Day: October 18, 2012

Preditors and Editors Needs Your Help

We were very pleased to learn that Indies Unlimited has been listed as recommended by Preditors & Editors (P&E) in the site’s Promotional and Marketing Services section.

For those few who may not yet know, Preditors & Editors is a valuable resource for writers, representing something along the lines of a Consumer Reports for the publishing world. Before you shop your manuscript, it pays to check with sites such as P&E. If nothing else, check them out before you ink any deals with anyone.

On a personal note, I will relate that P&E helped keep me from making what could have been a costly mistake. When I first finished my novel, I shopped it to every agent I could find. The only two who responded with interest were listed in P&E as NOT RECOMMENDED.

Both these “agents” saw a lot of promise in my manuscript if only I was willing to invest a little money in editing, formatting, marketing, cover design, publicity, carpet cleaning, etc., and fortunately, they happen to provide exactly such services. Continue reading “Preditors and Editors Needs Your Help”

Featured Author: Tami Kidd

Tami Masincupp writes under the name Tami Kidd, her maiden name. Tami was born July 29, 1959 in Riverside, California. At age six she moved to Arkansas with her family.

In 2001, she and her two teenagers moved to Navarre, Florida. She is a technical writer for a software development team during the day. In her off hours she writes, and enjoys life in Baker, Florida with her husband. Together they care for their three dogs and flock of chickens.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie is her first novel. Her poetry has been included in two local anthologies and has won 1st place in a regional contest.

Her goal is to one day retire and write full time, without going broke! Continue reading “Featured Author: Tami Kidd”

Typopotamus

Typopotamus
© 2012 Anneliese Hise

I am no typist. Whether I am working on a manuscript or simply chatting with a supermodel on Facebook, my messages are sometimes as garbled as if I were dictating to a Hippopotamus.

A typo is not merely typing the wrong thing, but happens when you mean to type one thing and instead type something else. Sometimes, this is caused by a keystroke error—you end up with too few or too many of the letters you meant to type because your touch is too heavy or too light; or you were off by one key and typed the wrong letter altogether.

Spell-check is helpful, but it is no panacea. Auto-correct is responsible for some hilarious and embarrassing word replacements. There is simply no substitute for proofreading. Proof however you like. Proof as you go, proof each day’s work, proof the whole dang thing when you claim to be done. When you are finished, proof it again. Continue reading “Typopotamus”