Editors. Everyone knows what editors do – they edit. Most of all, these are the scary people who make decisions on which book their house will buy, or… reject… (add sniffles here) What us authors hope for is that an editor will love our latest book proposal and offer a contact for it. It’s a nerve wracking process on both sides. There are only a very few books chosen compared to what is submitted, but an editor can only buy or contract the number of books that publisher has decided to handle in a given period of time. The first job an editor does is buy/contract a book they think will be popular enough to make money on after expenses are met. Expenses. Yeah. Those. After a sale/contract, editors take an author’s finished book and, well, edit it. They make changes, do corrections, and offer suggestions if a scene can be better. They also tend to notice if there is a plot hole, and they quickly point that out, giving the author work to do, on a short timespan, as everything is on a timetable. Editors even go as far as deciding where all the commas go, and taking out ones they say don’t go there.

At writer’s conferences, many writers are scared of acquisitions editors, for the power they hold. Authors meet editors at conferences, face-to-face, to pitch a book that hopefully, eventually, they will contract to buy, or reject (more sniffles).

But really, editors are just normal people, doing a job. They’re not really scary at all.

Here’s some words from my editor at Mantle Rock Publishing, Kathy Cretsinger.

I’m Kathy Cretsinger, and I live in Western Kentucky in what they call the Lake Area. We are surrounded by lakes and rivers. It’s flat, but I love it. Until nine years ago I was a resident in the hills of Tennessee. We lived between Knoxville and Bristol. Land of mountains and beautiful sunrises. Our children moved West and we decided to follow them. We are the proud parents of two grown children, four grandchildren.

Six years ago, I decided to publish a book I had written. I made the rounds at conferences and finally decided to publish it myself. This gave birth to Mantle Rock Publishing. Since then we have published around 41 books, and we have eighteen lined up for next year. I only wanted to publish my books, but an agent said she’d send me some manuscripts and the publishing began.

We are considered a Small Publisher because we have a small number of staff members. We have three editors, including myself, a cover designer/formatter, and my husband, Jerry, does the finances. We work well together, and we each know what our job is.

Since our beginning I have published two fiction books, one non-fiction, and co-authored another fiction with one of our editors, Pam Harris. I will have another book out in June 2019. I’m very pleased with what I do. I have used a pen name on the fiction books, Katt Anderson. The next book I do will be under my real name.

(here’s a link to Kathy and Pam’s book, Smoky Mountain Brides, written under Katt Anderson)

We always look forward to new authors. It is such a pleasure to see a new author take their wings and fly. We work hand in hand with the authors who have never published a book before.

We are happy to have published one book for Gail and Tim Sattler. The next book will be out in November 2018. We look forward hearing from writers and readers.