Know When to Stand Firm

Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant

Location: A Wine Country condo, Mt. Hermon Writers Conference Career Track Planning Retreat

To recap, so far this week we’ve talked about three ways to respond when an editor takes the proverbial red pen to your manuscript and the blood-letting begins.

If you’re not sure how to respond to the changes, I’ve suggested you:

1) Know your rights

2) Know when to trust your editor

3) Know when to relinquish your opinion.

Today, we add my fourth and final suggested response:

4) Know when to stand firm.

Several years ago I edited a Patsy Clairmont book. Patsy had written in one chapter, which I believe was entitled “Crafty Idea,” about how we collect all the makings of a craft project, but our best intentions often end up unfulfilled. I liked the idea (and still have my incomplete crocheted afghan to prove my empathy for the chapter’s theme), but I just didn’t think the writing had the same zing as Patsy’s other offerings.

Now, I had been editing Patsy’s work for some time, and she and I never had had a major disagreement, but we did on this chapter. Patsy thought it was a perfectly acceptable piece.

So she asked a number of women who were potential buyers of the book their opinions. Without exception they found it funny and with a nice spiritual takeaway.

Harumph! A bit miffed, I could have taken refuge in this reality: The editor always has the final say. If I want something changed, the author is unlikely to make me accept her opinion.

But I realized that Patsy had agreed to every editing change I had ever suggested to her. If she felt strongly enough to gather others’ feedback, the least I could do was leave the chapter in the book.

To this day (we’re talking decades later), Patsy every once in awhile reminds me that she received lots of positive comments on that story when the book released. And she grins when she says it. Thank you, Patsy.

Okay, so I was wrong. It can happen even to the best editors.

I was swayed by Patsy’s firm stand and by the feedback she had solicited, but mostly by the strong relationship of trust we had developed. If you want to convince your editor to relent:

–Present your reasons without emotion (“I just feel it’s right” won’t work).

–Solicit feedback from potential readers. I’m not talking about your friends and family here. Instead, ask your critique group or your agent or take an informal survey in a mall from those who are in the appropriate age group.

–Choose your battles. You can’t ask the editor to rethink 75% of the edited she’s done. Decide which edits are so important to you that you want to resist them.

–Recognize that you want a long-term relationship with the publishing house and with the editor. Be a team player, and the editor is likely to respond in kind.