Really? Did I really write that first post without mentioning how good fiction editors are first and foremost enthusiastic readers?

Indeed I did, but only because I can’t imagine anyone seriously considering a career as a book editor who’s not an avid reader and hasn’t logged more than a few all-nighters with a book they’ve been unable to put down. So let’s assume that as a given.

After exhibiting and presenting at last month’s Tucson Festival of Books, I’m reminded just how lucky I feel about being able to do what we do here at The Editorial Department. With an estimated 100,000 people in attendance over the weekend-long event came a steady stream of people of all ages stopping by our booth, many of whom wanted to know, among other things, how to become a book editor in the first place and what to expect from that career path, should they choose it.

This year I was honored to be on the faculty of The Word Guild's annual Write!Canada writer's conference in Guelph, Ontario--five hours due east of my house. This was my first time attending a writer's conference as a freelance editor instead of an in-house acquisitions editor, and the difference might seem subtle but it is important. Before, my take on your manuscript was important for how I could make all your publishing dreams come true; now, I'm just a guy with an opinion. I agreed to come and meet with writers, but I really didn't expect for too many of the writers there to waste their time with an opinionated powerless guy. But from previous experience, I knew that the Canadian writers who attend the conference are usually fun, quirky folks who kindly chuckled at my international traveler persona, so I looked forward to the experience.

I wasn't disappointed; the conference was great, and I had many good conversations about the Christian book industry, about self-publishing and indie publishing and the difference between them, and about books and writing in general. I had dozens of one-on-one appointments where I met with aspiring writers and discussed their work with them, both on quality of craft and viability in the marketplace.

And I feel like I learned something on behalf of the aspiring writer: freelance editors offer a unique and vital perspective on your work.

Recent unkind words about Dr. Louann Brizendine's "The Male Brain" are truly baffling. She's been taken to task for employing "the best-seller strategy" in high-profile publications like Newsweek and the New York Times' Sunday Book Review. The question this raises strikes me as so obvious that I hesitate to raise it for fear that it's me who's missing something equally obvious. But I've thought it through, and I'm pretty sure it's not me. The question: Who in the world wouldn't employ the best-seller strategy to get her message out there?

If you're in possession of information or knowledge that you believe is important to share with as many people as humanly possible, why wouldn't you go the mass-market route? If you're making a movie with a message that might do the world some good, wouldn't you make it with an eye to getting it into as many theaters as possible? Did the director of "Precious" try his best to maintain a low profile for his movie? If you're a painter, would you not attempt to create a "language" that allows you to communicate with those who see your work?

It's about communication, people. Brizendine has arrived at some conclusions about relations between the sexes that would behoove us all to consider. She's offered men and women the possibility of a greater understanding each other. Should she have deliberately tried to limit the size of her audience despite the importance of the message?

Just a quick post to let folks know that TED Editor Jesse Steele will be  Renee Bobb's guest  on"The Renee Bobb Radio Show",  tomorrow on Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 8:00 pm CST. 

Topics are expected to include the editor's role in the independent publishing process and what the author/editor relationship is really all about.  You can listen live at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/TheReneeBobbShow.

I've left the ancient Blue Ridge mountains surrounding my home in Asheville, North Carolina, for the young ones surrounding Tucson, Arizona, to spend Thanksgiving with Ross and visit with the home office staff. Boy, are they smart and cool and fun to hang out with!

We've been making sexy plans for our thirtieth anniversary celebrations in 2010 and cooking up other big projects too. The one I'm most excited about is DIALOGUE FOR FICTION WRITERS, which Ross at last has time to co-author with me.

By Jesse Steele, Managing Editor

Kate came to us in March of 2008 as a proofreader and copyeditor and, while still being our goto editor for proof and copy work on nonfiction, has proven to be an outstanding resource for people writing business and instructional books, manuals, written materials to accompany video, and academic works.

She also happens to be the mother of our Managing Editor.

With Jesse Steele

If you're a surgeon and planning to write something, Betsy White should be your best friend.  Thankfully for the rest of us who lack a degree from medical school and have fingers better suited for a keyboard than precision surgery, Betsy also works in a wide variety of non-medical genres.  Betsy worked with McGraw Hill, East Carolina University School of Medicine and Recovery Communications (among others), but we're proud to have her as part of the Editorial Department staff.

JS: You've done a lot of work with medical texts. How did that happen? Do you have a background in medicine, or is it something you just came across?

BW: My husband is a physician, and when we got married he began an internship at Stanford University Hospital, and I went along. I took a temp job typing, then applied for an opening as a secretary in the Radiation Therapy department. I may have gotten the job on my Southern accent and youthful looks, although I had a good liberal-arts degree. When we moved to Virginia McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology hired me as a copyeditor, and from there I became a freelance editor for various clients including some university presses.

With Jesse Steele

{addthis off}First of all, Peter Gelfan is not a magician.  You might believe so after reading some of the testimonials written about his editing work, but his abilities to pull a rabbit out of a hat or make the Statue of Liberty disappear are still unproven.  While that might make Peter a poor candidate to entertain at a child's birthday party, at the Editorial Department we are ecstatic to put the nearly two decades he has dedicated to editing, ghostwriting, and generally making good writing great to quality use on our client's manuscripts.

JS: What do you do when you’re not writing or editing?

PG: Not much. (Laughs) Photography. I’ve often thought I’ve learned more about writing from photography than I have from books about how to write. It’s the same idea. You’re taking a picture of a particular thing for a specific reason, not just snapping away. You include the elements around it that support the image and the idea. You frame and selectively focus to eliminate all the things that don’t support the picture or might distract from it.

It's somewhat difficult to write an introduction for someone with the accomplishments of Renni Browne without resorting to cliche.  "She wrote the book on editing":  she certainly did, but that barely scratches the surface of her accomplishments over nearly fifty years of editing.  To call Renni an expert in this era of instant internet expertise seems trite, so you'll have to read her bio yourself and find out for yourself why we're so proud to be part of The Editorial Department, which she founded in 1980.

JS: This is a huge question, but how has the experience of founding and running this company been for you?RDB: I'd have to say exciting and fulfilling. I've never been bored, not for one minute. Every book is different, every author is different, every page is different. When I left mainstream publishing there was such a need for what we do. Books needed editing just as much as ever, but that wasn't happening at anything like the extent when I entered publishing in the 60's. It was so exciting to see the TED idea slowly catch on.