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OK, Isabelle, we’ll try again!

Editing of the book is by the publisher’s editor, and any rewriting is done solely by the author, of course, and has little to do with the publication process. No one has the right to change the book except the person who wrote it and therefore owns it. Of course, suggestions may be made by the editor. These may be dealt with by the author in a manner which he/she deems appropriate. That is, suggestions are just that. If the author doesn’t think the changes will improve the book, he/she has the right to refuse to make them. In turn, the editor can withdraw the offer of the publishing company to purchase the book.

“Getting a book deal” is between the author and publisher, and includes the agent, who acts for the author. You don’t get a “book deal” unless you are a major name in the literary world, and the company wants to tie you up for the next few books that you write. For most authors, “a book deal” is selling one manuscript that the publisher likes and wants to print. The only thing involved is any editing the publisher wants done and, of course, money. Most publishers know approximately how much a book is likely to earn on the market, and plan their offers accordingly. Most agents want more. So do writers!

Authors usually have agents, but anything the agents do is directed by the author. The publisher wishes to purchase the publication rights to the manuscript. They deal with the agent, or the author, or both. Usually it’s the agent, who works out the details: the advance lump sum payment; the percentage of the book’s selling price that will accrue to the author; the length of time of the rights that the publisher is paying for — usually a permanent sale.

That’s really all there is to it. It simply is not anything more than an author having something to sell, a publisher having a property they want to buy, and an agent or agents working out the details as regards money. It’s a business deal, with very little difference from buying a loaf of bread from a bakery — a transaction. It has no connection to the artistic and creative side of things. It’s strictly business.

Having said that, the relationship between editor and author is really important. If you have an editor who likes everything about your book except the words, you have an unpleasant deal. But if you have really great editors, like I’m lucky enough to have, then you have helpers who make rewriting, rethinking, dealing, offering, buying, and selling a pleasant chore.

There. Is that better? I know you want the answers to be creative and a vast system of wheeling and dealing. But it just doesn’t happen that way. Business is generally routine and dull.

Hope that helps better than last time.                                  —–Gordon Korman—–