April 6, 2006
What do editors want?

Besides a beach house in Maui, a better sex life and a 25-pound weight loss without diet or exercise?

--a neat, clean manuscript in a 12-point font with 1-inch margins on good stock paper

--a manuscript that is the appropriate length for the genre, probably somewhere in the range of 70,000 to 110,000 words, although between 70,000 and 100,000 is better in most cases

--something in a recognizable genre--a romance, a mystery, SF, fantasy, thriller, mainstream, etc.

--although they want something in a recognizable genre, they would also like to sit up and take notice and think, "Gee, this is fresh." That doesn't necessarily mean your romance novel is about flesh-eating werewolves.

--characters they give a damn about

--a professional level of craft; this means few if any typos, grammar errors, passive voice, etc., that the writing is economical, graceful and effective. Contrary to common perception, it is NOT the editor's job to "fix" the writing problems

--professionalism from the writer and his/her's representative

--realistic expectations. Nothing turns off an editor like someone coming in with a first novel and expecting a six-figure advance, movie deals and getting on Oprah. Might happen, but in most cases won't

--something that will make money, even a lot of money, so the editor can keep his or her job, get a performance bonus and afford to pay their mortgage on their beach house in Maui

--something the editor can fall in love with. Yes, despite being as crass and money-fixated as, say, the writers and agents, the editor would prefer to get a manuscript they love; this is how they make a living, and they want it to be fun, too

--no prima donnas allowed. They want someone who's easy to work with, open-minded and accommodating editorial comments and changes, flexible with scheduling, reliable about deadlines and cheerful and optimistic

I'm sure there's more, but those are the gimmes.

Best,
Mark Terry