Vickram Seth

Well the game is still afoot. To recap, I had written to my former editor in Hollywood who informed me that I should split my book on my early Cuba trips and the Afro- Cuban religion of Orisha worship into two books. She felt that though similar 800 pages (180,000 words) was a bit long...LOL.  I finished splitting the book into two and sent the religious book to an editor. During the eight weeks during editing I studied the market and wrote two blogs on the subject


Sir PG Woodhouse

 http://bilingual.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/03/publishing-discussions-and-lulu.htm
http://bilingual.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/04/iro-ifa-an-orisha-worship-poem.htm


Papa Hemingway

      Today, I learned the editing ( phase one) is complete. The process of editing (when it is done right) is at least two phases. In my case, I will begin to look at the editing and approve it as well as add a few things then send it back for a final edit and repeat the process of checking that. My editor as I think I mentioned is the co owner of a team of 25 editors from around the globe. I found them while publishing my book Traveling Lite. My friend the Hollywood producer who edited my screenplay Fidel's Story was just too expensive (but worth every penny) to work on this project. The owner delighted me early on when he informed me that as the owner, he picks the manuscripts that interest him and although he knew nothing about Cuba or my religion, he had decided to do the editing personally. This is a fellow who has been editing for over thirty years and so I was honored. 

F Scott Fitzgerald

       I did not speak to him much during the two month process except for sending him two revisions of parts of chapters that were rough in my opinion and sending him the glossary and the proposal letter. I did not ask for an analysis.. but of course I wanted to....LOL. The religious book is only about 40% autobiographical and the 60% is scholarly writings on the religion and stories relating to the deities. Autobiographical is obviously easier to write as we lived it, scholarly is significantly more difficult (at least for me and my yuck yuck style). We did change the name to a more mainstream Discovering Nature's Ancient Religion of Orisha Worship and IFA. Over the two months of down time I learned about proposal letters, enquiries and studied the agents and publishing houses. 


JRR Tolkien

      When I opened my mail this morning I found the book  and the proposed editing changes, plenty of work there. Because the book was something of a new subject for me I had shared the unedited version with two friends from Sulekha. One is quite interested in religion and spiritual things and the other really does not give a hoot about religion. Surprisingly my friend who we could say is less religious really enjoyed the book and finished its 400 pages in four days (a good sign). My friend that is more religious never really did finish or comment on it in the two months so I guess it was a bust with that friend. The book is geered toward people not in my religion or for those fresh in the religion. But still I was surprised at how my "testing" went, it went exactly the opposite of what I expected. Here I was waiting for the third person to not only read it, but edit it and get some input and here is part of the cover letter to me: 


Ian Fleming

     Here is the book, all edited for you, along with a page of editor's notes, which you should read first.
My comments in general are there, along with some things we had talked about before. But before you go heading over to the editor's notes, let me put here a paragraph from it, so you don't go there expecting a Dear John note.
 
This has been one of the most interesting non-fiction works I've had the pleasure of editing; it's obvious that you have a deep understanding of the spiritual system that you're expounding here, and the research behind it must have been both painstaking and rewarding for you. I think the book clearly demonstrates feelings and beliefs that many share, and I am sure this will serve as an inspiration to many, both within and outside the religion.
 
So, phew, now you can go read the editor's notes. Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask, but I am heading out now, so will answer you in the morning.
Regards,
Mark


Rabindranath Tagore

Of course this does not mean that is will be a huge success or even that anyone will buy it, yet I did feel pretty darn good about my third opinion. Sure maybe he says that to all of his clients, but frankly I kind of doubt it. Maybe he specializes on fiction and rarely reads non fiction, still I felt energized by his optimism. For me, I plan to start the review on Monday and try to get the first three chapters done ASAP as those go with the proposal to the publishing houses or agents. Then we will see if anyone wants to take a chance on me and my book. I imagine this editing phase will take at least two weeks maybe three and the final phase another week. 


Sufia Kamal

This book I will need to translate into Spanish and later Portuguese as there are 40 million practitioners of my religion in Brazil and another 75 million in Spanish. My second book I  still have about six weeks work to complete and that will only be in English and maybe down the road in Spanish. That book titled Yuma: A Yankee's Cuba Journals  will also have to go through this editing process. So there is your update and why I still won't be on Sulekha too much.... Have a great weekend everyone ! Spencer



Narayan Sanyal