…for years I never questioned the advertisements…yer favourite brand of washing powder, Mabel… ‘NEW AND IMPROVED’ they crowed…but not just one year, but the next… and the next…and the one after that…so I kinda set to thinkin’…after thirty years of NEW AND IMPROVED powder EVERY year for three decades…how bluudy awful was the stuff when they started out?…for the cognoscenti of the literary arts, this is gonna make a bit of sense…(trust me)…take a novel that ye’ve just written…then ye start to edit…it improves (ye hope)…and then ye dabble with it again…and again…and yet again…bits of narrative here…scraps of dialogue there…too many adverbs…overuse of certain phrases and words…the ubiquitous excessive indulgence in the word ‘that’… and so it goes on…I’ve had long-established grandees in the scribblers profession share with me, that sometimes they think they can NEVER edit enough…this last two months I have spent doing precisely what the people I admire most in this industry do…a line-by-blood-sweat-and-tears-line edit of my first two babies, THE VIOLIN MAN’S LEGACY and VENGEANCE WEARS BLACK…don’t get me wrong… I’m still DELIGHTED with the original versions, authorial narcissist that I am…(50,000+ downloads tells me at least SOME people agree with me)… but the gratification of immersion in each and every page to seek to improve is incalculable…I highly recommend it…there are those of you who have supported my own efforts here for the last 18 months… and others astonishingly who have asked my humble advice on writing as a debut indie…lads and lassies, SERIOUS EDITING is the way to go…the ‘NEW AND IMPROVED’ tag line’s what ye seek…go hunt it down…meantime , a wee reminder— VENGEANCE WEARS BLACK is on Kindle Free Promo Jan24-28 this week…pick it up here :
VENGEANCE WEARS BLACK
Amazon Links:
It also helps to have beta readers ready, willing, and able to point out areas in which the book could use some improvement, as I’ve recently discovered by letting my newest ‘baby’ out into the wilds of beta reading. Sadly, it’s difficult to find someone who *can* give that kind of critique. I got one very nice review, one ‘well written’, and thus far just *ONE* solid critique of where it could use some improvement. I’m hoping for a couple more before I go back to it and edit it again.
I agree with you a million percent on the beta reader issue, but also agree it’s difficult to get an independent,thinking, HONEST response, which is what most of us really want to have .. thanks for your comment, Melissa.. mwaaah
:)
I did a beta read/proofread/edit of a friends teenage book….I found it very informative, it’s much easier to find someone else’s errors, repetitions, POV shifts,info dumps, set phrases,excessive backstory and typos than your own.
He said he found it very useful, though I make no claims to be an editor or proofreader.
I’m am truly honestly convinced that there is no such thing as a “perfectly edited book.” Even when a million people read it, edit it, professional or not – we are all human. But having a professional editor is THE way to go… so long as you can afford it.
Proofreading is an absolute skill….editing is a matter of opinion…..
I agree with Mel (M.S. Fowle). A pro is the way to go, but you have to find one you can work with and fork it over.
That said, what you’ve done shows diligence and good sense. Don’t worry, Seumas, I won’t tell Matron.
Seumas Does that mean there will eventually be a collector’s edition of the two books “the Author/Editor’s Cut” !!!
That;s a great marketing idea … !! usual commissions will be forwarded ..:):)
Can’t wait to read “Vengeance Wears Black”. I just downloaded it!