What authors mean when they talk about being orphaned

It occurs to me that the minor stress of the past couple of weeks--well, all of 2022, if I consider Margot Mallinson--is clear to all the authors I know, but possibly less clear to people who aren't, and as I've been perhaps not as present as I would otherwise be, I thought I'd explain. Anything that's unclear, I'm happy to expand on if people ask questions.

This is entirely about being published by a publisher--it has nothing to do with self-publishing. Since the West novels will be self-published, it's not as relevant to the West books, but I am talking about it here because it affects me, and that in turn affects my writing.

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An editor, for writers, is the bridge between publisher and being published. When you submit a manuscript--either through the slush or agented--it goes to an editor within the house. The editor then reads the submission, and responds to it.

If the editor doesn't think they will be allowed to make an offer to publish the book, they reject it; if they feel they can drum up enough support in-house to get a manuscript past the editorial board, they begin that work in-house. An editorial board is comprised of other editors, marketing people, possibly someone from sales, and they have to be brought on board. It's the editor that does that in-house work, which is largely invisible to people outside of the publisher.

Because they must do this work--and editors are also told no, just as authors are--they are invested in the outcome on a professional and personal level. In house, this is their book. They do this for every author who becomes part of their stable, and they fret about sales and orders and etc., almost as much as the author does. An editor will have many authors in their stable; an author will have one editor.

I have clearly passed the editorial board stage, and I am published with the company.

Losing my acquiring editor several years ago was a blow. This is what authors generally refer to as being orphaned. My first editor read the proposals, made offers on the proposals, and read all the books. They had been acquired by her. Any editor who replaced her within the company would not have the same investment in the books, and at Mira, there are very few fantasy novels being published, although there are certainly more now than there were when I lost my editor.

Here's the thing, though. You can submit a book to every editor at the publisher, and all but one might say "pass". Finding an editor who loves your book enough to shepherd it through all of the stages of publishing is not a guarantee. It's not about the book itself - it's about the combination of book, editor and publisher. Once you've been published and the publisher has some sense of your monetary worth to the company, that will change. No one in their right mind would refuse to publish Brandon Sanderson, for example (although affording him is an entirely different issue, beyond the remit of this post).

My second editor therefore didn't have the same interest in the books that my first editor had. She did have an interest in me as a Mira author, and she did catch up and read and edit the books that came to her. We figured out how to work together, and continued in that vein--but the truth is: these are not books she would have acquired had they been offered to her by my agent; what she loves in fantasy (and she does love it) is not exactly what I write. No, she never ever said this. Yes, it is true.

This is not on her. Editors aren't widgets; they're not fungible. They bring their own reading sensibility to the work they do - because if they didn't or couldn't, why would they do a job that is so high stress for so little pay relative to the rest of the industry? (One of my early Del Rey editors quit editing and publishing entirely, and - in the 90s - moved to a job that required far less work for 3.5 times the yearly salary. She felt that continuing in the entry level position she was in would actually kill her love of books and reading.) I digress.

After a couple of years, Lauren left for a different division in the company (YA being her first love, she was happy).

Which lead to the second editor in-house. At this point, the publisher decided to hire -- freelance -- my first editor to do the substantive edit of the CAST novels. She had read all the books she hadn't edited (three), and obviously had read all the books she had edited. That was great.

...but editing the actual book is not the only thing an editor does. An editor is responsible for seeing that the book is scheduled. An editor is responsible for assuring that new contracts are offered, that the book has a deadline, that the deadlines are met; the editor sends the book to copy-editors, to proof-readers; an editor deals with the Art Director, sees to back cover copy, talks to the marketing people. Most of publishing is not, in fact, about editing the manuscript. Most of the editors I know do the editing work at home, not in the office.

So I now had editor and in-house editor.

Margot was my in-house editor, and during her tenure things ran smoothly, until Covid happened, when ... everything became far more difficult for anyone who had to work at home with young children. That's a digression. Margot was the in-house editor for Cast novels (Wisdom, Oblivion and Conflict) and the two Severn novels. I liked her; I found her easy to work with. I tend to be pretty blunt - not rude mostly, but blunt. She understood how I worked, she listened when I did have concerns, she made clear what her limitations were.

Margot then quit; her last day was at the start of February. Emily became my in-house editor.

I had met her a couple of times prior to this, and I adore her - but she does not read fantasy at all. As we had Matrice for editing, I thought this was fine; Emily has been around for long enough she knows how all the bits and pieces function. It was Emily who extended a terrible deadline. I thought, if I could keep Emily as in-house editor, I would be happy. Emily did take new contract requests to the editorial board; she and the head of Mira got things moving so there would be no break in the writing of the books.

I started to breathe again.

... and then Emily quit T_T. Friday was her last day.

The loss of Margot was rough. I felt that I had more or less landed on my feet with Emily - I knew Emily was interim editor while they looked at resumes and candidates to replace Margot. But I found out she was leaving during contract negotiations (I do not speak with my editors while my agent has the floor; it's the only time this is true).

And as of this week, I now have a name for the new editor; we've exchanged brief email. I hope to meet her in person - she's Torontonian - sometime before the end of the month so we can touch base and get a feel for each other.

During this time, part of my brain has been constantly and consistently distracted with existential dread, and it's been hard to distract it, sadly. The one happy thing I was sort of doing went sideways, melted down, and became yet another disappointment yesterday.

However, I am going to meet new editor on the 23rd, so I am hopeful that my brain will finally calm down T_T. I would seriously like a bit of stability right about now.

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This post is mirrored from https://michellewest.ca/

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This post is https://michellewest.ca/2022/04/17/what-authors-mean-when-they-talk-about-being-orphaned/; you should be able to hit Login with Patreon, and should be able to read posts there at the same levels you can read them here.

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