Today, Adam M Rosen is joining us. A familiar face as part of the Useful Books crew. Adam was an associate editor at Oxford University Press and an editorial assistant at the Collins nonfiction imprint at HarperCollins before starting his own editorial services company; AMR Editorial. Working with so many authors, Adam has unique insights which heâll share with us today.
KEY TAKEWAYS
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Why do authors have such unruly manuscripts?
According to Adam, itâs a front-end issue. A problem with the scoping. Authors either donât have much to say (âthe blog post that gets turned into a bookâ) or they donât know how.
He recommends to âword vomitâ on a page in order to find out what youâre actually trying to say. Then, trim the fat.
Make sure you develop a clear picture of what youâre trying to say and donât be afraid of plenty of revising.
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What are some common mistakes indie authors make?
Well, aside from not having a clear understanding of what theyâre trying to say, he also points to a lack of transistions.
âIf you read the New York Times, for example, notice how seamless it feels.â
He recommends being mindful of how the sentences and chapters come together. Whatâs the glue or connective tissue there?
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Give us your number one takeaway
âStructure over prose.â
You can alwasy make it beautiful later. First, make sure you have something to say and that the structure makes sense. Then you can make it beautiful. âItâs very hard to do. Even I fall into this trap sometimes.â
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Other noteworthy remarks
- With my clients, I love it when they have an openness to critique. That they realize, Iâm trying to help them vs. taking it personally.
- If you donât know what advice to accept vs. reject, go with your gut. Itâs tricky. Even the top 5 editors will disagree.
- Self-publishing authors donât always know how things are done, so they get taken advantage off. Make sure you do your research to find out who youâre working with.