Finding the Right Editor

(A Sunday Shortstack)

Years ago, a friend who help launch the creative nonfiction journal Fourth Genre quipped that “finding the right editor is as hard as finding the right partner or spouse.” He paused. “Maybe harder.”

I’ve repeatedly seen the truth of in my career, especially once the pandemic hit and I was flooded with ideas for personal essays and short stories. Since August 2021 I’ve had over personal essays in a wide range of subjects published or accepted for publication, plus five short stories. It’s been a period of major productivity.

And a period of rejections, some of which make me smile. Like the editor of a well-known blog who sent me a rejection that was almost as long as the essay itself. I set that aside because it seemed excessive and a waste of time. But in a fallow period I gave it a shot.

The editor sent it back with yet another request for an overhaul, just as verbose as the previous notes. I’m stubborn, so I wasn’t about to give up, and I confess that even after all these years of success, book tours, making a living as an author, I thought it would be cool to be published there.

The piece was rejected yet again with no really clear explanation, I thought. Not long after, I sold it elsewhere and that editor had some very focused and minor edits to offer which made a lot of sense to me.

Did I send a link for the published piece to the first editor?

You bet I did.

Image by melancholiaphotography from Pixabay

Lev Raphael is the son of immigrants and has been living his childhood dream of being an author. He’s published 27 books in a wide range of genres, seen his work widely anthologized and appear in 15 languages. His fiction and creative nonfiction have been taught at colleges and universities. He mentors, coaches and edits writers at https://www.writewithoutborder.com