Inexpensive Editing?
by Alret
(South Africa)
I live in South Africa, where literary agents are practically nonexistent, but in my quest to find one to represent my new YA fantasy novel I humbly kept on searching. Luck was on my side. I found a company, a pretty big and successful one, here in my own country and in America. I submitted my query and the first three chapters as requested. The agent returned to me with a mini assessment of the manuscript.
Turned out she actually loved it. She thought it is an interesting plot that would truly appeal to fantasy readers, but she said she got the impression that the book was translated from Afrikaans, which is probably true considering it is home language.
She said in some places the word choice would need some editing before it would be suitable to offer to a publisher. Just how do I go about doing that? Where do I find someone who won’t charge me my entire monthly income to help me rewrite some of the awkward parts?
Obviously, my fellow Afrikaans speaking citizens won’t do. She suggested that I rewrite the book in Afrikaans, but I really don’t think the book will still have the same appeal. Trust me, some English words just do not sound good in Afrikaans. And in your own opinion, do you really think it is that obvious when an author writes in her second language?
ANSWER
Hello Alret. First, congratulations on acquiring the interest of an agent! You must be excited. An agent wants to sell your book, so if he or she says it is obvious that you're writing in English as a second language, then it's a good bet that others will agree. An agent is on your side, out to help, not hinder.
Publishers will do some minor line editing, but will reject work that needs significant work, even if the story is strong. Competition is steep, and publishers can only publish a very small number of the manuscripts they consider.
Have you considered speaking to someone at a local university? A professor may be able to suggest students who would volunteer to edit as a special project, or perhaps work for a lower rate. Or you might post on Elance.com for an editor whose first language is English. People from all around the world bid on Elance jobs, so it's possible that you will find a good editor there at a price you can afford.
Good luck!
