Category: The Business of Writing

There is more to being a writer than just writing your stories. There is a business aspect to this industry too. From hiring editor through to understanding copyright, this series is about understanding the business side of writing.

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The Real Costs of Editing. Here we go again!

Within my various editing groups, there seems to be a common complaint among editors, and it revolves around the issue of appropriate rates to charge. We editors seem to be in this "damned if we do, damned if we don't" position.

Most of us encounter those who look at our quoted rates and balk at the price — but as one said to me the other day, it's not necessarily the people we think either. (She sent out two quotes the week before, with the same rate quoted: one to a lawyer and the other to a retired gentleman. It was the lawyer who complained about the cost. The retired gentleman smiled as he paid the bill.) The flip side of this coin is that some look at our rates and compare it to the rates offered by others, and go, "Oh, you mustn't be very good. You're not charging anywhere near enough for what you say you do."

What are we editors to do?

Most of us encounter the former type of writer more than anything. Let's face it, there's this inherent nature that people have to be stingy with their finances, complaining that they can't get something for free. There's not a lot I can do about the second category, but with the first, I can educate writers about what it is they really face when working with freelance editors.

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Guilty

#CockyGate and Trademark Hell: Enough is Enough!

In June of 2018, the entire publishing world was thrown into chaos by #CockyGate. It was an absolute train wreck that was happening in slow motion. What started as one woman's horrible mistake (and lack of understanding of trademark law) blew up into a full-scale witch hunt.

Pitchforks were seized by the masses, and the mob was on the loose. No one was safe from this shit storm (and yes, I deliberately swore). I watched my social media feeds with my jaw open, waiting for the next author to be attacked. And the bullying took a long time to stop.

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The Real Cost of Editing

I have recently joined a freelancing site in an attempt to drum up business. Let's face it, struggling writers often don't have a lot of cash; however, in going through the job listings, I've noticed a trend. Many writers don't actually have a true understanding of how much editing really costs.

I have encountered many jobs where a person has a budget of US$10, but they are wanting their manuscript of unspecified length to be fully edited by an experienced editor. That in itself is a complete joke, but the sheer number of them (many of whom are located in the US) has driven me to write this post. I feel the need to highlight to my readers exactly how much time goes into editing, and why you need to be prepared to pay in the order of US$600 – US$3000, in some cases even more, depending on the type of editing you require and the editor's experience.

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You Need to Register Your Copyright

Under international copyright law, you own the copyright of a body of work the moment that the work is in a tangible format, i.e., it's in the computer or printed, or handwritten on paper. However, every so often, I come across some blog post or a Facebook group message, or something, where a writer is asking about copyright certificates and the like. Amazon is becoming more insistent on obtaining those copyright certificates, and rightly so.

Too many times, I have encountered some horror story where some honest writer has had their precious work taken down from the Amazon sites because some BLEEP has chosen to claim that they own the copyright. If this happens to you, it falls on you to prove the other person is wrong.

To complicate matters, far too many writers choose not to register their copyright with a copyright authority because of the cost. However, these are the writers that run the risk of finding themselves being the victim of some copyright scam.

All writers want to protect their writing as much as possible, and for the most part, people are honest. It's the shady ones that you need to worry about. Here is where taking a few simple steps can save you.

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The Rush-The-Process Dish: Volume 2

Over a year ago, I jokingly reported about some of the flavours of the Rush-The-Process dish. I'm talking about those scenarios where writers are in such a hurry to submit their work for publications that they skip vital steps in the editing or publication process.

In that post, I spoke about the ones who only have family and friends looking at their work, not other writers or editors. I spoke about the ones who take editorial reports and stick to the most basic of rewrites. Then there are those who submit to agents and publishers unfinished works, only to go into full panic mode when they get the request for fulls. And my personal favourite: upload to Amazon without editing at all, because they supposedly can't afford it.

But there are some other flavours to this Rush-The-Process dish that also requires some attention.

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