Unfortunately, most self-published books are an embarrassment to their authors and should be to their publishers. Why? Aside from poor cover design and formatting, they aren't edited. Oh sure, the publisher will tell you that you have an editor--often the person who also designs the cover and formats the interior--but that person will probably never even read your book. Yes, that's right. The "editor" is unlikely to read the first page. If you ask how their books are edited, an honest subsidy publisher will tell you they run the book through a sophisticated software program--a trumped-up spell check. Are they kidding?
If you are lucky enough to have a human editor, he or she is likely an off-hours English teacher or college student trying to make a few bucks on the side. Whether you have a book about the legal profession or nutrition, you will have this same editor.
Why is that a problem? Simple, correcting an essay and editing a book are two very different activities, and it's impossible to clarify your writing if the editor doesn't even understand the subject matter.
At Wisdom House Books, our editors are real people, experienced in the process of editing. They understand how to make a style sheet, they know the norms of the industry, they are writers themselves, and they have real-life experience in professions outside adademia. If you are writing a legal book, we might assign an editor who is also a lawyer. If you are writing a book on nutrition, we will assign an editor with a background in health. Our editors have been out of college a long time, so you benefit from their understanding of life events and cultural history.
Benefits You Won’t Find Elsewhere
Here’s what the Wisdom House editorial department’s strengths will mean to you.
- Your title will be the most powerful one we can come up with. You may already have a title you love, but it's possible that we may present you with one or more additional options that you might like even more. The final choice, of course, will be up to you.
- The same with jacket copy. To attract attention and respect in this crowded marketplace, these important words must be skillfully written in order to attract readers and impress booksellers. We will have a professional write the words that sell the book.
- You will be given a press release announcing the publication of your book so you'll be ready to offer the information to your local newspapers, the professional press, and so on.
- As a Wisdom House author, you will have the right to request assistance from our editorial department for whatever copy needs you may have down the line.
- When you look good, we look good. And when you don't... That's why we will only put our imprints on books that have been properly edited and designed. We don't put our name on it until it's good enough to put your name on it.
The Refreshing Difference of Wisdom House Editors
Wisdom House editors are first and foremost human beings--in every sense of the word. They are intelligent, saavy, well read, well educated, well travelled, and extremely competent professionals. But they have hearts as well. They know that the editing process should be a partnership between the editor and the author. It's a relationship that often requires hand-holding, comforting, encouragement, and optimism on the part of the editor.
Our editors are writers, too, and they know what it's like to place their work in the hands of other editors. That's why Wisdom House editors go gently. Without dominating the writing, they carefully help develop the author's unique voice on every page. Why would you settle for anything less?
Editorial Services at
Wisdom House Books
At Wisdom House Books, we offer all levels of necessary editing:
- basic grammar and spelling (copyediting)
- line editing, which also includes suggestions about syntax and word choice and some light structural changes
- content editing, which is concerned with issues of coherence, flow, and plot—if appropriate
- proofing to find any typographical, design, style, or print errors
- developmental editing and ghostwriting
“Editing should be.a counseling rather than a collaborating task. The tendency of the writer-editor to collaborate is natural, but he should say to himself, ''How can I help this writer to say it better in his own style?'' and avoid ''How can I show him how I would write it, if it were my piece?''”
--James Thurber
"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."
--Cyril Connolly
"Say all you have to say in the fewest
possible words, or your reader will be
sure to skip them; and in the plainest
possible words or he will certainly
misunderstand them." --John Ruskin
"No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft."
--H. G. Wells
"When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing."
--Enrique Jardiel Poncela
