My freelance editor wants to send my ms to contacts at publishers

A funny thing happened on the way home from the edit.

I have novel that I swear is the best novel I can make it without another set of eyes. And I swear I’m not a completely terrible writer, despite my use of the preceding adverb. Except for commas. I suck at commas.

So, with a year of querying behind me (part of the 100 club), those last ten fulls out there, and me ready to move on to a new project, I decided to find an editor, because I didn’t get it—everyone who read the book liked it and many agents who did request and said no wanted to see everything I wrote next, so I figured there had to be something wrong with THIS book.

I went on Reedsy and found a former acquisitions editor for one of the Big 5 imprints now freelancing. Good, someone who could tell me what was wrong. He had some good ideas that we discussed, and he was excited for me to query this book until I told him I was pretty much queried out.

Maybe I had a terrible query. Maybe it was the 1st person thing. I also made edits whenever I got useful feedback, so maybe that was part of it too. Who knows? But when I told him this—that my point in hiring him was to learn from this book if I could and to grow as a writer, his response was that the things to fix were minor, and that he still had friends at the Big 5 and would be happy to send them my work as a referral.

I checked and his background is legitimate. He also did not ask for anything, money or otherwise. I have another WIP, but it’s 4-6 months away from querying.

(1) Should I consider accepting this referral?
(2) Do agents know something he doesn’t?
(3) Am I disadvantaging myself?
(4) If someone offers, should I try to get an agent?

I know agents know many things I don’t with regards to contracts etc., but what’s the procedure for trying to find an agent after a publisher offers if you answer yes to questions 1&4 and lightning strikes (or I get bitten by a shark of the publishing variety)?


I am happy I do math for a living. Publishing is crazy. :) 

(1) Sure, why not. No one will die if you do.**
(2) Yes
(3) No**
(4) YES


You didn't ask him the defining question: if he'd gotten this ms while he was an aquiring editor, would he/could he have bought it? The god's honest truth is a lot of good work doesn't get published.  That happens for a lot of reasons, none of which you have control over.

And that's what agents know that editors don't. We see many more manuscripts than editors do. I can hear my editor friends screaming disbelief, while pointing at their overflowing inboxes.  As proof let me tell you that an editor recently mentioned she had 30 manuscripts in her inbox from agents.  I have triple that in queries on a weekly basis.


And if he sends the ms to friends at publishers, remember, that means the ms has been submitted. If they say no, that's a no for the imprint, if not the entire publisher.  Since you're at the END of your querying process for this book, the risk is low. If you were just at the start of the querying process, I would throw myself in front of your keyboard to prevent you from doing that. (notice the *** after questions 1 and 3. That means this answer is NOT one-size-fits-all.)

And if an offer results from this, email the agents who read your full with this subject line: OFFER from PUBLISHER on TITLE.

If you don't get any bites, let me know and I'll help you find a publishing contract specialist who (for an hourly fee) will review your contract and keep you out of hot water.

Yes, publishing is crazy.
And the people who work in it, including writers, are crazy too.
You have to be; it's an actual job requirement.

#RevPit and freelance editors

What do you think of twitter pitch type contests?  The current one is #revpit where you submit to three editors a query letter and five pages and answer a few questions.
They go through them, make anon comments about the query letter and pages. They can ask for partials and fulls and end up picking one to work with for a month.
What do you think about freelance editors overall?

I think freelance editors can be terrific, and some of them aren't worth much at all. 

I have no idea how to find out which is which short of seeing what they say about your work. Except of course, the best editors often tell you things about your work that you're not all that eager to hear. As in you have six plot holes, and the tension drops to zero in chapter fourteen.

I've had very mixed results when sending writers to freelance editors but there's no way to know if that's cause the editor isn't very good or the writer didn't do what the editor suggested. 

I recently heard back from a writer whose full I'd read and thought needed a lot of work. She told me she was just going to self-publish it instead of revising.  I'm pretty sure editors have had that same thing happen.

As for Twitter pitch contests, it's not like they'll hurt you. And maybe they'll open a door for you. And maybe one of the editors will tell you your tension drops to zero in chapter 14, and you'll actually hear her and plan to revise.

In other words, there's no reason not to participate in these kinds of things. If it helps, great. If you think the advice you're getting is dreck, at least sit on it for a month before ignoring it.

Query Question: should an agent recc a freelance editor?

 I'm a freelance editor. I work mostly with self-pubbed authors, some of whom are best-sellers. Most don't have agents, although I've helped a fair number write queries and synopses. So this one surprised me.

I was talking to a potential client, and she wound up saying to me, "I went with an editor my agent recommended instead of you."

Umm... isn't that a conflict of interest, for an agent to recommend a particular freelance editor? Doesn't that open doors for accusations of hinkiness and kickbacks and being in bed with the wrong people? 

No.
Yep.
But we do it all the time.

It's not a conflict of interest (unless there IS something hinky or kickbacks going on) because I don't have a stake in which editor is chosen; I only care that it's one who can get the job done right.  

I'm sure you know that there are some really bad freelance editors out there (much like there are really bad agents!)

I've gotten burned by sending a couple clients and potential clients to editors I thought would be terrific and weren't.

I'm VERY hesitant to recommend editors I haven't worked with.

I'm pretty sure most of my ilk feel the same way.

Hinkiness and kickbacks are a very different question though.

Kickbacks are a sure way to get booted out of the AAR.  

The Canon of Ethics is pretty specific

Members may not receive a secret profit in connection with any transaction involving a client. If such profit is received, the member must promptly pay over the entire amount to the client. Members may not solicit or accept any payment or other thing of value in connection with their referral of any author to any third party for any purpose, provided that the foregoing does not apply to arrangements made with a third party in connection with the disposition of rights in the work of a client of the member.

But just giving a client or potential client a list of editor's names, or recommending a specific editor is still ok.  And mostly how it's done.

I've heard of agents recently who are on the wrong side of this and ranted about it.



It sounds like your business is going well (congrats!) which means you'll have a roster of people who WILL recommend you. 

Query Question: paid editors

 This Question comes on the heel of wasted money and confusion.  I am committed to writing the best books I can + to getting published.  I love words.  I love the world of words.  I read authors whose works inspire + teach me.  I have solid critique + beta partners.  On occasion, I'll take a class online or otherwise.  On those occasions, I'll look into the background of the instructors + editors to ensure there aren't any crackpots.  Here's the question + the rub.  Twice I have worked with paid editors and twice I have gotten either bum advice such as: you don't need to tell the ending in synopsis; or a critique that would have changed the body of my work so dramatically as to be a Dementor's Kiss.  Thinking an editor should be seeing the landscape, I worked with (some) of their recommendations only to find that, yes, the soul truly had been sucked out of the story on their (paid) advice.

Does this happen to author's with whom you've worked?  Does this happen frequently or is it only "paid" editors?  (Is there a difference) because I'm getting jaundiced on them as a whole.  (PS. I've since written the soul back into my work.) 

It doesn't happen with editors at publishing houses because if they want to suck the soul out of a manuscript, we have a conversation that involves changing editors or moving the book to a new publisher.  My job is to find an editor who actually likes the book, not one who wants to change it completely.

Outside/paid/independent editors are a whole different kettle of fishies.  I've had terrible luck with most, and great success with a very few.


How to find the latter and avoid the former? READ the books they've edited. 

Also, have a clear idea of what you want the editor to do. Do you need the plot strengthened, the dialogue improved? The pacing quickened? 


Often an editor can make suggestions about how to do those kinds of things without going through the entire manuscript page by page.


If you're looking for someone to read for plot holes or narrative arc, then you do need someone who will read the entire manuscript.


Good editors are not thick on the ground. Finding a good one is not easy. The REALLY good ones are booked up so far in advance, even their pals can't get a project on their desk (I'm looking at you Kristen Weber!)




I wish I had more to offer on this topic but it's an ongoing problem here too.