Have any successful authors published without an editor?

[Jonathan Scott Griffin]

I know that publishing without an editor is not a good idea. Editors can often see things that writers can't. However, have any successful authors published a book without an editor? I am very curious.

 

[Edward M. Grant]

What do you mean by 'editor'? Few successful writers have published without a copy-editor (even in the indie world it's more efficient for a successful writer to pay someone to do that than do it themselves). But I doubt many story editors think they're able to tell Stephen King how to write.

'Stephen, you know this part where the hand of God appears and saves everyone? We call that a deus ex machina, and it's bad. Please write a proper ending and resubmit the book.'

 

[Susan Boulton]

Anne Rice did for one of her later books, and it did not do as well, as her previous work. A good development editor will not tell you to change major plot lines, but will make suggestions about tightening scenes, characters, errors in plot lines even the flow of the manuscript. They will spot the holes you have missed and make you look again at your story. With a good editor you have two way conversation about each. But a good editor does not come cheap if you are self publishing, and I think if you are, and you can afford it, do it. Also a copy editor is a must for self publishing. It will put you head and shoulders above the rest.

As to Stephen King's the Stand, huge chunks were removed when it was first published. A couple of characters had their roles in the original book greatly reduced, some were cut out completely, and reference to one female character's sexuality was not completely removed, but if you blink you would miss it, also her part in the story was greatly reduced. Some people prefer the original publication, as the story is tighter (strange saying that for about such a long book lol) and in their opinion the original manuscript waffles on too much. Others prefer the extra detail in the original manuscript. (I believe a number of King's books have now been published in both originally published, and expanded versions. Bit like directors' cuts with films.)

As for me, personally, I found the editing of both my books helped me focus on what was necessary to tell the story, and reined in my tendency to put too much detail in where it wasn't really needed.

 

[Matthew Hughes]

However, have any successful authors published a book without an editor?

Me, although I've had copy editors fix my typos and note places where I changed a character's name.

Only a couple of times have I had editors give me substantive notes on the development of a story. But then, do I fit the definition of a "successful author"?

 

[Luka Datas]

Me, although I've had copy editors fix my typos and note places where I changed a character's name.

I use the "Replace" (Ctrl H) -- "Replace All" function in WordPad (with "Whole Word Only" and "Match Case" selected) for name changes on the fly... Cause I've often changed a character/s name several times while I'm going along. It's a bit more of a slog if the character's name is Steven but he's also called Steve or Stevie, but not much more.

Microsoft Office Word is also pretty good for finding less than brilliantly diagrammed sentences in the draft. First time I used it I thought, "Why is this thing messing with my melon? Always got a red squiggly line under perfectly good sentences?" then after ruminating on its suggestions a bit, I wound up taking most of its advice. Some were straight up wrong, though. So I'd never let it fix anything on its own.

On the subject though... I'm sure there are some extremely meticulous authors who've managed it... though I can't name any, easily. I'm talking about those extremely meticulous and extremely single-minded types, here.

 

[Matthew Hughes]

My characters' names -- and place names, too -- are mostly made up. I can simply forget from one chapter to another. Like in the story I'm writing now,, I created a plaza called Vandermore Square. Then I came back to it ten thousand words later and called it Varderon Square. Because I forgot.

 

[Edward M. Grant]

I have six Transylvanian werewolves in the current story, and keeping track of all of them is a pain in the butt. Particularly as the human characters have no idea what the werewolves' names are and have to identify them by physical features, so I have to remember that Cezar is the one who got burned by the Molotov, for example.

At this point I've actually forgotten the names I gave to two of them.

 

[Luka Datas]

yeah, me too. I forget people's names I've known for years sometimes, so forgetting an invented character or place name is like falling off a log for me.

I do a hell of a lot of scrolling back. A hell of a lot.

 

[Matthew Hughes]

I don't worry about it much anymore. I usually catch the errors when I go through the ms in hard copy. The few glitches I miss I leave to the copy editors. My grammar and syntax are just about perfect, so I've got to leave them something to do.