For book/ebook authors, publishers, & self-publishers
What's Your Biggest Challenge with Your Book?
I'd be interested to learn what authors/publishers on this network think their biggest challenges are with their book. I wonder if there's any common, pervasive challenge we all face.
Views: 9110
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Suzanne Ouimet on
-
I wouldn't mind a referral, either, Joel.
-
-
My biggest challenge, at the moment, is to find someone who could read my partly finished manuscript and perhaps give me an idea or two what I am not doing right. An editor who could set me straight.
On my two previous books, I had a friend who was also an author. We networked, bounced ideas of one another and read chapters to each other. Many ideas came out of that, as well as seeing what worked and didn't. My friend has moved and is no longer available, so I'm at a loss of how to continue.
-
Permalink Reply by Joel Friedlander on
-
Suzanne,
At least you recognize how important it is to get editorial feedback to refine your manuscript. Many of my clients hire editors for this kind of work, but it does add a cost to your project, and sometimes the cost is not insubstantial. Another idea might be to join a writing workshop where constructive criticism and discussion is encouraged (not a "critique" group) and you might be able to meet other writers with similar needs and abilities. A third avenue writers use is finding a local English professor or equivalent who would be willing to engage in conversation about your book.
Hope that helps, but if not, keep asking and let's see what we can come up with!
-
-
A member on Cold Coffee, a gentleman in England, is currently taking a look at it. He has mentioned a few 'problems' and hopefully will put me on the right track.
I am currently looking for someone local to me who might be interested in doing this.
There was a writers' club listed in one of our local mags, but when I called it seems they are not 'active' unfortunately. Told them to call if and when....
Hiring an editor is not in my budget.
My last book was written fairly quickly but this one is taking quite awhile. 1.5 years already, but not, of course, constantly.
-
Permalink Reply by albertasequeira on
-
It's too bad you can't afford an editor. I had over forty mistakes I had missed. Lucky I had an editor.
-
Permalink Reply by Paradise on
-
You are very good. I usually have more than three hundred mistakes in 300 pages. My first editor gets about ninety percent, my second most of the rest and my readers still find four or five on a good day. I may have to buy one of you books, I have never seen a book without a mistake. You are very good at what you do. If I could get down to forty, which I can't, I would feel like a champion. I was raised a Hill Billy way down in the Ozarks and where I lived, honestly, we never heard the word college. None of my family before me ever got past grade school, except for one that I know of.
It is a pleasure to know you.
Dr Robert E McGinnis
Author of: The Paradise Series
-
-
No, Paradise, I'm not that good. AS FAR AS I KNOW, there are no more mistakes. I had 30 mistakes the first time, 50 with the second check and 80 with the last check and had to pay for the corrections. I re-read that book until I was blind, swearing I got all the mistakes.
When my sequel is ready for print, I have three other people who are lined-up to read the book to find the corrections.
-
-
Thanks, now I don't feel so bad. I agree, it takes more than one person to get it right, we all have our nuances and obliteration's. I often make a mistake and even when someone points it out to me, I will read it correctly and ignore the fact that it is incorrect.
-
Permalink Reply by J. Steve Miller on
-
And then there's the problem of corrections causing other problems. Sometimes, when an editor corrects a sentence, the meaning changes slightly, or it introduces a formatting error.
The latest book I'm reading on book marketing has many, many errors, but all in the quotes under the chapter titles or division titles. Apparently, when the interior design folks did their thing, they inadvertently wiped out all the apostrophes in those quotes. I'm sure all those had been gone through with a fine-toothed comb prior to the layout phase. But the final tampering messed them up.
No matter how many people, yea, how many professionals, have gone over my manuscript, I do a thorough read through before it goes to print. (And I always find something!) Yet, there's always something that's left after the final print as well. Keeps us humble. -
-
-
One thing I don't want to be known for is an author with mistakes throughout her book,
-
-
-
Alberta, Paradise, Steve, I think there's one missing element in all these stories. This is not surprising if you haven't been on the "inside" of how books are produced professionally, and it's one of the reasons self-published books--rightly or wrongly--get a bad rap.
For several years I produced books for a business book publisher here in San Francisco. Many of these were complex books with illustrations, charts, graphs, multi-level subheads, annotations, bibliographies--you get the idea.
Here's the punch line--not one of these books ever got printed with even 1 error in them. An author once complained about an error, but when we looked into it, it turned out he just wanted to change one character's name, not an error at all.
Errors are not inevitable. Editors are not proofreaders. Your neighbors, children, aunts uncles and cousins are not proofreaders. The local english professor is not a proofreader. You cannot assure yourself that having x number of people read your book will eliminate errors, you will just waste a huge amount of time.
Proofreading costs real money, for a good reason.
If you skip this step, then yes, errors are inevitable and your book will suffer because of them. Maybe not much, maybe a lot, who can tell?
Just a thought.
-
-
Joel,
I'm sure you are 100% correct with a Traditional Publisher finding all the mistakes. POD and self-publishing do have a bad name for that reason....and they are correct feeling that way. -
Book Marketing Bestsellers
About
Recommended Website
Music
© 2024 Created by John Kremer.
Powered by
