Company Name:

Loving Healing Press and its imprints

How long editor for:

Since 1999. My science fiction novel, Sleeper, Awake, was accepted by Clocktower Publishing. This was a cooperative of writers. All work was done on a profit-sharing basis by the authors. We were required to review each other’s books, which was no hardship. I did so for Max Overton. As well as the public review, I did a line edit and offered content improvement suggestions. I didn’t know, but his now sadly dead wife, Ariana, was the chief editor. She immediately got me onto the editing team. Incidentally, Max’s writing has soared, and I can thoroughly recommend him.

1. What is your background in editing?

Obsessives of the world unite! I am a 220% person and line edit everything, even shop signs and newspaper articles. I miss nothing — except in my own writing.

My major qualification is that when I arrived in Australia as a boy, I couldn’t even read the street signs. English was bewildering foreign territory. But if someone else can do it, I can learn it. Because I learned it all from first principles, I learned it well.

2. How long have you been editing for this publishing company?

I was a judge in a book contest early this century. I forget the exact year. One entry had fascinating, terrific content, but was full of technical errors. The more you give the more you grow, so I did a line edit and sent it off to the publisher. That was Victor Volkman of Loving Healing Press, and I’ve been editing for this excellent, immensely ethical publishing house since.

3. What do you edit for this publishing company?

Approximately what Victor sends me, plus of minus a few other things. The publisher is an offshoot of the Metapsychology organsation (no, that’s not a typo, I am writing in Australian), and I edit their quarterly newsletters. Victor sends me a variety of nonfiction books, all with a therapeutic bent, and even more fiction titles, which are published under the Modern History Press imprint. He is a patron of certain writers in India, and I have edited several books written in Hindu-English, which is a little like translating it into American. He is even more the patron of many writers writing about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which could be a different country from the rest of the USA as far as history and culture are concerned.

4. Is there anything specific you hope to see when deciding whether or not to accept a manuscript?

I have never rejected a manuscript. When someone queries me, I request a Word file of the first 1000 words and do a free edit on it. This addresses technical issues, content, and style. On this basis, I give a quote per 1000 words. Often, I advise the writer to study my comments, and also the many helpful essays by me and many others at

http://mudsmith.net/bobbing.html#writing and my fun posts about writing at my blog, Bobbing Around https://bobrich18.wordpress.com and then to rewrite the book before sending me a new sample.

5. What are some common mistakes you see in manuscripts?

I have often edited academic theses. It’s a great way to learn about a wide range of topics. One of my frequent recommendations is to rewrite the introduction, and this bit of advice may apply to other forms of writing. Even a carefully plotted novel or well-planned nonfiction book will change during writing, so it makes sense to write the opening chapters last, not first.

Many writers have no idea of the proper use of the past participle. It is possible to stay correct without a ponderous proliferation of hads.

In fiction, inexperienced writers are all too intent on information, and will have info dumps, and jump onto the stage to explain and give backstory. But fiction is about emotion, not information. This is best presented by giving everything through the point of view of a character.

Then there is head hopping. If we are within everyone’s head, we cannot identify with anyone.

In technical terms, my favourite hate is the lay-lie confusion, but there are others, like dangling participles.

6. Are there any editing goofs you tend to overlook in manuscripts?

Only in my own writing.

7. How do you work with an author as their editor?

I request the manuscript as a single Word file, and use Word’s comment facility. When I edit for a publisher, I usually leave track changes off. My work can still be seen through “merging documents.” Then I ask the author to read the new version looking for unintended changes of meaning.

But editing is often more like teaching. When that is the case, I use track changes, never mind the visual mess this creates, so the writer can study and grow.

8. Have you ever had a negative experience with an author? If so, how was it resolved?

Twice. Once an American Reverend Gentleman hired me to edit his commentary on some part of the Bible. We agreed on a price, I did my work — and he never paid.

Then I edited a series of novels by an African doctor who was studying psychiatry in Australia. He finished his course and returned home — and never paid for the last one.

I now request payment before returning the manuscript except for publishers and writers I know and trust.

But also, money often costs more than it’s worth. My reaction to those two thieves is compassion. What a horrible way to be!

9. What happens if an author does not agree with your suggestions?

No worries. It’s not my book.

10. How long does it typically take you to work through edits on a manuscript when going on the first round of edits?

Depends on length and the complexity of the job of course. I have rarely taken more than a week, although I tend to be busier than the average old fella.

11. Do you feel that it's important to have a background as a professional editor before becoming an editor at a publishing company?

Well, I am a freelancer, not an employee. It may be impressive, but what matters is quality of work.

12. Are there any books or editing courses you recommend to anyone who wishes to pursue editing professionally?

Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s The Frugal Editor. I know it’s excellent because I edited it for Loving Healing Press.

13. Do you still seek editing clients?

Well, I am 81-and-a-third years old as I write. When one comes along, I’ll do it because I see it as a way I can be of service, but I don’t chase work.

ABOUT BOB:

Dr. Bob Rich is currently the author of 19 published books. Six of them, and over 40 short stories, have won awards.

He is an Australian storyteller who started writing in 1980 because a bunch of teenagers kidnapped him. He was making adobe bricks for the house he was building when they descended on him, because they needed one more male for a boys vs. girls soccer game. Who was he to disobey? Naturally, he soon slipped on the mud he’d carried with him, and ended up in hospital with a torn cartilage in his knee.

Bored out of his mind, he borrowed the office typewriter (remember those?) and wrote his first article on building, something he was an expert on, given his Ph.D. in psychology. His words took flight, and his book on how to build your house, “The Earth Garden Building Book,” published by Penguin Australia, sold hundreds of thousands of copies. It went through 4 editions between 1986 and 2018.

Later, he trained as a nurse, which toughened him enough to be able to transition into psychotherapy despite his all-too-overdeveloped empathy. The first lesson of nursing is, “It’s not your pain. You are not there to share it, but to relieve it.” Therapy is even better: you’re there to empower your client to relieve it.

However, while in nursing school, he was surrounded by gorgeous 18-year-olds, and had the choice of making a fool of himself or doing something creative. So, he wrote short stories. The first one he submitted to a contest won a prize, and he was hooked.

All his life, Bob has been a secular Buddhist. He discovered this when wanting to get married. The girl asked to marry in her church, and the minister interviewed Bob to see if he would admit a nonbeliever into the hallowed precincts. After hours of chatting, he said, “You’re a Buddhist, did you know that? Now, let’s set the date.”

Given the handicap of a scientific training, Bob doesn’t believe anything but goes with the evidence. To check on this claim, he needed to spend a day at the University library, not having a time machine to access the internet. He found his belief system there, and since then has considered Siddhartha Gautama his favorite teacher, though there are many others, including a Jewish carpenter.

Bob’s major passion is being a Professional Grandfather. He has hundreds of grandkids all around Earth (none in Antarctica presently). They track him down with emails of despair, and having the gift of healing words, he almost invariably leads them to a good life. Some cease contact once they are OK. Others stay in touch for years from friendship, from having joined his team and needing advice on how to help others, and often for needing their hand held after a backslide. There is no greater joy than being of service, so despite his busy schedule, mentoring and supporting them is top priority.

Everything he does, including his writing, has the aim of working for a tomorrow for today’s kids, and a tomorrow worth surviving in. The second is equally important, and implies a world of decency, cooperation, long-term thinking. All his writing is in the service of this aim.