No-vember? No Problem!
Happy November!
November is traditionally known as novel writing month, and I hope you’ve all been hard at work drafting, making the most of the chillier weather to cosy up with laptops and a hot drink. I’ve been working on indexing and query packages, as well as enjoying a relaxing reading retreat for my birthday, which was on the 7th. But enough about me! What have you all been up to?
LJ Thomas has released her first novel, We Survivors, as an audiobook. This was one of the first books I edited, so I’m delighted to see it still thriving! You can download the audiobook here, or wherever you get your audiobooks.
Katherine Shaw and Amber Hathaway have both been featured in short story collections. Katherine has edited The Major Arcana, a short story anthology based around each card of the tarot major arcana. Meanwhile, Amber has a story in Violent Advents: A Christmas Horror Anthology, which can be pre-ordered here.
Spotlight on: Manuscript Evaluation
In this month’s spotlight, I’m focussing on the manuscript evaluation service. I don’t get to do them very often, but they’re always great fun as, for me, they are the most like having an authentic reader experience.
So what is a manuscript evaluation? Well, in some respects, it does what it says on the tin. I read your full manuscript and evaluate which aspects of it work and which don’t, with an eye towards whether the work is ready for whichever publication route the author wants to take. Like a content edit, I produce a report, but this one is much more detailed. It focuses on highlighting the different quarters of the story and how they are working in terms of pace, character arc, and story arc. It will also highlight persistent issues in the writing, such as consistent issues with punctuation or with repetitive phrases. Having these in a report, rather than individually amended by me in track changes, make the process much quicker (and therefore much cheaper), and encourages the author to learn how to better revise their own writing.
The report produced as part of a MS evaluation usually turns out at 15-20 pages, so it’s a very thorough document. It’s broken up into different sections, so it’s easy for the author to go through the suggestions in a methodical manner — in many respects, easier than trying to work through tracked changes. It also works in tandem with the manuscript itself, as the various points raised in the report will have a reference number (for example, SPaG1) which are then highlighted in comments on the manuscript itself. Again, this makes it really easy for the author to go through and make their own amendments.
A manuscript evaluation is a great option for authors who:
Have a tight budget and would struggle to afford a full content edit
Are confident their work is nearly ready for publication, but want a last-minute reassurance
Are early in the drafting phase and want help with the developmental aspects of their story
And if this has made you keen to try one out, I still have one editing slot in December before things slow down in the new year as I return to teaching for 12 weeks. You can reply to this email, or find out more about my services here.
Social Media and AI Scraping
With the announcement that Twitter (or X, I suppose) would be scraping tweets for AI training, and selling the data to third parties, I made the decision to close down my Twitter account. I’ve been on Twitter since I was a teen, so it was a painful thing to have to do, but I’m hoping I’ll see you all elsewhere. I can be found on these social media platforms:
Bluesky: @vickybrewstereditor
Instagram: vickybrewstereditor
Facebook: My work page is here
I’m sorry. No Ticktock. I just do not understand it…
And to celebrate rather than mourn the migration, keep an eye out at the beginning of next month for a special giveaway on Bluesky!
I’m also aware that Microsoft have started scraping data via MS Word to train AI. I have updated the settings on my Word so that my documents are not scraped, so fear not — your work is quite safe with me! I do also offer editing through Googledocs, if you are making a move away from Microsoft, and would be happy to talk you through the settings to enable tracked-changes editing in Gdocs.
Out and About
Where can I be found in the next couple of months?
Swansea University Makers’ Market, 3rd December
I will be selling blind date books and available to discuss editing and indexing at the Teliesin Centre on Singleton campus. Come say hello, and pick up a beautifully wrapped second-hand book — they make excellent Christmas presents!