Editing & Book Coaching
Editing, Assessment and Book-coaching
My editing work began first with Business India Magazine’s edit desk. That involved quick turnaround editorial inputs for reports, articles and features that came to the desk from the writing staff. It involved short deadlines and working with at least 20 different writers and contributors at any given time in the magazine’s fortnightly cycle. This meant working closely with each writer to understand the story, sort out and filter out ambiguity, error, language issues, to help make the end-product crisp, accurate, readable, and fitting into the word count allotted. It also involved writing creative titles and strap-lines for the reader to get drawn to the piece and get a sense of what to expect.
Book Editing
From that, to the 350 plus books that I have edited has meant a different kind of pace over the years. It has entailed 350 distinct relationships with that many authors! Being an editor is a duty and a privilege, when a writer hands over their work to you to go through with the proverbial ‘blue pencil’. And after that, when you remain friends, the feeling is a great one. It is a collaboration built on trust, give-and-take, hard work on both sides, and a complete setting aside of ego issues, in the interests of the ultimate consumer, the end-user, the reader.
Book Assessment
My book assessment work comes from publishers who want manuscripts that came in from writers, to be assessed – a kind of SWOT analysis done in 500 words. So that they could take a decision as to whether they should go ahead and publish the book or have the writer work on it further in a particular direction. I have assessed over 50 books for Jaico Books and for an independent book agent.
Book Coaching
Book-coaching has been a recent addition to my profile. This service is intended to provide support across each stage of the writing process, whether for an existing manuscript that needs polishing, or for an idea that needs to be structured and fleshed out into a book-length project. Book-coaching does not entail copy-editing or rewriting or ghost-writing services. While the word ‘book’ is being used, this coaching is applicable to the content matter of intended blogs, podcasts, lecture-series, booklets, column-series, compilations, etc.
Day-care for Delinquent Writers
Day-care for Delinquent Writers is an initiative that I put in place for some of us fellow writers – of fiction and non-fiction. It is like a writing retreat, but one without too many frills (certainly not wine and cheese!). Writers get together at my home-office, once a week, where we commit to a quantum of writing for the day, put away our phones and internet access, to concentrate on the work at hand. At the end of the working day, we share what we have written, what challenges came up, and what strides were made. The quiet energy and focus at our meet-ups is a rewarding experience in itself.