Developmental Editing: Tales from a Children's Book Editor

Presenter: Lisa L. Owens

Speaker Bio

Specializing in children’s publishing since the early 1990s, Lisa has done editorial work of all stripes on thousands of published products. She also enjoys editing adult-level titles in a variety of genres. The author of 90+ books for young readers, Lisa also writes articles, essays, reviews, and K–12 educational materials.

Editorial services site: owenseditorialink.com
Author site: llowens.com
Twitter: @LisaLOwens
Instagram: @llowriter

In this candid talk suitable for all experience levels, veteran editor and writer Lisa L. Owens will discuss the various ways her children’s-market clients define developmental editing. Using several projects from her portfolio, she will:

  • highlight specific tasks assigned to the developmental editor

  • delineate dev editing from other disciplines

  • explore developmental editing approaches in children’s fiction vs. nonfiction and traditional vs. educational publishing

  • outline best practices for working with authors

Meeting Notes

Lisa's handouts:

  1. Children's Book Markets (PDF)

  2. Children's Book Genres (PDF)

  3. Recommended Resources (PDF)

Notes from the 5/9/16 meeting, by Sally Gianelli

Announcements:

  • May 18 – NWIEG Board Meeting is coming up; see web site for details.

  • June 3 – Editors Guild Meeting (Portland): Academic Editing (1:00 pm, 801 SW 10th Ave.)

  • July 11 – Editors Guild Meeting (Seattle): How to Identify and Avoid Biased Language workshop (Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N #400 Seattle, 6:30 to 8:30 pm)

  • July 28-31 – PNWA Annual Writers Conference will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Seattle. Volunteers to staff the NWIEG table are needed! Reach out to info@edsguild.org if interested.

  • Sept. 11 – Annual Guild Member Potluck (888 Western Ave., Seattle, 2:30 pm.)

  • Video camera volunteers also needed to record Guild Meetings. Contact info@edsguild.org.

Julie Klein introduced Lisa L. Owens, who presented: Developmental Editing: Tales from a Children’s Book Editor. Lisa is a writer and editor who has written, edited, and published children’s books and educational reading materials for many years. Her presentation and three handouts are available in the links above.

Here are the main topics she covered:

I. Defining the Developmental Editor’s role

II. Overview of children’s book creators, markets, and genres

III. Variety of forms of developmental editing can take in children’s publishing

IV. Several of my projects

V. Resources to help you take a deep dive into learning about children’s book market

I. A Working Definition of a Developmental Editor: A developmental editor is a language professional who first and foremost is there to support the editor by assuming responsibility for the quality of the finished project and by guiding the author on the project from beginning to end.

II. Who are children’s book creators? Publishers include the traditional “Big Five” – Harper Collins and Random House, to name two, but they can also include smaller publishers and those in the school and library fields.

Children’s book markets include trade books, mass market books, books for the school-and- ibrary/educational markets, novelty market books, and books written by self-publishing authors. More information is featured in Handout #1: Children’s Book Markets.

Children’s book genres span the range from board books (almost no text) to picture books, easy readers, chapter books, middle grade books, and young adult books (ages 12+) which also include graphic novels and storybook applications. These genres are further outlined in Handout #2: Children’s Book Genres.

III. The variety of forms developmental editing can take in children’s publishing: Lisa emphasized the necessity of being “fluid” in roles and tasks. A developmental editor may choose to use a hands-on or hands-off approach with the author, may get involved soon after the publisher has acquired a manuscript, or upon receiving a draft manuscript from an individual author.

Alternatively, a developmental editor may generate a project idea then be responsible for taking it from concept to market. Some do substantive editing, suggesting or requiring and sometimes implementing rewrites. Lisa discussed the finer points of what to cover in a children’s manuscript evaluation, and concluded with advice for working with authors.

IV. Samples of my work: Lisa presented and discussed several of her projects. Check out www.llowens.com for colorful examples of her works!

V. Resources to help you take a deep dive into learning about children’s market range from online sites and blogs to books to magazines and newsletters (both print and electronic). There are also professional groups and agent- and publisher-finding resources. Handout #3 provides an extensive list of reference materials.

One question posed by an audience member to Lisa was, “How do you know the best word choices for age and grade levels?” Lisa recommended resources such as The Children’s Writer’s Word Book and the Scholastic Children’s Dictionary, both available on Amazon.

Above all, Lisa advised aspiring developmental editors to remember to “Take It As It Comes!”

Learn more by watching the NWIEG video of Lisa’s presentation above and by reading her PDF copy and handouts displayed with these notes. If you have questions, you can contact Lisa Owens at lisa@llowens.com.