Author Q&A: Sandra Wendel

Today we're interviewing Sandra Wendel, a highly experienced book editor who specializes in helping authors write, polish, and publish their nonfiction manuscripts.

Her award-winning (GOLD/Nonfiction Authors Association) new book, Cover to Cover: What First-Time Authors Need to Know about Editing, explains the mysteries of the editing process.

She shares the authorship of two award-winning, empowering consumer health books with Edward T. Creagan, MD, a physician from Mayo Clinic: How Not to Be My Patient: A Physician’s Secrets for Staying Healthy and Surviving Any Diagnosis and Farewell: Vital End-of-Life Questions with Candid Answers from a Leading Palliative and Hospice Physician. 

SADYE: How did you come to see yourself as a writer, and what inspired you to seek publication?

SANDRA: Happily, the rise of digital printing (where just one book can be printed and delivered within days) and the power of the KDP/Amazon publishing platform bring the joy of writing and publishing a book to the world, as traditional publishing continues on a downward and justly deserved spiral.

I like to think I was in on the beginning of that publishing revolution and among the early adopters of the author/publisher model.

SADYE: What have been the most surprising, rewarding, and challenging parts of your writing career?

SANDRA: I’m a journalist by training, so writing comes easily.

With books, I have had to discipline myself to revise and rewrite (which was not a luxury when I was writing for the fast pace of radio and television news).

I really am a much better editor, however, and that’s my day job.

Because I am not afraid to write, I assist my author clients in writing their back cover copy, marketing copy, and even some heavier rewrites in their books when warranted.

I have ghostwritten a few books and find I can take on the voice of the author like a chameleon.

SADYE: What message or theme would you like readers to take away from your work?

SANDRA: Authors who come to me for editorial help are clueless about what to do in the book writing, editing, and publishing process.

I found myself having the same conversations every day with first-time authors, so I wrote my book to be the “read this book before you publish your book” piece.

I also started the First-Time Authors Club on Facebook to create a community of support for all authors. Everyone is invited to join.

I like to think I have opened the kimono to the heretofore uncertainties in the editing process itself as authors make their way to the publishing phase.

I have exposed the scams and warts of the industry and promoted the joys and sense of accomplishment new authors feel.

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Learn more about Sandra Wendel on her website, where her books can also be purchased; join her Facebook group; and follow her on Twitter. 

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