Andrew Zack – Editor

Before becoming an agent, Andy rose through the ranks of trade publishing in New York, moving quickly from Simon & Schuster to Warner Books to Donald I. Fine and finally to Editor at the Berkley Publishing Group. As a freelance editor, he has edited titles for Berkley, DIF, Dell, and Avon, and became a Consulting Editor for Tom Doherty’s Forge Books. The titles below represent a sample of those he has either edited, represented, or published.

Andy's strengths are in editorial assessments, developmental editing, and line editing. He also reviews query letters and has read or written thousands over his career.

Andy has been an editor, publisher, author coach, and literary agent and has represented authors of fiction and nonfiction at two different firms. He is also the publisher of a small press, working both directly with authors and with agents to acquire and publish works of commercial fiction and nonfiction.

An "editorial assessment" is a "big picture" look at the book. What works or doesn't and why. It focuses on finding the "rejection triggers" that are going to result in agents and editors passing on your book. The cost tends to be between $500 and $1,200, based on length.

"Developmental editing" is much more detailed and involves reading the book through once as a reader and then again, taking close notes either within the Word file or for a separate editorial letter or both. It is very time-consuming and therefore the cost is generally between $3,500 and $5,000.

"Line editing" comes after developmental editing. It requires the editor to read the entire book through, going line by line, and looking at word choices, style issues, and spelling and grammar. However, it is not copyediting. The cost of line editing a novel is highly dependent on how clean the book is. If the editor looks at a sample and thinks you are a very good writer who needs not a lot of work, the cost will be less than when it looks like a writer needs every sentence fine-tuned.

It is worth noting that some editors may combine developmental editing and line editing into one service or fee and any author should clarify exactly what is being offered when discussing paying to have their book "edited."

In the traditional publishing process, the editor who acquires your book will likely do the developmental editing and the line editing. Once the editor formally "accepts" the book the author has no more rewrites to do, and the editor will send the book off to a copy editor to review it for house style, spelling, grammar, and other issues. Unless you are self-publishing, you should never need to hire a copy editor or proofreader. Your publisher will have the book copyedited and later proofread after typesetting.