Tag: Editing

Head-Hopping

Whose line is it anyway?

Somebody once said that writing a book makes you an expert – but only on writing that one particular book. In other words, every project is unique. Just because you’ve written a book or two, it doesn’t mean you’ve got the whole “writing books” thing down pat.

I have been reminded of this while working on my current WIP. All five books of the Pipe Woman Chronicles were written in first person point of view, and same character was always the narrator. I know some people don’t like to read books written in first person, but I have to tell you that it cuts down on the temptation to engage in some bad authorial habits – like, for example, head-hopping. Continue reading “Head-Hopping”

Are You Publishing to Connect with Readers or Just to Publish?

These are two different things. I was reminded of this when I stepped into a lively discussion recently in a Facebook group. There was an author recommending to other authors that they should bypass the editing process and simply have a family member proofread their soon to be self-published book. This doesn’t work for me.

When I published my first book I had one primary purpose—I wanted readers to read my book. And yes, there were other parts of the dream too. I wanted my friends and family to hold my book in their hands and see what I’d done, and I wanted to hit the bestseller lists and have the royalty payments arrive so quickly that I couldn’t spend the money fast enough. That part of the dream is contingent on my main objective being realized first though. Before anything else happened, I had to connect with readers, and to do that I needed to produce a professional product. If I’d just wanted to hold a book in my hands, and show off my writing to those around me, it would have been much simpler. I didn’t, though. I believe that I’m a pretty good writer and I want to earn my living writing and to do that I need to find readers. So, I got some help. Continue reading “Are You Publishing to Connect with Readers or Just to Publish?”

Breathe

The Dreamt Child - a novel by Yvonne HertzbergerThe goal was to have my book out to my beta readers by this week. In order to get there I had to cut down on some of my other commitments, but I made it. Two wonderful people already have their copies and I hope the other two will arrive in the next day or two so I can hand them over.

Putting “The End” to that first draft gave me some mixed reactions. Since this book will be the final installment of a trilogy, this milestone brought some surprising emotions. We spend so much time struggling to type those two words. Then, when it finally comes, we expect to be elated, to feel a sense of accomplishment, relief and even euphoria. At least I did.

The hard part is supposed to be over, right? Sure, there are revisions to make and endless rounds of editing but the story is complete. So why are those expected feelings so fleeting, or missing altogether? They were there when I completed the first book. What changed?

At first I thought I might be experiencing a reluctance to let go of my world, my characters and my story. And there is some of that, I agree. But there is much more to it. Continue reading “Breathe”

The Buck Stops With You!

The thing about ePublishing, if you are an independent author/publisher, is that every little detail is your responsibility.

No matter who may assist you (paid or otherwise) in the process – that means through all of the editing, formatting, proof reading, art work and the specific, pre-upload, formatting requirements of each of the ePublishing distributors you decide to utilise, and of course the actual, physical uploading of the manuscript itself – the responsibility, to make sure everything is perfect, is yours. THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU!

Quite apart from having a professional job done on all of the various editing processes, you need to have someone check it before you consider uploading. Many indies these days use beta readers who, as well as spotting mistakes and inconsistencies, will give opinions about how the book works; or perhaps why it doesn’t work. If you also have someone who knows, or at least has an idea, what it is that you are trying to say or do with your book; then so much the better. Continue reading “The Buck Stops With You!”