ALERT, ALERT: The Summer
of Love romance novel contest ends on May 15, and there will be more than one winner. In the
meantime, special prizes
are being given away almost
daily. Check out how to enter for the next prize at www.summeroflovebooks.com
cj Sez: Did you ever
open a book, read a few chapters (or even a few lines), and then put it down
because of errata, i.e.; those typos, misspellings, and factual errors that
drive a pedantic like me crazy. One or two will make me shake my head and pause;
a lot of them will stop me in my tracks.
I used to find that indie books were the worst. They tended
to be poorly edited if not poorly written. Now, I’m finding errors in books by
established authors and big publishing houses who should know better. Perhaps
it comes down to the time it takes to do a detailed copy edit vs. getting the
book on the market.
The problem with self-published books is that they are so
often done on a shoestring (cost-wise) that the author cannot afford to pay for
a copy editor. Unfortunately, I’ve come across some writers who simply don’t want to go
through the process.
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| (From my author Facebook page) |
Speaking from experience, self-edits and beta readers do
not, will not, and cannot catch everything that a professional copy editor
will. When I was gainfully employed, one of my report/column-writing rules was
to get as many people as possible to read the document . . . the more eyes on
it the better the end product. That wasn’t easy to do when I was on deadline,
and my work wasn’t on the top of someone else’s to-do list. But the effort was
so worth it.
The same thing is true about an author’s manuscript. I, me,
personally, want my manuscript to be the best I can make it. I read the document
on the computer screen, and then I print a few pages. Because the text looks
different when printed, I’ll spot the missing comma, period, or quotation mark
that was missed on numerous computer-screen read-throughs. Sometimes, I make a
copy of the printed page. Copying changes the size and look of the font once again, and I
will (too often) find something else to correct.
My advice: Don’t presume that because you’ve typed “The End,”
your manuscript is finished. It’s probably months away from being ready for
publication. It needs fresh eyes. It’s a personal and financial consideration
for each author, but please consider hiring a copy editor if you can afford it.
Caveat: Expect that if your manuscript is accepted by a publisher, their
punctuation rules for how they want their publication to look may differ from
your copy editor’s input, and there could be more changes to be made.
Got any horror or triumphant stories to share? Send them along. Lyrical Pens would love to read them.
cj
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