A Word to Self-Published Authors

It's easy to get your own book published these days. There are several on-line services that will do it for you very quickly (read "minutes") and handle worldwide distribution, at next to no cost, unless you purchase special services. One of those services that's available is editing.

Let me get out my soap box (which means I shift to all caps): PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE - IF YOU'RE GOING TO SELF-PUBLISH, HAVE SOMEONE EDIT YOUR BOOK! I've read many samples of self-published books at various on-line forums and bookstores and so many of them absolutely suck. A professional editor will help you with sentence structure, words you use too often, story mistakes, story ideas, and so on. They'll tell you where the story moves too slowly and where it's too fast. And best of all, they'll tell if you should shelve the whole thing and start over.

An Ordinary Fairy was edited twice. The first time was an overview that covered the story idea and structure, character details, timing, etc. The second was a complete copy edit to catch all the dumb stuff we all put in our writing, and to catch grammar and factual errors. Please find someone to do this for your book. BECAUSE IF YOU PUBLISH A PIECE OF JUNK, YOU PERPETUATE THE IDEA THAT ALL SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS ARE JUNK! PLEASE, DON'T DO IT! FIND AN EDITOR! I'M TIRED OF MY BOOK BEING LUMPED IN WITH ALL THE OTHERS!

And I don't mean proofread. Proofreading is a fairly simple task, reading over to catch errors in spelling, missing quote signs, misuse of "to, two and too", and so on. You should use a big team of proofers (I had seventeen) to be sure everything gets caught. After they're done and you've made the corrections, take the time to read the book again - preferably in hard copy.

Writing An Ordinary Fairy took four years. The final draft was Number Twelve. Most of that time was spent learning how to write. You learn how to write by listening to editors and reviewers and what they say about your writing. And you have to READ. Read what the famous writers create. See how they structure sentences. See how they end a chapter. See how they show, don't tell.

Please.