Several weeks ago, I talked about how to get useful feedback on your writing from others. Some of those others are likely authors from your writing group, and if you’re asking for their reviews on your work, it’s only fair that you return the favor.
Here are a few suggestions on making sure your peer reviews are actually useful.

Besides, reading and thinking critically about the work of others will serve to make you a better writer as well.
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When you think of contracts, do you think of page after page of incomprehensible legal jargon full of traps and pitfalls just waiting to catch you unaware and cheat you out of a fair deal?

Unfortunately, those types of contracts do exist, but a legally binding contract doesn’t have to be that way. At their best, contracts aren’t about protecting two rivals from taking advantage of each other. They’re about facilitating a harmonious relationship between two parties—in this case, between author and editor.

​This post is meant as a brief overview. If you’re interested in a deeper dive into editorial contracts, I highly recommend The Paper It’s Written On by Karin Cather and Dick Margulis. It’s a fairly thin volume but full of much better and more in-depth information than I’ve presented here.
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None of us writes in a vacuum. Everything we hear, see, and read influences what we write. And sometimes, it’s helpful to reference other people’s ideas and words in our own work.

However, it has to be done right. That means giving proper attribution and signaling when you’ve departed from the exact wording but kept the core idea.

​We’ll deal more extensively with proper attribution (giving credit to the originator of an idea and pointing readers to the original document) another day. At the moment, we’ll take a look at three ways writers incorporate another person’s words and ideas into their own work: quotes, excerpts, and paraphrases.
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So, you’ve written your masterpiece and think you’re ready to start your search for an editor? Great! But there’s a little prep work you can do ahead of time to make that process a little smoother.
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When you contact your potential new editor, there are a few things they’ll need to know to get an idea of how best to serve you. You can save yourself and your editor a lot of time and trouble by thinking through and having answers ready for the following questions.
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