January 15th - 16th (DAW)
I got to work with manuscripts. Yes, manuscriptS. As in more than one. Two of them. Specifically one partial manuscript and one full, but they were from two different authors and my mind is still blown that I get to look at ANY!
I walked in and right there on the accountant's desk midst his Game of Thrones cartoon paraphernalia and editorial pen buckets was a note for me to take a look at this partial manuscript.
Manuscripts are raw books; unpolished stories and worlds and people that are inked onto sheets of tree pulp, and if you don't think that's cool then you're wrong. Because it's amazing. Few people get to experience raw books because it's possibly the closest you'll get to a writer's soul. And an editor's job is to tell the author how to make his or her soul-fragment more aesthetic for public consumption.
My reading task was only paused twice. Once, it was because several boxes of books had come in, some to ship out, but most to replenish the office shelves. The shelves must have at least two copies of every new book, plus about five or so extra copies on the opposite shelf. Therefore, finding space for all of them can be...interesting. My supervisor told me that she didn't think that all the books would fit. Luckily all my packing going to and from college has made me sort of a pro at Stuff-Tetris. So I would MAKE them fit.
BAM. Fit that last book on the shelf. BAM. Slapped the last mailing label on the box right as the mail guy came to take it away. I am awesome. You can laugh, but it's like being a Mundane Superhero equipped with onomatopoeia bubbles for terms like BAM. Like making a yellow light before it turns red. There's joy found in small triumphs over evil. Evil like spacial intelligence and traffic regulations that do not always allow you the right of way.
The second time the reading task was delayed was when a new manuscript arrived, one that was time sensitive because it was being bid on by another publishing house.
It's over 700 pages, and I got to read an agent's query on the email too, which was cool. Also, I can't seem to put it down. It's well written (with the exception of a few lines, but nobody's perfect or the editor would be obsolete), well paced, and really clever world building that reminded me of Brandon Sanderson's books. And I got to check it out first! The real editors will look at it too, of course, but I still think it's amazing that I get to do this for school credit. And it's a real job. With money. And health benefits. I also have a special place in my heart for my red pen.
I did finish the partial manuscript and handed it and some notes off to the real editor, but of the two the other story was my favorite. That in mind, DAW ended up rejecting it.
Why did it get rejected if it's super good?! Well there's something to be said--a lot actually--for the specific taste of an editor. It doesn't fit her style, maybe. Doesn't mean it's bad.
That's the optimism of the writing world; it's why authors send their ink-babies to a bunch of different publishers. One rejection, or two, or three don't mean your book is necessarily bad. Just maybe not what one publisher is looking for.
There's a book called Amish Vampires in Space. You can look it up on Amazon. It's real. And published. By a publishing company. I will admit I've not read it, but the point is that title alone there would be publishers who think "there is NO CHANCE that's gonna be good enough to sell," but somebody else liked it, so it doesn't matter.
So no, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are not our only hope. We just have to do a little research (eerily similar to college or job hunting) on our own to see where our stories will fit best.
I got to work with manuscripts. Yes, manuscriptS. As in more than one. Two of them. Specifically one partial manuscript and one full, but they were from two different authors and my mind is still blown that I get to look at ANY!
I walked in and right there on the accountant's desk midst his Game of Thrones cartoon paraphernalia and editorial pen buckets was a note for me to take a look at this partial manuscript.
Manuscripts are raw books; unpolished stories and worlds and people that are inked onto sheets of tree pulp, and if you don't think that's cool then you're wrong. Because it's amazing. Few people get to experience raw books because it's possibly the closest you'll get to a writer's soul. And an editor's job is to tell the author how to make his or her soul-fragment more aesthetic for public consumption.
My reading task was only paused twice. Once, it was because several boxes of books had come in, some to ship out, but most to replenish the office shelves. The shelves must have at least two copies of every new book, plus about five or so extra copies on the opposite shelf. Therefore, finding space for all of them can be...interesting. My supervisor told me that she didn't think that all the books would fit. Luckily all my packing going to and from college has made me sort of a pro at Stuff-Tetris. So I would MAKE them fit.
BAM. Fit that last book on the shelf. BAM. Slapped the last mailing label on the box right as the mail guy came to take it away. I am awesome. You can laugh, but it's like being a Mundane Superhero equipped with onomatopoeia bubbles for terms like BAM. Like making a yellow light before it turns red. There's joy found in small triumphs over evil. Evil like spacial intelligence and traffic regulations that do not always allow you the right of way.
The second time the reading task was delayed was when a new manuscript arrived, one that was time sensitive because it was being bid on by another publishing house.
It's over 700 pages, and I got to read an agent's query on the email too, which was cool. Also, I can't seem to put it down. It's well written (with the exception of a few lines, but nobody's perfect or the editor would be obsolete), well paced, and really clever world building that reminded me of Brandon Sanderson's books. And I got to check it out first! The real editors will look at it too, of course, but I still think it's amazing that I get to do this for school credit. And it's a real job. With money. And health benefits. I also have a special place in my heart for my red pen.
I did finish the partial manuscript and handed it and some notes off to the real editor, but of the two the other story was my favorite. That in mind, DAW ended up rejecting it.
Why did it get rejected if it's super good?! Well there's something to be said--a lot actually--for the specific taste of an editor. It doesn't fit her style, maybe. Doesn't mean it's bad.
That's the optimism of the writing world; it's why authors send their ink-babies to a bunch of different publishers. One rejection, or two, or three don't mean your book is necessarily bad. Just maybe not what one publisher is looking for.
There's a book called Amish Vampires in Space. You can look it up on Amazon. It's real. And published. By a publishing company. I will admit I've not read it, but the point is that title alone there would be publishers who think "there is NO CHANCE that's gonna be good enough to sell," but somebody else liked it, so it doesn't matter.
So no, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are not our only hope. We just have to do a little research (eerily similar to college or job hunting) on our own to see where our stories will fit best.
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