Editors and Beta readers

[LJH]

It's that time to let me know if:

 

1. You are willing to assist writers

2. You still wish to be active as an editor

3. You are currently available to beta and or edit for new requests.

 

 

GA has a large pool of editors and beta readers. I would love to hear from all those who are currently active on the site. I do understand that there are some who have not been active for some time and will probably not respond to this post.

 

Some editors and betas only assist one writer, I would like to see these editors step forward to help others.

 

I will get the ball rolling.

 

I am Willing to assist writers

I do wish to be regarded as active.

I am able to assist with new requests, however I currently edit for three GA writers and also edit on a professional level. If I take on new requests the turn around time is one week. I do not edit on weekends and I do not accept first or second drafts.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all our active editors and Beta readers.

 

 

Kindness

[layla]

I am willing to assist writers
I'm still willing to be active as a beta reader
I am currently available to beta for new requests.

 

I work from home, winter months are slower for projects, so my turn around time is roughly 48 hours, come summer I expect that to go up a bit, but never more than four days.

[comicfan]

I am able to help writers, but by no means am I an editor.

I am able to beta for short projects or completed projects.

I work hours all over the clock so trying to get me is easiest by email. I am usually back with my beta after 2 to 3 days depending on the length of the work.

 

 

Considering I am also a writer I try to keep time for my own work as well. At one point i was working with four different authors and my own work took a back shelf. After nearly a year I am able to get work out again and would like to give back to the community here.

Edited February 21, 2014 by comicfan

[ShadowDancer]

I am willing to assist writers.

I am still a active editor. 

I am able to assist with new requests, I currently edit for five GA writers and also a well known author on his e-books.  

 

My turn around depends on the length of the chapter or story, my normal turn around is 24 to 72 hours. 

I still try to get some writing in there somewhere on my own stories.

 

Thank you,
 

[joann414]

I'm willing to assist. 

I currently beta for four authors on the site

Definitely a beta, not an editor

My turn around is usually within 48 hours depending on the length of the chapter

Active

[Lisa]

I am willing to assist writers.

I am an active editor; I edit for twelve authors on GA, but only nine are currently writing stories, and one has two stories going simultaneously.

I also edit for an author on another site who also has two stories going simultaneously.

I also edit for a small online publishing company.

I don't work outside the home, but in the near future I will have to find an actual paying job.

My turnaround time is usually two to three days, or sooner depending on when the author needs to post. I edit for the GA authors first and luckily the author on the other site doesn't mind waiting sometimes a week or more for my edits.

Right now I can't take on any new authors. Sorry.

I have beta'd for one author on here that I edit for and I couldn't just read the story w/o editing it, so, yeah. When I edit I like to think that I automatically beta also, if that makes sense. =)

[LJH]

 

I work from home, winter months are slower for projects, so my turn around time is roughly 48 hours, come summer I expect that to go up a bit, but never more than four days.

 

Thank you Layla. We are in need of beta readers. Much appreciated

 

 

I am able to beta for short projects or completed projects.

 

Thank you comicfan.  I know you have a busy schedule. Thanks for stepping up as always

 

 

I am able to assist with new requests, I currently edit for five GA writers and also a well known author on his e-books.   

 

Thank you Zandra.  Your help is appreciated.

 

 

Definitely a beta, not an editor

 

A beta and a fabulous writer too.  You make us feel it's all worthwhile.  Thank you Lady Friday. 

 

 

Right now I can't take on any new authors. Sorry.

I have beta'd for one author on here that I edit for and I couldn't just read the story w/o editing it, so, yeah. When I edit I like to think that I automatically beta also, if that makes sense. =)

 

Lisa, thank you for all the reviews and the comments you leave for our writers.  You rock.  I know you are very busy and our writers look forward to a Lisa review or a Lisa comment.  You rock.

 

Editors and beta's don't ask for much.  Acknowledgement by the author is enough.  But, there is one thing that all editors share, it's that airy, cushion like feeling when they know they have served a writer to the best of his/her ability.  It's a sense of achievement.  Nothing better than that.  When editors see how well their author is doing, or that the story they worked on together has been well received by readers, they smile.  I know I do.   

[Andy78]

I am willing to assist writers.

 

I am an active editor.  Currently I edit for two authors on site (one of whom is working on three simultaneous stories and is churning out chapters probably faster than I can keep up), and am editing several academic papers for submission to the New England Journal of Medicine and two PhD theses.
 

I am currently available to edit for new requests, but with everything going on (both on and off site) I am really only prepared to take on one off short stories (anthology type things or flash stories).  I am prepared to edit for something more long term provided the author does not mind a slower than usual turn around (5-7 days).

[sat8997]

I am a semi-retired active editor.

 

I have a long list of authors that know I am available should they need assistance.

 

I have absolutely no intention of ever being available for new requests.

[Mark Arbour]

I am a semi-retired active editor.

 

I have a long list of authors that know I am available should they need assistance.

 

I have absolutely no intention of ever being available for new requests.

 

You make it sound as if you're already busy or something. 

[methodwriter85]

I am willing to assist writers

 

I am an active beta reader for Mark Arbur and would like to be considered an active editer

 

I have edited in the past with JWolf

 

I'm open to editing and requests; my turn around is likely about 4 days to a week, no longer. (I could go go as fast as two days, but I want to have some space.)

 

Email is the best way to reach me

 

I'm not interested in scifi stories or anime type stuff...my preference is working with college-aged characters in normal settings

[LJH]

I am currently available to edit for new requests, but with everything going on (both on and off site) I am really only prepared to take on one off short stories (anthology type things or flash stories).  I am prepared to edit for something more long term provided the author does not mind a slower than usual turn around (5-7 days).

 

Thank you Andy.  Your help is always appreciated.  I know how busy you are.

 

 

I have a long list of authors that know I am available should they need assistance.

 

I have absolutely no intention of ever being available for new requests.

 

Just a word of thanks for helping out the writers on your list.  Writers need editors, (granted there are some who don't need us), and the work we do for them is almost never taken for granted.  Hugs

 

 

I am willing to assist writers

 

I'm not interested in scifi stories or anime type stuff...my preference is working with college-aged characters in normal settings

 

I always read your blog posts and I just wanna say thanks for helping out on GA.  Appreciated.

[Kitt]

I don't think I would call myself an editor really, but I do my best to be helpful to writers. To be honest I sort of fell into editing for one author and it grew from there. I took the title on so that I could post my prompt responses without calling myself an author, something I am even further from than being a true editor.

 

I would like to be considered active, although I am not sure exactly what that means in the case of those editors not wishing to take on more authors.

 

I currently work with 5 different authors, and would prefer not to take on any long term project for new ones. I am sure I could handle a short here and there if needed however.

 

My current turn around is usually three to four days. It varies at times, depending on if several of my authors decide to send me chapters on the same day. Frequently I can have things back to the author in less than that time frame, and if it looks like it might be longer I will let the author know right away.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Kitt

[Mann Ramblings]

I can help out here and there. With my current commitments, I ask to keep the volume minimal (1 or 2 at any given time) and mostly for short-term projects (short stories and anthologies) with the exception of writers I've already established work with.

 

I can beta well and will politely pick apart your story, pointing out the good as well as the stuff that needs help. I make lots of comments unless the work is faultless to start with.

 

I'm a decent editor. (I seem to do a better job or other's work than my own. I don't get that either.)

 

I check the site often, so PM is a good way to contact me. I will reserve the right to politely decline if my workload is too great or the project isn't a good fit for the two of us.

[LJH]

I don't think I would call myself an editor really, but I do my best to be helpful to writers. To be honest I sort of fell into editing for one author and it grew from there. I took the title on so that I could post my prompt responses without calling myself an author, something I am even further from than being a true editor.

 

I would like to be considered active, although I am not sure exactly what that means in the case of those editors not wishing to take on more authors.

 

I currently work with 5 different authors, and would prefer not to take on any long term project for new ones. I am sure I could handle a short here and there if needed however.

 

My current turn around is usually three to four days. It varies at times, depending on if several of my authors decide to send me chapters on the same day. Frequently I can have things back to the author in less than that time frame, and if it looks like it might be longer I will let the author know right away.

 

Kitt, thank you so much.  We are all learning, every day.  I feel that both writing and editing is a craft, and sometimes we create beautiful works of art, other times we fail miserably, but having said that, at least we try and that's important.  You do a sterling job for the team and you are valued in my eyes.  Editors who do not wish to take on more authors have different reasons.  Sometimes life happens.  Sometimes they have too much on their plate.  Others wish to work with their existing authors.  Whatever the reason, they remain editors and hopefully, in the future, they will be able to assist others.  So they remain active, that is, unless they haven't used the site for two or three years, in which case they are inactive but remain editors. 

 

Hugs

 

 

I can help out here and there. With my current commitments, I ask to keep the volume minimal (1 or 2 at any given time) and mostly for short-term projects (short stories and anthologies) with the exception of writers I've already established work with.

 

I can beta well and will politely pick apart your story, pointing out the good as well as the stuff that needs help. I make lots of comments unless the work is faultless to start with.

 

I'm a decent editor. (I seem to do a better job or other's work than my own. I don't get that either.)

 

I check the site often, so PM is a good way to contact me. I will reserve the right to politely decline if my workload is too great or the project isn't a good fit for the two of us.

 

Thank you Mann for stepping up.  You rock.  Your writing is great and I know you help other writers.  That's what team work is all about.  Your input is so valuable.  Thanks once again. 

[Aditus]

I will assist writers.

I am an editor but for the wrong language, so that doesn't help.

I currently beta for two GA authors and the occassional short. Due to my crazy work schedule (sometimes I work seven days in a row and then have some days off) I can't take on more long projects at the moment and my turn around is somewhat unpredictable.

I have great editors and beta and I want to give something back, so I'd be glad to help.

[LJH]

I will assist writers.

I am an editor but for the wrong language, so that doesn't help.

I currently beta for two GA authors and the occassional short. Due to my crazy work schedule (sometimes I work seven days in a row and then have some days off) I can't take on more long projects at the moment and my turn around is somewhat unpredictable.

I have great editors and beta and I want to give something back, so I'd be glad to help.

 Woop woop.  Thank you for the step up, Aditus.  We are in need of beta readers.  Hugs

[rustle]

My name is rustle, and it's been 35 days since my last drink.

 

 

 

Oh, sorry, wrong group.

 

I beta/edit.

 

I'm active.

 

Turn time is variable. Tell me what you need, and I'll let you know if I can help.

 

I just adopted my second author, am actively working with 2 more, and will do spot work.

[rec]

I can do a one-off beta read in the next week or so.

[Thorn Wilde]

I am willing to assist writers.

I edit with a touch of beta, but am very bad at betaing without editing.

I would like to be considered active, though at the moment I'm having a hard time being as active as I'd like. As such, at present I'm probably more suited to one-offs than longer commitments.

When I am well, my turn-around time varies from a couple of days to about a week. When I am not well, I may take longer, though I do usually respond to prodding.

I am brutally honest with a touch of diplomacy.

I enjoy reading, watching television and long walks on the beach, and do happily take bribes.

Edited February 23, 2014 by Thorn Wilde

[knotme]

I am new to editing, with only one editing project and a couple of betas. I want to work with my guinea pig current author a little more and brush up on the rules before taking on more authors. For instance, only today I learned that an ellipsis should be constructed with spaces between the dots: . . . . That knowledge came too late to help one beta client. (I toss in some editing while beta-ing if asked.)

 

PS. Is there a way to insert nonbreaking spaces on the GA site? Otherwise an ellipsis constructed as above could suffer a fatal accident!  Hmm… maybe consecutive dots without spaces is better after all. 

 

PPS. I just read that an ellipsis (always?) indicates missing words to be inferred from context, but our dialog primer says that an ellipsis within a quote indicates a delay, somewhat interchangeably with an m-dash. Sigh. I've work ahead of me. 

 

I generally need 48 hours to do much of anything, because I want two passes separated by sleep.

[LJH]

Lol. You are funny indeed. I never put spaces between my ellipses. I never place commas or fullstops after an ellipses. I'm funny that way too. I just hate ellipses.

[Adam Phillips]

This post may sound unkind, but I'd strongly suggest the following to writers looking for an editor (by the way, I'll try to distribute my gendered pronouns evenly):

 

BEFORE you choose an editor from the pool of volunteers, do the following:

• Look at his own writing, either his emails or his contrubutions to the Forums (although, to be fair, many of us write quickly at the Forums; you can't fully judge writers or editors on the strength of their writing in the Forums, but at least you can start to form an opinion).
• Look at the work she's edited.
• Then have a conversation with him, either written or over the phone. Find out how well he grasps the essential things that editors absolutely must know. Find out if he knows the difference between an independent clause and a subordinate clause and if he understands the practices that govern punctuation of sentences containing them. Find out if he knows the difference between simple past and past perfect tenses and if he knows when past perfect needs to be used (mistakes regarding past perfect abound in writing, and it makes narrative flat and void of nuance...as well as just feeling "wrong"). I'm not saying to ask those specific questions directly...but try to find out what he knows about solid mechanics. I'm sorry; there are "editors" at work here who clearly slept through every English class they ever took. 

It shouldn't be the case that there are people doing editing work here and elsewhere who don't have any business editing, but it is, and you can tell it when you see it.

 

As my bullet points suggest, I think that as an absolute, non-negotiable baseline, an editor needs to have a solid a grasp of good mechanics. And I'm not talking some vague "intuitive" sense of how to write a good sentence. I'm talking about a solid theoretical orientation in the rudimentary elements of the language. Does she know English grammar? She needs to. She needs to understand the principles of good sentence-construction. She needs to understand that language has tense, voice, and mood, and she needs to know those tenses, voices, and moods in the English language. All of them. And she needs to know when they apply. She needs to know where a comma goes and doesn't, and she needs to know why. She needs to understand that punctuation can be used for clarity but also for pacing and cadence. She needs to know that sometimes those two uses do battle with each other and that often one of those uses needs to prevail over the other in governing the punctuation in a given sentence. A good editor has a feel for that and a lot of knowledge about how to write a good sentence. The interplay between that "feel" and that knowledge will enable an editor to assess whether or not an author's mechanics allow him to be "elastic" with the rules. But if the editor's clueless about the rules in the first place, she's obviously useless in that area.

 

An editor who has no sense of these things can't..well, I'm sorry; she can't edit. I don't know what she thinks she's doing when she offers her services, but it's not editing. I have a suspicion that all she's doing is giving her uneducated opinion. Telling you what "feels" right to her. I've seen more than one editor whose own syntax, punctuation, and improper use of vocabulary ought to make potential writers run screaming in the opposite direction.

 

Beyond mechanics--but only after she's established her expertise with mechanics--a good editor should have a demonstrated sense of what makes for good narrative writing. But a good editor can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, and in any case, the story is the author's own, so I like an editor to have a light touch as regards story. If the writer has the right stuff, editors, he doesn't need your ass in his business too much. If he doesn't, there's nothing you're going to do to fix it. That's not to say the author can't learn a great deal from a qualified editor with experience; I sure as heck did. But if your editor isn't qualified, it's a waste of everybody's time.

 

It would be great if your potential editor were a writer himself and had an admirable portfolio to prove it. Or if he were making a living professionally as an editor or had edited published work like Andy78 above. It's actually not hard to find those people if you're a decent writer yourself. Great editors like working with writers who show promise. So in addition to what I've suggested above, I'd say this to writers: Don't rush to find one until you find someone who knows his stuff. If your story is good, often your editor will come to you. When I was working on Crosscurrents, I was approached by an editor who edited books and screenplays professionally by the time I'd written my third chapter. If you have a know-nothing editor who isn't doing anything but giving you uninformed opinions and getting his ego stroked by being an editor, you're better off editing yourself, because his opinions have no knowledge or professional experience behind them. And you know what they say about opinions. So don't rush: It gets really uncomfortable to engage someone as an editor and then to have to "fire" them. Best get them to demonstrate their bona fides ahead of time. I continue to get offers to edit from appreciative readers, many of whom have impressive professional credentials in writing and editing. So I know they're out there. You can afford to be selective; don't pick someone whose only qualification is a desire to edit. Anybody can hang out a shingle saying he's an editor, but that doesn't mean he can do the job.

 

I'm sorry if I've stepped on any toes, but I'm not sorry for believing what I believe about all this.

Edited March 7, 2014 by Adam Phillips

[LJH]

Thanks Adam. Your insightful points make a lot of sense. No toes hurt. I belong to the Professional Editor's Group of South Africa so I understand where you are coming from. I would like to offer one thought here, writers should remember that the editors on GA offer their services free of charge. This in itself is a step up. I'm not knocking your post at all, as I said, this is just something the writer must keep in mind. By the same token, I cannot condone wannabe editors who hash things up, hence the reason I have included a questionnaire for all future editors.

Edited March 7, 2014 by LJH

[Kitt]

Seems to me that the contents of the last two posts say basically one thing - that only PROFESSIONAL editors should be engaged, and the rest of us should stay out of the creative process.  

 

What both of you gentlemen need to keep in mind before casting aspersions on potential editors is that NO ONE was born knowing the craft, EVERYONE should be learning and furthering their craft every day, and insulting people who try their best to be helpful benefits no one, most especially the pool of willing help who volunteer their time and efforts.