Acquisition and Lead Editor Guidelines / What is Expected

Acquisition and Lead Editor Guidelines

Here are some guidelines (rules) when evaluating a manuscript, no matter what genre, and which we expect to find in edited/finished manuscripts.

The manuscript must be well-written, interesting, with back story and details woven into the story or factual account, not dumped on the reader in large clumps. The reader's interest must be caught from the beginning and kept throughout.
We don't want telling; we want showing. Use of state-of-being verbs, even as helping verbs (is, am, are, was, were, be, been, being, etc.) tells, not shows. Also passive voice should be avoided as much as possible (had, has, or had as helping verbs). Writers need to use action verbs most of the time, especially strong action verbs. Yes, sometimes passive voice is needed; sometimes state-of-being verbs must be used; but the majority of the time, active voice and strong action verbs must be used.
The manuscript should have few, if any, grammatical errors such as misspelled words, incorrect pronoun usage, poor sentence structure, wrong or missing punctuation, etc. Of course we all have some mistakes, but before anything is submitted, most of the typos and errors should be gone. Before anything is sent to be formatted, few problems should exist.
If a large amount of editing is necessary, we don’t want the manuscript. We don’t want simply potential; we want to see potential used already. Once a contract is issued, the lead editor needs to help the author bring the manuscript to the accepted level of quality, polished and fine-tuned.
The manuscript must have clarity, comprehension, and coherence. Clarity, the story or information must be clear. Comprehension, the reader can and does understand what is happening without having to do much, if any, re-reading. Coherence, the manuscript must make sense in all ways, including time lines.
We want a manuscript with the WOW factor. We want unique, un-pat manuscripts. Of course no new ideas exist, but we want the treatment to be different, not just another re-telling or re-showing. The manuscript/the writing must make the reader care.
Acquisition editors, when you send an evaluation to the president, vice-president, and head of the editorial department, be sure to give at least one good quality found and whatever the author should improve. You don’t give a complete edit, but do tell why we should or shouldn’t accept the submission, which also gives the author beginning areas for improvement.
When a final/clean manuscript is sent by the lead editor/author for a final proofread, few, if any, problems should be found.

We have a style manual found above, which all editorial interns, established editors, proofreaders, and authors should have on hand and always use.

What Is Expected

After work is under contract:

Lead editor and author work on edits and revisions with a CC to imprint editor and president on each email. Both are to work as a team to better the book. Editors give suggestions, but authors are to revise.
When editing between author and lead editor is finished, imprint editor sends manuscript to president, who passes it to designer, who formats and organizes illustrators and adds text for picture books. Once the book is formatted, author, and editors do copy edits and send to designer. NOTE: Author or lead editor MUST have a clean fresh document ready for imprint editor, without any editing marks or notations, no added or missing elements. If extra work and wasted time results from editor not providing a clean copy, author will be charged $10 per layout page that has to be re-worked. Each occurrence by the same author will result in higher charges.
Once formatting and copy editing are finished, designer sends PDF proof to imprint editor, lead editor, author, and illustrator, if there is one. All proof the work and send errors found to designer, as designer requests. After the team (all editors involved, author, and illustrator) is pleased, a final PDF is sent to the imprint editor and author for approval. Any changes instigated by the author after the approval of the PDF proof will be done only if the author pays for changes. Author must be sure the PDF has no errors, doesn’t need any additions, and is exactly as the author wants.
After final PDFs are distilled and prepared, the files for interior and cover are sent to the president who uploads for printer with needed information for printer and distributor. President also posts title and ISBN on Bowker site.
If the printer sends notice that something is wrong with files, president passes the notice to person responsible for fixing the problem(s). New files then have to be prepared and reloaded.
When files are approved by printer, printer sends a proof to president, who then approves or hits the ceiling. Just partially kidding about hitting the ceiling. If there is a problem, then files have to be redone and reloaded and costs more money.

Reports/bookkeeping: (president does the following until an accountant is added to staff)

Records are kept for general expenses, book production expenses, postage/shipping expenses, income, royalty for authors, illustrators, cover artists, and any others receiving royalty as compensation. At present most records are kept as charts on president's computer.
W-9 forms are used to do IRS forms, 1099-Miscellaneous Income for current year and summary (need to find form number) which must go to royalty receivers by February 15, and summary to IRS by that date.
Business income tax reports must be sent to IRS by April 15.
Yearly reports are sent to authors, illustrators, designers, etc. after December 31.
Checks are sent for royalty amounts of $25 or more. Royalties accumulate until $25 is reached and then sent at the next report time. Report is sent with check by mail or through PayPal. Reports without payment are sent as email attachments.
Authors, artists, editors, and any staff receiving royalties or other payments must handle their own income and sales taxes.

Pricing and Distribution:

We pay Ingram to distribute our books, since that is the distributor that most bookstores, libraries, online book sellers, and schools go through for books. Plus, we have to give them a 50-55% discount on the retail price (which is why the retail on the 4RV website is a bit lower than that retail price elsewhere – no 55% discount). We pay royalty on what we receive from Ingram or from other sources.
Pricing is based on the length of the book, whether it is in color or not, and what has to be charged to allow us to have a few pennies to cover costs and royalties. We do not get to decide, only adjust to the price of printing and discounts.

Illustrations: The cover of a book and 3 illustrations (as agreed upon by the publisher, art director, and artist) from an illustrated book may be used publicly with credit given to author, illustrator, and 4RV.

Authors and Illustrators are expected to have a blog, website, and social media presence.

This doesn't cover each and every detail, but gives an overall view of what happens in the company. The style book part of the manual deals with what 4RV expects in writing, which may vary from other companies and uses. We may add more information; so, check back from time to time.