Hugh Howey

Bestselling author of Wool and other books. Currently sailing around the world.

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Editor Extraordinaire!

There are a handful of questions that I get over and over. People want to know how I marketed WOOL (A: I didn’t). They want to know what in the world Amber sees in me (A: No clue). And they want to know who I use for an editor, because my prose is so damn tight (That’s what they say, not me!)

My drafts go through several revisions before my wife and my mom tear the manuscripts apart. Then it’s off to the betas before a final round of edits and publication. That’s how things went until David Gatewood came along.

David reached out over a year ago to point out 160 things wrong with the WOOL OMNIBUS. No kidding. That was the title of his e-mail to me, straight out of the blue. And so began a wonderful friendship and a collaboration. David has been an invaluable part of the last five books I’ve published. He is the absolute best at what he does. Not only does he make my work better, he makes the editorial process fun. I laugh out loud at his comments. I read them aloud to my wife. I publish them under a pen name. The film rights have already been optioned.

I’ve been begging David to hang a shingle, but he’s been content to dabble with my works. Until now. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my absolute pleasure to share his brand new website with you: http://lonetrout.com/ If you are looking for an editor for your work, this is the man to harangue. I guarantee he will be in high demand once others use him and begin spreading the word. The guy is freaky smart and wickedly funny. You’ll love him. I know I do.

14 replies to “Editor Extraordinaire!”

This is super great!!! Problem is, I need to finish my book and scrounge for money! This is actually pretty exciting if, once the omnibus of my series is ready for publishing, and he is still open for commission, I can have an editor that will help put the finishing touches on my book.

Loved reading this. David sure sounds awesome and who can argue with Hugh Howey’s endorsement! Wish I could afford a real editor–although I’m not quite to that point. Maybe if I was writing instead of being on FB, I’d finish the book I’m working on. But I’m a 63 year old woman who is writing my first book. A retired nurse who started writing after I retired. And I write creative non-fiction or something along those lines. (a different kind of fantasy, Hugh, some might say). Personally, I don’t get hung up on the correct genre name. Considering I have NO language arts background, I for sure will need an editor before I “birth” it. But, I’m fairly sure I can’t afford Hugh Howey’s editor. Great of you, Hugh, to share this with your FB friends! Thanks. I’m sure this comment alone demonstrates my need for an editor. lol.

Good editors are always needed. With people talking trash about indie books being unprofessional and all, another editor throwing his hat into the ring to help us out is a blessing.

It’ll be a while before my WIP is done. Hopefully, David’s prices will be affordable. Hope he’s excited about editing religious non-fiction.

May he do himself good by making us look good. :)

I’m actively looking for another editor who is fun to work with and I haven’t had a lot of luck so far. My current – awesome – editor just won’t be able to fit every book I plan to write in the next year into her busy schedule.
Hopefully David will be able to fit me in at some point if he isn’t too inundated with requests!

I hope your blog gets more newer, younger writers to use an editor. I hear so many writers say they can’t afford them, or that they aren’t needed because some famous or successful writer they know also has typos and strange point of view shifts.

Writing fiction is a craft like building good furniture. It’s not hard to learn the basics, but you can’t ignore the rules (until you reach HH’s level). If you can’t afford an editor, get in a critique group. Take it from a former newspaperman who took FOREVER to learn writing fiction was a different animal.

Oh, I’m so excited. I just emailed David. I completed a draft of the sequel to my series yesterday (woohoo! happy dances were done, I promise), and I’ve been searching for the right editor (for after I’ve completed revisions, etc). Finding the “right” editor is so important and so hard to find.

Thanks, Hugh, for sharing!

Really nice help for his startup. I think the only thing missing on his homepage is a picture of him. I always need to see a face behind all the udsual texts on homepages to get a feeling of a person…

My first novel was edited by myself, my wife and a good friend, but as I’m working on the next part of the series I’m inclined to try and get it professionally edited, so maybe I’ll reach out to David. Thanks for the tip/info Hugh

I don’t do this very often. In fact, I never do it. But I’m gonna post what I posted on my Wattpad comment bar about this post. (Did you did that? *grin*) Are you on Wattpad? I’m new there. And I’m still fighting people on this 10 dollar all you can read and review idea.

Heather
wordwan

I said:

I like passing along interesting information. I haven’t even read Hugh Howey’s books but I’ve seen him in discussion and on youtube vids and I love his approach. On his blog he mentioned his magic editor, who approached Howey and helped him with his “Wool” gathering. Take a look; the guy has a website now, should you need an editor who won’t pull the wool over your eyes.

https://hughhowey.com/editor-extraordinaire/

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