Editing (again)

In my last post, I announced that my five chick lit novels were picked up for republication by Henery Press, along with two future ones. I didn’t go into details about what would happen next, specifically editing. Several people were surprised that my new publisher wanted to edit five books that had previously sold well and received predominantly positive reviews, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. In fact, I would be wary of a publisher who re-released the books without first doing more quality control and making their mark—in my opinion editing is part of a good publisher’s job and a major way they earn their share of the royalties. While I love the stories I’ve created, including the characters, the troubles they get into, and their happy-ever-afters, there is always room for improvement at the hands of another skilled editor. I’ve also honed my own writing ability significantly since penning my first novels, and welcome the unexpected opportunity to make tweaks.

In truth, I’m both anxious and intimidated by the volume of revisions in my future. One of my concerns in signing with a new publisher was being asked to alter the original story lines or character’s personalities in a major way, but I was assured this was not the case and that all changes would involve developing and strengthening the novels. I’ve already received the revisions for Blogger Girl and spent most of the weekend and this afternoon working on them. My new editor, Erin, is fantastic. Existing fans of Blogger Girl might want to read the new version for some bonus scenes, including additional development of Kim and Nicholas’s relationship and more ammunition for Kim’s hatred of condescending Daneen. I had fun writing this new material and reacquainting myself with the characters.

Once I finish Blogger Girl, I’ll take a week off to work on my new book—editing is exhausting and I need a break in between books if time allows. After that, I’ll begin the edits of Novelista Girl, take another short break to make progress on my work-in-progress (again, if I have time), edit one of the standalones, work on the new book, and the cycle will continue until I’ve completed all five. The edits themselves will be hard, but equally challenging will be fitting them into my already busy life. I’m trying to focus on the end result: an even better product that will hopefully get into the hands of many more readers.

Are you tired yet? I am!

If you’ve read my books, how do you feel about these impending changes? Are you excited? Worried? If you’re an author, how would you feel about revising a previously published book for a new publisher? Would you embrace edits, like me, or would you prefer to leave well enough alone?

5 Comments

  1. amjusticewrites on August 2, 2016 at 10:31 am

    It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who has gone back to old work and revised it. In my case I took a full do-over–a thorough, intensive revision including lots of new scenes and ruthless excision of redundancy and irrelevant scenes (described here: https://amjusticeauthor.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/mulligans-market-research-and-masterpieces/)–and am releasing the book under a new title, with big hopes to find a new and larger audience. Good luck with your re-release!

    • meredithgschorr on August 3, 2016 at 11:29 am

      Thanks so much for your comment. I read your post. It was great! Kudos to you for going back and making those changes. A lot of people encourage you to move on to the next and not worry about older works. I don’t necessarily disagree in all circumstances (for instance, I probably would not have changed mine if my books weren’t coming down anyway), but when the opportunity arises to make improvements and/or it’s stuck in your craw that something needs to be done, go for it. You never know which of your novels readers will pick up first and you should be comfortable that no matter which one, they will want to read more after. And I agree with everything you said about pacing and removing scenes/dialogue that doesn’t move the story forward. I’d rather read a shorter novel where every page counts than a really long one with filler, even if the filler is entertaining. I went back and removed 7K from my first novel!

      • amjusticewrites on August 9, 2016 at 11:36 pm

        Thanks for the read, Meredith! And good luck with the relaunch of all your work with the new publisher! 😀

  2. Jill Weatherholt on August 2, 2016 at 11:08 am

    I’m excited to read your books with the changes, Meredith. Currently, I’m in the copy edit stage with my first book being published by Harlequin. I think it would be exciting to revisit the story years later with a new set of eyes. Good luck!

    • meredithgschorr on August 3, 2016 at 11:29 am

      Thank you, Jill. Congratulations on your first novel being published – that’s awesome!

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