Literature is full of color and surprises. It has a lot of books that belong to not only one but, sometimes, two genres. This only show how abundant and versatile is the literary realm. Additionally, the brilliant authors are not only authors in the profession; but, are also popular on different platforms. There are some that excel in the field of illustration while there are also others that shine in the area of editing. You probably have known a lot of author-illustrator by now; however, do you know any authors that are also editors? If you don’t, then here are the best author-editors that you should know.
Margaret Atwood
You may have heard about Margaret Atwood in your literature class or in an article posted online. She is one of the brightest writers with books that are bagging a lot of awards. Among her popular works is The Handmaid’s Tale. Margaret is working with her publishing company’s book editor; however, she has grown and developed a remarkable skill in editing. No matter how established you are in the world of literature and how top-notch the people that you work with, it is still significant to keep involved in editing your work. Hence, Atwood has, in fact, given some essential tips that authors really need to know. These tips are: reading your work out loud, taking some time to comprehend the right process, utilizing physical editing materials, and making use of computer shortcuts.
Greg Van Arsdale
One of the best science fiction writers, Greg Van Arsdale, is also a promising editor. He is the author of The Genesis Project series that is consists of 4 amazing books. Arsdale started his writing journey in the early 1980s before he embarked on his editing career. He has over 3 decades of experience in the field of editing both fiction and nonfiction genres. Now, editing has become his full-time work. He focuses his entire attention on a manuscript, and make sure to adapt the writing style and voice instead of changing theirs. According to Greg Van on authors for self editing, an essential thing to not remember is that both publishers and agents look forward to a flawless manuscript instead of the opposite. Authors who self-edit have the tendency to overlook their errors because of familiarity, and those mistakes won’t be spotted until they hire a professional editor — like Van Arsdale.
Toni Morrison
One of the best authors of all time, Toni Morrison, is also a brilliant editor. She started to work as a professional editor in 1965 when she got divorced. She served as an editor under L.W. Singer, which is Random House Publisher’s textbook branch. Toni moved to Random House in NYC after two years and hailed as the fiction unit’s very first black woman senior editor. Furthermore, Morrison possessed a significant role in taking Black literature into the spotlight. The influential Contemporary African Literature (1972), a series which included the works of Nigerian authors such as, Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe, and the South African playwright Athol Fugard, was among the first works that Morrison worked on. She brought about a new era of Afro-American authors, namely poet and author Toni Cade Bambara, feminist activist Angela Davis, Black Panther Huey Newton, and author Gayl Jones, whose work was discovered by Toni.
David Levitahan
David Levithan is a popular young adult fiction author. His books have received multiple awards, like the 2003 Lambda Literary Award for Boy Meets Boy and the 2006 Literary Award for The Full Spectrum. Three of his books were adapted into a film, which are Every Day, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List. The two of which were co-authored with Rachel Cohn. Apart from being an author, he is also an editor. He was an intern at Scholastic Corporation when he was 19 years old. That is when he started to work on the series titled The Baby-sitters Club. Now, he is still working in the same publishing company but not as an intern but as an editorial director. Moreover, he is the YA imprint of Scholastic Press’s PUSH founding editor. PUSH centers on brand-new authors and voices. PUSH produces edgier content and is the platform that gave Patricia McCormick her breakthrough after the 2002’s Cut.
The Happy Hammock 