What does a book development editor do? Professionally assess your manuscript or book concept for its publishing potential Offer critical feedback and editorial guidance Serve as writing coach as the author completes a manuscript Collaborate in the development of a winning book proposal Position and package the book concept to specific publishers Research what publishers are looking for in the current market Conduct market research on target audience and how to reach your readers Identify competitive titles in the current marketplace of ideas Create a marketing strategy and assist in building an audience platform Provide guidance in the business of publishing A book development editor functions as: * An advocate for an author and his or her work * A midwife who assists with the birth of a writing project * A reminder who keeps the author on track if things begin to slip * An editor for that last push before submission * A critic who will tell authors what they need to hear in order to improve * A matchmaker who knows the exact editors for an author’s type of writing * A negotiator who will fight to get the best deal for an author * A mediator who can step in between author and publisher to fix problems * A reality check if an author gets out of sync with the real world * A liaison between the publishing community and the author * A champion for your work * A focal point for subsidiary, foreign and…

What does a book development editor do? Professionally assess your manuscript or book concept for its publishing potential Offer critical feedback and editorial guidance Serve as writing coach as the author completes a manuscript Collaborate in the development of a winning book proposal Position and package the book concept to specific publishers Research what publishers are looking for in the current market Conduct market research on target audience and how to reach your readers Identify competitive titles in the current marketplace of ideas Create a marketing strategy and assist in building an audience platform Provide guidance in the business of publishing A book development editor functions as: Advocate for an author and his or her intellectual property Doula who assists with the birth of a writing project Editor for that last push before submission Critic who will tell authors what they need to hear in order to improve Matchmaker who knows specific acquisition editors at particular publishers for your project Negotiator who will fight to get the best deal for an author Mediator between author and publisher to fix problems Liaison between the publishing community and the author Champion for an author’s work including subsidiary, foreign and dramatic rights Mentor who will assist in developing an author’s career Marketing strategist who has your brand as an author in mind Career coach for all aspects of your profesional writing profile Educator about changes in the publishing industry Manager of the business side of your writing life A book development editor is NOT…

Many authors simply dismiss Twitter. They imagine Brooklynites and Los Angelinos strolling city streets while on their smartphones punching tiny keyboards. If the demographics of your book’s readers don’t match those who use Twitter, why bother? No one seems interested in tweeting what they ate for lunch, where they went shopping, or the funny thing their kid said. How can you say anything meaningful or valuable in one sentence? Dismiss Twitter at your own risk, writers. With 554 million users, the average number of tweets per day is 58 million as of May 7, 2013. Projected advertising revenue from Twitter for 2013 is $400 million. It might surprise you to know only 43% use their phone to tweet.  Every day another 135,000 people open a Twitter account. Forty percent don’t tweet at all. They read other people’s tweets. Twitter is not a megaphone for an author to pick up and shout into the Twitterverse: “Buy MY book!” Many self-published authors continue to use Twitter in this way, much to the annoyance of their Tweeps. Twitter is a many-to-many communication channel which makes it more like a crowded party with many conversations going on simultaneously. Join the conversation only when you have something to say, something of value to share with those whom you have been reading. Twitter is more interesting, more fun, and more fruitful if you consider it a writer’s tool instead of a marketing platform. Twitter possesses tremendous research potential for a writer of non-fiction and memoir. The…