Is a Book Ever Really Done?

Way back in 2011, I blogged about the Dynamism of Writing, which takes many forms. I concentrated mostly on the ability of a project to take over the story from my conscious brain, but touched on another aspect as well, and that’s the “doneness” of a book. As I wrote back then, I think I could look at one of my books every day for a year and probably think there were 365 different ways to make it better (sometimes changing things back to what they were before I changed them!). Even our illustrious lady leader, K.S. Brooks, wrote about the wisdom of letting a book sit and looking at it with fresh eyes before publishing.

I don't remember that part!
I don’t remember that part!

This whole issue was brought to my unhappy attention when I began to re-read one of my older books. First published 25 years ago, it’s one of my favorites and I do re-read it periodically just because I enjoy it so much. When the original publisher felt it had had its run, they let the rights revert back to me and I published it through iUniverse (the only game in town at the time), then years later cancelled my contract with them and republished it through CreateSpace. At both of these junctures, I went back through the book and made minute changes, caught a few typos and pronounced it good.

So imagine my surprise when I started reading it recently and found within the first few pages a glaring misspelling! Ack! Of course then the reading-for-fun immediately turned to proofreading, and I’ve found many things that I’ll change, a handful of typos but also—I swear—things that I don’t think I would ever do! Where do those come from? Did someone edit my book?  Who’s hacked into my Kindle and changed things? (Probably the same person who somehow gets into my DVD collection and adds new scenes to movies I’ve watched a dozen times before!)

Coincidentally in a recent discussion, another author friend asked the question, “Is a book ever really done?” Continue reading “Is a Book Ever Really Done?”

How to Buy Book Advertising & Promotion Services

nailbiting lady by MS clipartI was once there: afraid to buy book advertising. I almost forgot what that was like. Recently, in the comment thread of my article discussing What My House Taught Me About Selling Books, I was reminded how scary this industry can be. It’s extra-intimidating if you don’t have someone like Martin Crosbie to show you the ropes. I’m extremely fortunate.

So, I thought it might be nice to offer a little hand-holding and some baby steps for those of you who have yet to take the plunge into advertising their books. Here are a few easy steps to take you from Petrified Author to Seasoned Pro. Continue reading “How to Buy Book Advertising & Promotion Services”

Have you found a way to connect with your local library?

libraryUp here in beautiful, scorching hot Vancouver, we have some incredibly progressive people working at our local libraries. Over the past couple of years I’ve been invited to give readings, sit on panels, and teach workshops at several of their fine facilities. These are large libraries and they cater to thousands of patrons. And, I’m the self-published guy, so I’m a little harder to find. Fortunately, through the creative use of smoke and mirrors I’ve made myself so loud that I can’t be ignored. And, they carry my books and their users borrow them from time to time, so, I’ve become known to some extent, locally. The largest library is the Vancouver Public Library. This is truly a magnificent building and it’s situated right in the middle of the city. They called in a bunch of us author-type people last month for a meeting. When they told me in their invitation email what the subject matter was I couldn’t wait to attend. Continue reading “Have you found a way to connect with your local library?”