Behind the Scenes with Editor Penny Ehrenkranz

Penny Ehrenkranz is a line editor for MuseItUp and a dear lady.  I thought for the book tour, it'd be fun to ask her about her experiences editing and especially about editing Live and Let Fly.  She's also an author in her own right, so check out her books!

1.  What is your job at MuseItUp?  What kind of editing do you do?

I am a line editor at MuseItUp.  As such, it’s my job to look for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.  I also try to help the authors weed out extra words like “that” which tend to creep into everyone’s manuscripts.  I will also keep a lookout for inconsistencies that might have slipped by the content error.  I will also offer a second opinion if the author and content editor might not agree on how something should be written.

2.  What do you like about it?

There are a couple of things I like about my job.  First, I am an avid reader.  What could be better than a job where I get paid to read all day long?  It’s an almost perfect job.  Second, I have always enjoyed the English language and all its nuances.  Even when I’m reading a book for pleasure, I’ll notice errors that an editor didn’t catch, even from some of the big houses.  It happens, but it also proves to me that line editing comes natural to me.  

3.  You were already a fan of Vern and Sister Grace.  How did that help or hinder you in your editing?

I am indeed a fan of Vern and Sister Grace.  I think it probably helped my editing, knowing the characters. I could better tell if something fit or seemed out of character.  It always helps in editing if the editor enjoys the story she is working on.  Vern and Grace are such delightful characters; I look forward to both reading and working on the stories to tighten them up for publication.

4.  What was the best part of editing Live and Let Fly?

I enjoy working on books where the author has a sense of humor.  That’s not to say I don’t like reading dark and mysterious books, but it’s a nice change.  Live and Let Fly didn’t disappoint me.  Karina’s writing style always gives me a chuckle as I’m reading.  Vern just cracks me up sometimes with what comes out of his mouth.

5.  What was the most challenging part?

That’s hard to answer.  Karina is cooperative and open to suggestions.  By the time it got to me, the manuscript was in pretty darn good shape. Chris, as content editor, might have had more of a challenge than I did.

6.  Tell us a little about your own works.

I have three very different romance stories publis

hed this past year by MuseItUp: Love Delivery, a contemporary romance, Lady in Waiting, an historical romance, and Mirror, Mirror, a time-travel romance.  Sam’s Dot Publishing released a collection of my short stories in January of 2011, A Past and A Future.  My children’s books are all under contract with 4RV Publishing and will be released the end of this year and through 2015: Ghost for Rent and Ghost for Lunch are middle grade paranormal mysteries, and Boo’s Bad Day and Many Colored Coats are both picture books.  Here are links:

Love Delivery

http://tinyurl.com/4ajo9wz

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GPRQEC

Lady in Waiting

http://tinyurl.com/6u4keh5

http://tinyurl.com/82rjtj8

Mirror, Mirror

http://t.co/quFSgqOv

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006R0A3KY

A Past and A Future

http://sdpbookstore.com/anthologies.htm

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62608

Ghost for Rent, coming 2012-2013

Ghost for Lunch, coming September, 2013

Many Colored Coats, coming October, 2014

Boo's Bad Day, coming June, 2015

http://4rvpublishingcatalog.yolasite.com/

my Novel's Journey: Mind Over Mind Edits

Three's a charm?

Got the third round of MIND OVER MIND edits, and still had a couple of issues to work out. One was making tomato soup. Gabrielle wanted the tomatoes mentioned at the beginning, and I wouldn't do it because you put the tomatoes in last. What I finally understood this edit was that she didn't need them in the pot, necessarily, just mentioned--stick the can of tomato sauce on the counter or something. It's the same idea as putting that gun in scene 2 if you fire it in scene 6. I'm facepalming.

The other issue was one where I was too subtle in showing something. I think a couple of phrases fixed it.

The last thing was a rewrite, changing another flashback into a present-time event. It was one she'd asked me to do before, but I had two flashbacks in one spot (I think. It's fuzzy now.) and missed the second one. So I rewrote it, which was fun, because I got a little more of Josh's reactions in. Josh really is a fun character.

So, now that's off, and I spent the rest of last week and this finding homes for all the stories I'd had languishing in my files. I also went back over Coyote Fires and need to find a home for it. It's been a difficult time at home, so I've not had much heart for DISCOVERY; however, that isn't stopping me from my other writing.

Know what I need for DISCOVERY? An editor like Gabrielle. Maybe I should start asking myself WWGD?

Thoughts on Form Rejection Letters

I was in a conversation online recently about form rejection letters. The other person was asserting that she put a lot of time and effort into her story, and all she gets is a ready-made form that may not even address her by name.

I agree, that's irritating. However, think about it from the POV of the editors. You are sending out one story you worked on maybe a week or a month. They have to read, evaluate and accept/reject hundreds every month, every week or every day. Plus, they have regular writers to work with, layouts to determine, advertising to coordinate, readers to communicate with... If they didn't use a form letter for those that didn't make the cut--whether because the writing is awful or because they just did a similar article or because it simply doesn't meet their needs--they would never have time to put the magazine together.

Plus, there's another reason some go to form letters--one I've dealt with: the author who argues back. When I put together ISIG I, I wrote personal rejections to every writer. I was not harsh, but I did give them the reason--and not "this was just not well written" but something constructive. I got back argumentative e-mails about how I didn't "understand" their story or arguing the points of their rejection. Imagine getting 10, 20, 100 of those every month. (As for me, I now send a pretty generic letter except in the case where the story is good but doesn't fit our needs, in which case, I can usually recommend a different magazine to submit it to, but I only have to worry about 40 or so submissions over a year.)

Finally, imagine you are applying for a job with 200 applicants and you don't get it. Do you expect the supervisor to write you an encouraging note, critique your interview, and make recommendations? Would you consider them rude if the HR person called and said, "You didn't make it"? For that matter, how often do you simply not hear from the employer if you didn't make it?

We write for the love, yes, but publishing is a business--one where the supply line (stories and authors) is glutted. If editors don't ask us personally to submit, they don't owe us a personal reply.