Building a Better Book
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I recently finished writing my first novel, and I need to hire a professional editor to help me polish it up before I submit the manuscript to literary agents.
It took me more than two years to write the book. I worked on it primarily in the mornings and on my days off, slowly crafting a story around a quirky narrator living in a small college town on the edge of the Rocky Mountains. I don't want to give the plot away, but you can expect death, drugs, exotic dancers, old movies, and cats. It is a personal story very near and dear to my heart.
I have been writing for more than twenty years. My work has appeared in more than thirty publications, including The Rumpus, The Masters Review, and Barrelhouse Magazine. For several years, I was the arts-and-entertainment editor at an alternative newspaper called the Boulder Weekly, where I won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for my feature writing, narrative nonfiction, and cultural criticism. I have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and my writing has appeared in several anthologies. My book of short stories was published by Monkey Puzzle Press in 2014,
This is the best piece of writing I have ever produced; however, in the current literary market, good is not necessarily good enough. There's a lot of competition out there, and a few narrative hiccups can mean the difference between book contracts and rejection letters.
Professional editors are not cheap. Good editors who know how to improve a manuscript charge between $1,500 and $3,000. That's a lot of money for retail employees such as ourselves. We need a little assistance from the community to cover the costs. Literally (get it?) any amount of money would be helpful.
It took me more than two years to write the book. I worked on it primarily in the mornings and on my days off, slowly crafting a story around a quirky narrator living in a small college town on the edge of the Rocky Mountains. I don't want to give the plot away, but you can expect death, drugs, exotic dancers, old movies, and cats. It is a personal story very near and dear to my heart.
I have been writing for more than twenty years. My work has appeared in more than thirty publications, including The Rumpus, The Masters Review, and Barrelhouse Magazine. For several years, I was the arts-and-entertainment editor at an alternative newspaper called the Boulder Weekly, where I won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for my feature writing, narrative nonfiction, and cultural criticism. I have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and my writing has appeared in several anthologies. My book of short stories was published by Monkey Puzzle Press in 2014,
This is the best piece of writing I have ever produced; however, in the current literary market, good is not necessarily good enough. There's a lot of competition out there, and a few narrative hiccups can mean the difference between book contracts and rejection letters.
Professional editors are not cheap. Good editors who know how to improve a manuscript charge between $1,500 and $3,000. That's a lot of money for retail employees such as ourselves. We need a little assistance from the community to cover the costs. Literally (get it?) any amount of money would be helpful.
Organizer
Dale Bridges
Organizer
Austin, TX
