When FFS opened for business in 2006, the word "kindle" still meant to "create a fire" and the word "nook" still referred to a small corner or cubby. Everyone saw the potential for e-books, but the devices for reading them and the distribution systems weren't ready yet for mass consumption. 

THAT HAS CHANGED in a big way! The publishing world is undergoing its own digital revolution and this is good news for writers. Amazon and Barnes and Noble and other retailers have created wonderful reading devices and a distribution system that makes e-books cheap and accessible to an expanding market of readers. They've also created ways to allow writers to quickly reach those readers without having to go through a traditional publisher.

It used to be that self-publishing meant paying a company to print your novel on your own. This had a lot of problems for authors:  it was very expensive, the quality of the books was low, and most bookstores would not carry self-published titles. At Fiction Fix-It Shop, we wanted the best for our clients and self-publishing in print simply was not a good or viable option for most fiction writers. And even now, self-publishing in print without a strong e-book presence is fraught with expense and challenges. 

But now, thanks to the e-book revolution, self-publishing IS a viable option for writers who are willing to put forth the effort of creating a professional, high-quality e-book and who are willing to take on the job of promoting and managing their own titles.

Because of this change in the industry, FFS is also changing to welcome indie authors for the first time. There are a LOT of e-books being published every day, and readers are quickly learning to distinguish between quality literature and a thrown-together, amateur effort. 

One of the most important aspects of a quality e-book is professional editing. Your friends or family members simply cannot do the job, unless they happen to be editors themselves. And as we all know, from being writers ourselves, editing oneself is very difficult. If you are going to invest in one professional service in your indie publishing career, professional editing should be that service. FFS would like to be your go-to for professional editing because we care about your success and we care about quality fiction. 

First, because we only do adult and YA novels.

Second, because we only do adult and YA novels.

Third, because FFS is not an expert in any of those other genres—our expertise is in adult and YA novels.

Fourth, because any non-fiction writer with the creativity (and eccentricity) to turn fish hooks and pigmy water rats into a whole book ought to be writing novels anyway.

And fifth, because we only do adult and YA novels.

Everyone has to have a specialty. At FFS, we have ours. I’m sure there’s a “fix-it shop” out there for folks who want to write other stuff. If you’re nice to us, and don’t ask us to do things outside our specialty, we might even be nice in return and post some links to other editorial services for people who, alas, aren’t the novel-writing type.

My, my. Such suspicion and cynicism! You must have had a very unhappy childhood. I’ll humor you. Basically, what I’ve found is that most manuscripts that get rejected are turned down because of a flaw in the writing or story itself, not grammar or writing mechanics. Additionally, while readers are quick to spot typos and proofreading mistakes in an e-book, their enthusiasm for a book or author rests on the overall quality of the story and the writing. A substantive edit attempts to identify and suggest solutions for how to improve the structure and writing style of a work. Click here for more info about all this.

I’ll make you a deal, okay? If you send me a manuscript for a substantive edit and I find that there are NO substantive changes I want to suggest, I will do a copy edit for you at the copy edit rate. I’ll even buy your book when it comes out because a work of such perfection will surely find a publishing home.

Therefore, I cannot recommend you contact a certain agent or query a certain publisher. I can’t send your work out for you. And I can’t contact any editors or agents on your behalf to recommend you or your work.

What if you want to know about my agent or my editors? What if you are considering signing with an agent or a publisher has offered you a contract? If I’m familiar with the agent or house in question, and you are already a client of mine, I’ll be glad to tell you what I know of the agency or publisher, if anything. If it’s my agent or editor, I’ll be happy to tell you about the great experience I’ve had with them.

If your novel is contracted by a traditional publisher that is requesting endorsements from other novelists, and if you are one of my clients, please contact me or have your publisher contact me. If I have room in my schedule, I would love to do an endorsement for you.

I won’t do endorsements for book proposals or queries. At the proposal/query stage, my endorsement really won’t help you much, and may even make you look like an amateur. An experienced novelist knows that at this point their story has to stand on its own merits. If the editor or agent isn’t gripped by your story, it won’t matter what I or any other author or freelance editor says about it.

If you wish, you may certainly mention that your manuscript has been edited by the Fiction Fix-It Shop (or use my name). But you must NOT word it in a way that would imply my endorsement or recommendation of either the manuscript or the editor/agent to which you are sending it. Again, I don’t think it will really help you, and doing this could make you look a little insecure. If your story is strong, the editor or agent will not care that I’ve edited it. If your story is still weak, they still won’t care that it’s been edited. The only thing they care about is whether or not it’s a well-written, marketable story.

If you are self-publishing your book as an e-book, your FFS editor MAY decide to endorse your book, at your request, under the following circumstances:

• They have the time and the wish to do so. If they decline, it is not a reflection on you. It is their choice based on their schedules and their own guidelines for endorsements. FFS will not require an endorsement from them.
• Your book is in a similar genre or has some level of relevance to their own published titles. There is no sense in asking for an endorsement from your editor for an action thriller if they are published in romance. 
• The request should be for a short endorsement or blurb and not for a lengthy review. It should also be for you to post under your book's description or professional reviews and not require your editor to go to Amazon, etc. to post it for you as a reader review. If they choose to do that kind of review in addition, that is kind of them, but they shouldn't be asked to post a reader review.

Of course not. There are few guarantees of anything in this crazy world called Writing. First, the success of this editing process still rests on how you choose to implement the feedback you receive. Because we don’t make the changes for you, we don’t have control over what your finished product looks like. Second, perfectly lovely stories get turned down all the time for reasons that may have nothing to do with the quality of the manuscript. Things like marketability, competition, and the publisher’s own schedule, focus, and budget all factor into the decision to contract a book or turn it down.

For e-books, your success also rests on your pricing strategies, your packaging (including formatting and cover design), promotion, and how well you can connect with your target audience and be discovered by them. 

I can tell you that all of us who are novelists can contribute at least some of our success to the editing and critiquing we have had—whether professional or informal. Accepting feedback on your work helps you grow in your writing, and it’s everyone’s hope that this growth will eventually result in your receiving a contract for your novel or greater success if you are already published--in print or in e-book.