Next edit is the final stop before the reading that will either recommend the book to the Editorial Board for acceptance into the Special Recognitions program with an Editor’s Choice designation—or not.
But not in the way Developmental Editor suggested. Nor in a way anyone could have imagined.
at the same time as cutting out 25 plus percent of the text, all in a book I felt completely burned out on.
ended by suggesting a ‘book doctor’.
I was burned out on it. I had several other ideas I wanted to move on to.
this forces a gut check: a clear eyed evaluation of the writer’s true commitment and the book’s realistic possibilities of selling enough copies to, at least, break even.
Then, I got a humbling summary evaluation of my manuscript:
I had a simple choice: stick to my artistic guns and refuse to remove the subterfuge and find another publisher, or revise
if they can’t print the book because of this, they can keep my deposit and we’ll go our separate ways.
my contact at iUniverse had understood my position well enough after our call to not have wasted my time even offering them.