Don't Thank Me
Don't assume your editor wants to be thanked in the acknowledgments of your book.
HEAR ME OUT.
Before you get all mad at me, please know that I understand this is the opposite of what you probably thought.
You're supposed to thank your family, thank your agent, thank your editor, and thank your god, right?
Maybe, but don't thank me.
At least, not unless I say it's okay, anyway.
I don't always want to be named in the acknowledgments of every book I work on. In fact, there's actually a clause in my contract that says you can't name me unless I've given you permission.
Here are three reasons your book editor might not want to be named in your book:
- Your book is not their preferred genre or subject
I have an extensive background as a technical writer and editor, but for the most part, that’s not what I do anymore. I mostly work in fiction now.
Still, though, from time to time, the odd technical job falls in my lap from old coworkers or people I owe favors. If that author thanks me in their acknowledgments, more people in that field might reach out, asking me to edit their technical project. Then I either have to tell them it was just a one-time thing, or take on yet another technical job I’m not interested in.
While I appreciate your appreciation for my hard work, I don't want to be rewarded for it by getting more work in a genre or subject I don't want to work on. So I might prefer you to leave my name off your project.
2. Your editor might disagree with you
Sometimes atheists work on Christian books. Sometimes libertarians work on books by democrats. And sometimes authors are just people editors don’t want to be professionally associated with.
Some editors are willing to work on projects they disagree with, but they might not necessarily want their name attached to it.
3. You didn't accept all changes
You, as the author, have every right to disagree with your editor's suggestions. You are under absolutely no obligation to accept all the changes they make in your manuscript.
For example, let's say you strongly prefer the UK spellings of some words. Gray looks funny to you, so you prefer grey. You think toward is odd, so you insist on using towards.
Totally fine. Completely valid choices. As long as they're consistent throughout the manuscript and marked as author preference on the style sheet, it's no big thing.
BUT.
I might not want to be named in the acknowledgments of your book. That doesn't mean I think you made a bad choice or that I'm not proud of the work I did in your book, though. It's not personal. I might not want to be named because even though I flagged the error and was told to keep it, nobody else knows that's what happened. They're probably just going to assume that I didn't catch those errors.
So I might ask not to be named in the book. It's not personal, I just don't want people to think I missed something obvious.
So what should you do?
If you think your editor did a fantastic job and you'd like to thank them in the acknowledgments of your book, the best thing you can do is ask for their permission to name them.
If they say they'd prefer not to be named, don't take it personally! There are a whole host of reasons (beyond even the ones I listed) why an editor might not want their name in your book.
If you still want to acknowledge them in some way though, thank them without name dropping!
Options:
- I'd like to thank my editor for all the hard work they put into making this book what it is.
- I couldn't have done this without my editor.
- To my editor: thank you for everything you did to make this possible.