Here's an excerpt:
And when you say oversee the process, what's the process?
Well, again, it's different for different books. In the case of Usagi Yojimbo, for example… you know, I often joke that if every creator out there were Stan Sakai, I'd be out of a job! Stan is so good at what he does that he really doesn't need me. For instance, I don't get sent a script or thumbnail breakdowns or pencils — I get each issue completed: inked, lettered, the story told. Every issue comes in done, basically. So my job at that point consists in proofreading the pages, and if there are any little art or spelling mistakes or touchups or cleanups needed, I'll have those done. Once in a blue moon I'll have to call Stan and say, "You know, I don't really understand what's going on here” or “I don't think you've explained it enough in terms of the story,” and then Stan comes up with some ingenious solution — some way to fix the problem that's so ingenious that it involves just a little bit of re-lettering to make whatever was cloudy be completely comprehensible.
So that's part of the process, at least with Usagi Yojimbo. With something like The Escapist, it's very, very different. There I'm hiring creative teams, either soliciting writers and artists to do something for the book, or people are approaching me to work on the book. I read plots, and if the plots are approved… if both Michael Chabon and I approve the plot, then it goes to the scripting stage. If Michael and I both approve the script, then it goes to the drawing stage. Sometimes I need to find an artist for a script or vice versa. So on all those various stages of production —pencils, then inks, lettering, colors — I have to oversee every single step of the process. And make sure it all comes in on deadline!
Editors at Dark Horse also oversee the marketing of their books. We generate solicitation copy and are responsible for cover artwork being in on time to run in Diamond Previews. If we want specific ads for our books, we often have to request them from the Marketing department and sometimes we write the ad copy. I don’t know how that works at other publishing houses, but at Dark Horse we’re small enough that it’s easy to just sit and brainstorm with our marketing staff.
But, yeah, the editor’s job really depends on the kind of book it is that you’re editing. If it's a work-for-hire book like The Escapist — where the writers and artists didn’t create the original characters and don’t own the stories — then the editor’s involvement is pretty heavy. Working with creator/owners, on the other hand, means I'm involved as much or as little as the creator wants me to be.
DIANA SCHUTZ: Reading Between the Lines, part 1
Published: Fri, 16-Sep-2005
http://www.comicfoundry.com/modules/wfs ... icleid=158
The Exemplary Editor: DIANA SCHUTZ, part 2
Published: Wed, 28-Sep-2005
http://www.comicfoundry.com/modules/wfs ... icleid=161