor have published clients. If so, who are they and can you talk to them?

2. If the editor is just beginning and has no published clients, are his/her rates commensurate? That is, rates should be on the low end of the going editing rate.

3. Is the editor knowledgeable about your subject? If not, how much research does s/he project will need to be done and at what hourly rate? Researching rate should be lower than editing rate. Remember, editors not knowledgeable about a client's subject will learn on the client's dime - another reason to find an editor who knows your subject matter.

4. Do you like the editor's writing style? Only way to find out is to read his/her published works.

5. Do you have a good rapport with the perspective editor? If not, trouble could loom. Editors often have to deliver bad news and if there is little rapport, bad news is harder to hear and accept.

6. If the editor tells you that his/her books were ghost written, ask if you can contact the author for a recommendation. If the editor says no, I'd be leery. It's easy to say you 'ghost write' when it can't be traced.

Marla Miller's published clients:

The following book titles can be found in bookstores. Two clients I now work with have book proposals that I believe have a decent shot at publication. One is about growing up in the Malibu Colony. The other proposal is about the medical community policing themselves better to reduce the many unnecessary deaths in U.S. hospitals.

Click links to read more about my clients' books.

Book links:

The Greatness of Girls

The Boldness of Boys

I Can Do This Living with Cancer, Tracing a Year of Hope