The Book Deal Diaries #6
The agony of the structural edit, and the wonder of the outcome
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the first phase of the structural edit for my book, Breaking Waves, which is due out in March 2025.
I received the initial feedback from my commissioning editor at Icon Books about a month ago, and had a fortnight to revise and return the manuscript (which is quite a standard timescale). This is how it looked with his comments, and my initial responses.
Barely a page untouched.
What I noted right away was the depth of attention that had been paid to my words, the expertise and scrutiny that had been applied, and my overriding feeling was one of gratitude for someone investing that time in me, and paying me for it (in that I have a publishing contract) instead of me paying them! It didn’t look pretty, and there were a lot of changes to be made, so first I read through every comment then closed down the email and let the feedback settle for a few days.
I highly recommend doing this. Sit with the emotion of the editor’s comments, let it wash through you until it doesn’t impact your response. Allow time to be able to process it objectively and understand that you both ultimately have the same aim - to get your work as widely read as possible. It is not a criticism of the writing, it is advice from your harshest and most objective reader in how to make your book the best that it can be.
I shared in notes how on my first rough cut, I had to remove eight thousand words. Now I have finished my edit, I have killed nearly ten thousand words. TEN THOUSAND. That’s a whole lot of ‘darlings’ under the knife. It initially felt not so much like a murder scene, but one of mass slaughter, leaving behind tattered shreds of orphaned pages that didn’t quite know who to attach to…but I was not left to repair the manuscript alone, far from it.
My editor is my guiding hand, and I am a novice in this business. I have never been taught to write, or studied any courses in writing. I have never worked in journalism, editing, copy or anything to do with the written word. My career of 20 years was one of number and symbols (air traffic control). The last time I wrote an essay before I did my Masters aged 45 was in my English GCSE aged 16. I know I have a way with words, but I haven’t been taught how to structure a book, how to hone a voice, how to capture an audience. I don’t ‘know’ how to best use dialogue, build characters, develop plots and themes, I just write from within, in a way that makes sense to me, and I have so much to learn. As such, I absolutely welcome and feel so thankful for the input of an editor - to receive the insight of an expert, and someone who doesn’t ‘know’ me or have to be nice to me (although my editor is really nice!!), but someone whose job is to help me cut it, reshape it, paste it back together and package it into something truly special. What a gift.
Editing is not an easy process, but at the end of it, I received this from my editor: ‘I really believe this will be a great book’, and when I asked him if he could think of a comparable title in the market [I had pitched it to my agent as ‘Eat Pray Love meets Wintering (always aim high!!!)], without a breath he said: ‘The Salt Path’.
I’ll take that.
In this article below the paywall I will share:
how the editing process works
why it sometimes felt so hard - the reasons may not be what you expect
what I learned, including some golden ‘rules’ in keeping a reader engaged
how it ended up and what happens next…
I hope this is helpful, and any comments or questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Future posts in the Book Deal Diaries series will talk about topics such as social responsibility as a memoir/life writer, the other parts of the editing process - copy and proofing, cover design, the process of your book being translated to an audio book (this was particularly revealing to me!), getting proof copies out to journalists and reviewers, the power of endorsements, pre-sale, the PR train and so much more.
This content is for my paid community only due to its high value. If you would like to upgrade you will receive full access to all content including these posts from the Book Deal Diaries:
Exclusive excerpts from Breaking Waves (pre-edit!)
My video Masterclass on how I landed a book deal
Along with the entire Lemon Soul archives including essays on:
and many more.
You will also receive my eternal gratitude for supporting my work and enabling a writer to keep putting words out into the world. If you would like access but do not have the financial means just now, please get in touch and I will send you a coupon for 3 months free - no questions asked. 🙏💕