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A Day in the Life of an Author - with Paul Cornell

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A Day in the Life of an Author - with Paul Cornell

Having worked in publishing for so long I know that, from the outside looking in, it can seem a rather bewildering and daunting industry.  Most readers don't know how long it takes to put a book together, the process involved in getting a script from (a)uthor to (b)ookshelf. It takes a hell of a lot of work both from the author and publisher and all those in between including typesetters, printers and booksellers. It's usually between 12-18 months before a delivered script will see the inside of a bookshop. So what happens during that process?

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The art of fear

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The art of fear

We all know that the majority of the mainstream would be happy to watch a horror flick and yet most would baulk at the idea of picking up a horror novel. Why is that when the genre has evolved so much in the last few years? And how do the authors who excel in the genre go about writing something that makes other people afraid? I ask two of the best UK horror writers writing today for their tips on how to send shivers down your spine. 

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On editing, and being edited

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On editing, and being edited

So I did a blog piece last week about the types and styles of editing there were. I concentrated predominantly on traditional publishing editors because that’s what I’d spent the last fifteen years doing!

Here I go into a bit more detail about what I used to do with an editorial report and get an author's perspective on how their experience of the process was.

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How valuable are editors to the creative process?

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How valuable are editors to the creative process?

So over the last few weeks I've seen a few discussions about the value of editors. Some authors decrying the need for such a resource and others passionately defending them. There also seemed to be quite a lot of confusion as to what it is an editor actually does. Do they do line work, structural, copyediting? What's the difference? And how do freelance editors differ from those working in a traditional publishing house? Let's find out . . .

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A new voice to represent

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A new voice to represent

So it's been a month or so since I left Tor UK and all my wonderful authors there. And I've been slowly going through the submissions that have been sent in to me. I have to say I've been hugely impressed by the quality! But, there was one that immediately captured my attention. Just with the first line. 'I was seven years old the first time my uncle poisoned me.'

What makes a writer write?

What makes a writer write?

Having worked in publishing I've been used to working in the evenings and at weekends doing submission reading. There was never really time to do this during office hours.  Because of this and the limited publication slots where we could place things I became a really tough audience to satisfy. You develop quite a focus when it's your time you're giving up - and the pressure of publishing means that even if you love something you may not get it through a business meeting. So if you're not fully engaged within the first three chapters then you're probably not going to be.