Interview with Jerry Gross
Introduction
A fiction and nonfiction generalist editor for well over forty years, Jerry Gross is the editor of EDITORS ON EDITING: What Writers Need to Know about What Editors Do. In print since 1962, EOE has through three revisions become the standard work on trade book editing, used in publishing, editing and creative writing courses and at writers’ conferences. Jerry has edited books at Dodd, Mead & Co., Warner Books, and New American Library, among other houses. He created the Gothic Romance and Regency Romance as paperback categories, and created the first TV/Paperback tie-ins. When not editing and critiquing, he creates and gives presentations on editing, writing and publishing at writers’conferences and universities.
You are the founder of the Independent Editors Group, informally known as the “BookDocs.” Do most would-be authors come to you for help before or after their manuscript has been rejected—once or many times?
First things first: I’m the co-founder, along with Joyce Engelson, of the Independent Editors Group, which is informally known as “The IEG,” and which
began in 2006. “Book Docs” is the name of the IEG website: http://www.Bookdocs.com, on which each of our fourteen members has his or her own web page.
Regarding whether would-be authors come to us before or after their manuscripts have been rejected, like so much else in life, the answer is “It all depends.”
Many authors come to us to work with them to get their manuscript into the best possible shape before they try to get an agent or to submit to an acquisition editor. Many others come to us after being recommended by agents to contact us because the agent does not yet feel the author is at a professional level at which they can submit the manuscript to an acquisition editor.
Not every author who hires a freelance editor is unpublished. Very often, published authors contact us to work with them on their manuscript to polish it before sending the already-contracted for work to their agent or house editor.
You have posted an article on your site, http://www.bookdocs.com, titled “ER for Writers.” As a “BookDoc,” do you “cure” books? Do you really believe that any book can be “cured”—or, if the book is to be made publishable, does the would-be author need certain qualities? If so, what qualities (aside from talent, of course)?
Depends what you mean by “cure.” Do medical doctors always cure what brought you into his or her office? Not always, certainly, but good doctors do relieve the pain and eradicate symptoms and eventually succeed in making you feel better. Well, good book doctors make the manuscript better, more publishable, and in the course of doing so, improve the possibility of the manuscript being taken on by an agent and/or editor. And, in the author/editor relationship, the author learns more about his art and craft as a writer as a result of working with a freelance editor/book doctor.
To increase the odds of a manuscript being made publishable, the author should respect what the editor brings to the table: diagnostic ability, objectivity, marketing skills, and the unique editorial skill of seeing not only what is on the page but what could and should be on the page to make the manuscript work. Plus the talent to show the author how to get to that level of professionalism. The editor, of course, should always be open to the ideas of the author. Finally, the best author/ editor relationship is symbiotic, not parasitic; collegial, not adversarial.
When I speak at writers’ conferences around the country---which I do often---I do a whole presentation on the editor/author relationship entitled UNDERSTANDING THE EDITORIAL MIND: HOW TO HAVE A HAPPY, CREATIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH AN EDITOR.
What is the most common problem you see in the manuscripts that are submitted to you?
There is no one common problem. Would that there was only one! There are so many that I give a presentation at writers’ conferences called ER FOR WRITERS: AVOIDING THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES WRITERS MAKE. To read about several of the major ones, go to the IEG website: http://www.bookdocs.com , log onto my name, then access the link to my article, which has the same title as my presentation cited above.
But here’s a very small sampler of common mistakes: not knowing how to create a hero or heroine; mistaking general conversation for dialogue; not using flashbacks correctly, giving too much information too soon, not creating forward motion in a story so the reader does not care about what happens next to the characters and in the story.
What is the hardest part of your job as a book doctor/editor?
Getting into the head of the writer so that the ideas you offer to improve the manuscript are in concert with what the author wants to say and in a way that imitates the “voice” of the author. And reminding the writer that the dynamic of the author/editor relationship is that it is one of advise and consent: the editor advises but only the author can consent. And, finally, that it is always the author’s book---never the editor’s.
What advice do you have for people looking to find, choose and work happily with a book doctor?
Do your research! Check references, ask friends who’ve worked with freelance editors for referrals, surf the many freelance editor websites, get samples of the editor’s work, meaning critiques, books edited, line editing,etc.
How can people spot a scam book doctor?
Log onto the http://www.bookdocs.com website, then log onto my name and then access my article that offers ten tips on this very topic. One vital thing you must do is to hang up immediately on any editor who says he or she guarantees that if you work with the editor, an agent will represent you, or an editor will buy you for his or her list. No ethical, reputable professional freelance editor/book doctor will ever make such a promise.
Writing is hard, especially if one is trying to do it for a living. Judging from the number of courses, workshops, etc., that are given, an enormous number of people want, nevertheless, to be writers. Why do you think that is so?
Because writing allows us to most easily express the most intimate aspects of our creativity. Not everyone can paint or play or compose music or dance or be architects, but all of us can write words, and, as it is said, there is a novel or a screenplay or a memoir in each of us waiting to be written. Because of the ease of writing on a computer, we can quickly tell stories and write poems or essays or something that goes on a page that, hopefully might be read and be of interest to strangers somewhere on this planet. Even if you are only a blogger, the ability to write gives you power, not only over yourself, but perhaps even the power to influence others. Writing is seductive, to you and to others.
Thirty years ago, there were about 40,000 new trade book titles published every year. Now there are about 175,000. What are the implications of those statistics for writers?
The immediate implication is that it has become increasingly difficult to get published by a conventional publisher. On the other hand, the other immediate implication is that it has never been easier to get published in unconventional ways: on personal websites, self-publishing, online publishing, blogs, zines,or any combination and permutation including some or all of the above.
Anything else you'd like to add?
You can access my resume by logging onto http://www.bookdocs.com but for now, know that I’ve been an editor for nearly fifty years, beginning as a first reader for the late Henry Simon after graduating from college. I’ve never been a steeplejack, coal miner, Peace Corps volunteer, spy, Indianapolis Speed Racer or….or anything but an editor. It’s all I ever wanted to be, all I ever have been, all I ever will be. I will probably be found dead with my head on a manuscript I did not have a chance to finish editing, clutching a Pilot #5 pen.
I’ve been fortunate to be the Editor of EDITORS ON EDITING: WHAT WRITERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT EDITORS DO, which, for over forty years, has been the standard work on trade book editing in our country.
I edit every kind of fiction, commercial and literary, except romances, westerns, and novels with religious or spiritual themes. For further details, check my resume on my web page. I do every kind of nonfiction except sports, finance and books about cars.
I do in-depth critiques of a manuscript in which I point out what works and, where I see problems, I make specific suggestions on how the problems might be solved.
I create my own lectures and panels on writing, editing and publishing and have presented them at writers’ conferences and on college campuses since 1989 in eighteen states. If you know of a writers’ conference Director who is looking for a speaker for that person’s next writers’ conference, please tell the Director to contact me at my E-Mail address, or tell me how to contact the Director.
More I cannot say here except that if you are considering hiring an expert freelance editor/book doctor, please contact me at I welcome your inquiries. If the project is not right for me, I’ll be happy to recommend another expert editor.
And, oh yes, rates and reference available on request.