An excellent pairing... by Cathy Ace

In this photo you can see me with my editor, Anna. It was taken back in 2014, it’s the only time we’ve ever met in person, but I’m just about to send her the manuscript of what will be the twelfth book she’ll have edited for me since then. I suspect this might be a bit of an “odd” relationship with an editor…but it is what it is, and it works for us, which I think is fine. 

So, to answer this week's question of  Do you work with a professional editor? Why/why not? What would you look for if you hired a professional editor? the first part of my answer is yes...read on for the rest...

I first met Anna when she was a staff editor employed by Severn House, the publisher of my WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries (Edwin Buckhalter, the owner of Severn House, is between us in the photo). By the time it came to the second book in the series, Anna had moved to become an independent editor, and was having her first child. I think, at that time, that most of the books she edited were still for Severn House, but – being contracted rather than employed – she had more flexibility to be able to balance her professional and family life.

When I decided to start to publish my own work, Anna was the editor I turned to: we already had a good working relationship, and I also knew she was always on-time with her feedback…which means a great deal when you’re planning and scheduling. And that’s why we still work together, I think: I just shot her an email last week to see if she could “fit in” a short-notice structural and full edit, and she told me exactly when she was and wasn’t available over the coming months. Now I have my deadlines, and can work to them, knowing exactly how many days my manuscript will be with her, and when it will get back to me.

Being honest (and I always try to be at least that when I talk to you here) this is one of the most wonderfully liberating aspects of being an Indie publisher of my own work: I get to plan and control the workflow, which allows me to do what I just did.

Of course, I still have to actually write the book…so, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to that now. Yes, yes, I’ll tell you the title blah, blah, blah soon – but if you want to be the FIRST to know all about it, why not sign up for my newsletter? Details are on my website, where you can also find out about my existing work: http://www.cathyace.com/

Wish me luck! This is a rollercoaster of a life, and I’m hoping that this book – the one I’m trying to shoehorn into an already busy year – will be welcomed by readers as much as its predecessors have been (oh…is that a clue???) and will allow the folks who’ve been emailing me about certain characters to finally understand how certain things are going…LOL – that’s all for now, folks!