If your book is like your child, then what is the role of other people associated with your book?

I often hear authors saying that, "my book is like my child." I don’t 

disagree. Of course it is. It’s their brain child and it’s as dear to them 

as their own child. Let us stick with this connotation and try to 

understand roles of some of the key people associated with books in 

relation to a mother and her child. 

Father of the child

So the first important role in a child's life after his/her mother is a role of 

a father. Father's typical role is to protect and provide. A Father helps his 

child to grow by providing financial support for his/her education, medical 

expenses, food, and means for a safe environment and a happy life. This 

is what a publisher does for a book. Indisputably it’s a writer who delivers 

it, but a publisher bears all the expenses of publishing, marketing, and 

everything that a book needs to grow. But there are millions of self-

published authors, who don’t have anyone supporting their work. They 

are like single parent raising their child all alone by bearing financial load 

and giving the required nurturing. They mostly have to become involved 

in all the steps required for a book to reach its potential height by making 

sure that their book gets established in the market and reaches to 

the hands of the readers. It’s no surprise that being a single parent is 

one hell of a difficult a job.

Your Gynecologist

Now what is the role of an editor? An editor is a gynecologist, who makes 

sure you deliver a healthy baby with minimum complications. I truly believe 

that writers should give their editors same respect that they would give to 

their gynecologist during pregnancy. The way only a mother feels a baby's 

movements when it is in her womb, but a doctor who performs a sonography 

has a clearer view of the child, an editor has a more objective and clear vision 

of a book. Just the way a doctor provides time to time medicine to keep your 

baby healthy, an editor gives you timely feedback to explain what is working 

in the favor of your book and what’s not. There is a professional term “Book 

Doctors” used widely these days for the developmental editors, who support 

the authors in the whole process of turning their draft manuscripts into a full 

grown professional book. If a doctor doesn’t perform his or her job with 

precision, you are bound to have complications in delivery. In reference to 

writers if an editor does a shabby job, you’ll face troubles in delivering a 

potentially successful book. 

Importance of a good Nanny

There is another important role these days for a mother’s and a child’s life. 

Think for a moment that you are a mother, who just gave birth to a tender 

newborn baby and you already have another baby conceived in your belly 

and also have planned the third baby that you want to conceive as soon as 

you deliver your second child...ohhh, that’s scary!  At least if you are a single 

mother having no support of your partner. Now think about a similar scenario 

in a life of a self published author. He/she has just published her first book, 

has started writing the second book and his/her mind is already wrangling 

with the idea of the third book. Just the way you cannot plan for another 

baby till your first child is grown up a little, especially if you don’t have a 

family support, you cannot focus on writing your second book if your first 

book is out there in the market and you know that you have to do all the 

marketing on your own to make sure your book is a success. Here comes 

the role of a nanny. She is not the mother and hence probably won’t feel 

the same emotions for the child, but as she spends more time with the child 

making sure the baby eats & sleeps in time, is cleaned properly, is engaged 

well in playing, she also gets attached with the child. In the world of books 

and publications that’s the job of a marketing and PR person. A marketing 

person supports the author in making his/her book a success by looking after 

all the tasks associated with marketing, creating readership, and engaging in 

social media campaigns of the book. If you have a strong support of your 

marketing person, you can give your brain child in his/her able hands and 

focus on writing your next book. If your marketing person is not efficient, 

you wouldn’t have time to write your next book as all your time will go into 

marketing your first book.

The more I am getting engaged with self published writers, trying to 

understand their issues and roadblocks, the more I understand and 

respect the role of an editor and marketing person for the book.I have 

made a humble effort for providing these two crucial services of editing 

and marketing to authors through my freelance service called 

"For Your Fiction". I am determined to take my duties as an editor and 

a marketing person seriously, because as a mother I know, if you have 

an amateur doctor and an inefficient nanny, how difficult your life would 

become.