Last month I sat down with my editor, Kristen Hamilton of Kristen Corrects Inc., to discuss her background and her process when it comes to manuscript editing. By “sat down” I, of course, mean e-mails were sent and emoticons dispatched in lieu of drinks at the local pub. Still, laughs ensued and I appreciate her helping me understand more about her process. You can find part one where we discussed Kristen’s secret origin here. Part two talked about the start of the editing process for Kristen. You can read it here.

I cannot stress how important editing is to the writing process. Especially Kristen’s work on Signs of Portents and the rest of the Greystone series.

(For brevity’s sake I’ve toned down my sarcastic follow up questions to focus on the good stuff. You’re welcome.)

You read for hours on any given day. Probably every day. How do you keep your eyes from crossing or completely blurring over when handling manuscripts all day for weeks?

When I first started doing a lot of editing on the computer, I would get frequent headaches from staring at the screen for too long. Those have long since gone away—I think I just had to get used to it. Occasionally I will print out a manuscript and edit the hard copy. I take frequent breaks from the computer, and I never push myself. If my eyes are tired, I know I’m done. It’s not worth it, risking leaving an error in an author’s manuscript. I know that their books are their babies, and they’re entrusting a lot of responsibility to me to make sure their manuscript is perfect before it goes out for publication.

Does your focus wander to that dreaded chore list? Or maybe an e-mail that needs to go out right after this next chapter?

As far as e-mails—yes, they can certainly get distracting. Recently I’ve been so busy that answering my e-mails each morning takes up a solid hour and a half. And just when I’m all caught up on e-mails, a new one pops up. That’s one of the difficult things about being self-employed: if I’m not answering e-mails, I’m not getting any new jobs! But if I answer e-mails all day, I’ll never get my current jobs done. It’s a double-edged sword. I’ve learned that sometimes it’s necessary just to close out of my e-mail so I can focus on my work!

What are your expectations from the people you work with on a project? What do you hope they take away from the experience?

I love authors who are engaged with the editing process—those who have completed and revised their manuscript, recruited beta readers, and made the changes to make their manuscript better with each revision. It shows me that they’re really committed to their book, which is refreshing—not every author puts that effort into their manuscripts. An editor, as an industry expert, will help bring insight to an author’s manuscript that others will not, but external opinions and feedback will definitely help.

I hope authors look at my edits and learn how to write better for future works. I just met one of my clients, Aubrey Moore, in person at the 2016 Boise Book Fest this past weekend. She said that getting your book edited isn’t just about correcting the grammar, typos, or punctuation errors…it’s about having a professional look at and correct your work and say, “Okay, to be a better writer, this is what you need to focus on….” When I get an author’s second book and see that their writing has improved, I know I’ve done my job well.

At the end of the editing process, when I give authors their manuscripts that are ready to be published, I always tell them to be sure to market their books—and I really hope they take my advice. I have edited so many great books over the years, but the authors don’t market them, nobody knows about them, and the books never sell. It’s sad, really.

Okay, fun stuff.

Coffee or tea? Also, how many cups to get you through the day?

Definitely coffee in the mornings. Usually I’m good with 1 cup, but sometimes I’ll go for a second one. I’ll have the occasional cup of tea in the evenings or during winter afternoons.

What are you reading for fun right now? 

I’m currently reading Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. I’m also planning to read The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch this month. I’m in the middle of a bet between my brother-in-law and my friend about which of those books is better, and I have to have an answer by Thanksgiving. I am going on a cruise next month, and am planning to read The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware—that one’s about someone who gets pushed overboard a cruise ship. (Yes, I’m really going to read that while on a cruise.)

What books are you looking forward to reading?

I have a HUGE list of books I want to read after that—Life of Pi and The Silent Wife are ones I’m more excited about.

Big events writers should be aware of going on now or in the near future?

There are usually writers’ conferences in every big city across the United States periodically throughout the year. I’d like to attend the Writer’s Digest Conference one August in New York City. Next month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is where authors all over the nation support one another in writing an entire novel in one month. It’s a pretty lofty goal, but there have been some good books to come of it.

One piece of advice for writers looking for an editor right now? And for those still working on their manuscript?

For writers looking for an editor right now: do your research. Reach out to different editors, get sample edits from each, and make sure you like their editing style, as every editor’s is different. Make sure you’re protected with contracts that legally bind both of you to the editing agreement. Check out their previous work and spend some time talking with them about your project to see if it’s a good fit.

For writers who are still working on their manuscript: it’s never too early to reach out to an editor, especially if you want to expedite the editing process. Good editors will be booked out weeks or months in advance, and many will get you on their schedule in advance, giving you the opportunity to continue working on your manuscript as the date approaches. If you have time, revise your manuscript before you send it to an editor. You might further develop scenes to make them better, realize you explained something incorrectly, or catch other errors. Any revising is better than none at all!

I want to thank Kristen Hamilton of Kristen Corrects Inc. for sharing her process. More so I want to thank her for making my books readable but there isn’t enough room on the Internet for such a thing. (Plus she would edit the crap out of it, I’m sure.)

Find out more about Kristen and her wonderful work at her website.

Thanks for reading.

Last month I sat down with my editor, Kristen Hamilton of Kristen Corrects Inc., to discuss her background and her process when it comes to manuscript editing. By “sat down” I, of course, mean e-mails were sent and emoticons dispatched in lieu of drinks at the local pub. Still, laughs ensued and I appreciate her helping me understand more about her role in the process.

I cannot stress how important editing is to the writing process. Especially Kristen’s work on Signs of Portents and the rest of the Greystone series.

(For brevity’s sake I’ve toned down my sarcastic follow up questions to focus on the good stuff. You’re welcome.)

What is your background?

I always knew I wanted to do something in the writing/editing industry. I attribute this to the long hours my mom spent reading with me—usually 3-4 hours each day. We started with picture books when I was an infant and worked our way up to chapter books, and I eventually went on to start reading full-length novels (Dean Koontz novels were and still are my favorites) when I was in fourth or fifth grade.

By age 11, I was reading college-level materials. Reading was something I was always good at, and it made me feel accomplished to see how much stronger my reading skills were than my classmates’, so I kept at it. I’ve always been an introvert—quiet and shy—so books became my world. Instead of playing on the playground at recess, I’d sit and read a book. After school, I’d read. I devoured everything I could get my hands on.

My confidence was further bolstered when my entire fourth grade class took a writing test, and I was the only one who passed. When I was in the ninth grade, the teacher made photocopies of an essay I had written to show the other students “how to write a proper essay.” Teachers constantly encouraged me, and being singled out like this gave me the enthusiasm to keep going.

How does one prepare to become an editor?

Originally my goal was to be a journalist, and to write for the newspaper. When I was in middle school and high school, I was on the school newspaper staff, but it was less than what I had anticipated it to be. I didn’t enjoy coming up with story ideas—I found it difficult and tedious. But when I had a rough draft—boy, that was fun, editing it and seeing what I could do to improve it. Once the words were already on paper, I excelled.

By the time college rolled around, I was still trying to pursue the path of being a writer, even though a small part of me knew it didn’t quite fit. I took creative writing workshops, but I enjoyed reading and critiquing others’ work much more than I did writing my own stories. It was here, as I watched the teacher critique others’ stories with the class, that I began to learn what to look for when editing—character development, plot arc, believability of dialogue…

How did you start out as an editor?

I was working in fast food all through college. In the spring of 2012, I snagged a job at a car dealership writing descriptions about the vehicles. I was so excited—this was the start of my writing career, I just knew it! But working in a cubicle wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I didn’t enjoy the set 8-to-5 hours and there was never enough for me to do. In fact, I ended up writing the car descriptions so fast that I ran out of work. They transferred me to a department that needed some extra hands—accounting. (Did I mention I failed my college math classes?) I ended up being at the accounting department for 2 weeks before they laid me off. I had only been there for 6 months and felt like a huge failure.

So there I was, sitting on the couch, unemployed. My boyfriend (now husband) threw a book in my lap: Freelancing for Dummies. I had nothing better to do, so I read it.

Two days later, I started Kristen Corrects. I started out at Odesk, now Upwork. The wages there are pitiful and most of your competition is outsourced work—think places like India, the Philippines, etc. I only worked a few jobs to get a few pieces of work for my portfolio and some testimonials. Then I created www.kristencorrects.com. I built up my SEO rankings, so if you type in “manuscript editor” on Google, I come up on the first page. My career is developing now that I have a ton of return and word-of-mouth clients, which has given me a landslide of clientele. It’s been a lot of hard work, but I’m incredibly passionate about what I do.

Parts 2 and 3 of our chat is coming next week.

Thanks for reading.