Comment

Comment by Regina Y. Swint on January 14, 2012 at 8:59am

@Liz...I hope that forums like this will encourage all writers, especially self-published, to really invest the time and money in good editing.  And you all are so right.  When many folks see that someone is self-published, they usually assume the worst.  Hopefully, we can change their ways of thinking once we start devoting more of work to a proper editing and polish.

Comment by Liz Carmichael on January 13, 2012 at 11:28pm

There are a lot of valid points here. I think the biggest problem is people expect self-published to mean poor writing and/or poor editing, which is not always the case.

Not all traditionally published books come through as well as they could. The one I'm reading at present is driving me up the wall. At the end of each character's dialogue is the action tags of the other character. At first it was confusing - because the action did not match what the character had said - until I realised what was going on. As if that was not bad enough, sometimes two characters are speaking in the same paragraph. This is basic stuff that the publisher's editors should have corrected immediately. It's not an odd typo here and there, it runs through the whole book. If not for the author's writing ability, this book would have been quickly tossed aside.

For my own writing I make sure I have someone else go over the manuscript, yet, as I revise, I often find things they missed.

Comment by Regina Y. Swint on January 13, 2012 at 2:17pm

@Mary...That's exactly what happened to me.  I got the initial edit, made the changes (as I saw fit), and never returned to the editor (a friend of mine) for an edit check before going to publish.  Ouch!  It was wrong for me to put her in that position as an editor, and worse, I ended up with a less than polished product out to the masses.  That won't EVER happen again.  Lesson learned here.

Comment by Mary L. Holden on January 13, 2012 at 1:51pm

Regina, you made some good points! As an editor, I have a set fee for editing, and a lower fee for editing help during revisions. When I edit for authors who self publish, I have to hope that they will take my edits and work them into a decent revision on their own. It is one thing to edit a raw manuscript (which often involves a lot of creative editorial input) or a manuscript that has been workshopped and well-revised by the writer. It is quite another thing to turn back an edited manuscript and then not be able to see the revisions! That gap makes it difficult for me: I can imagine a self-published book being revised without another edit to check changes, having lots of errors in revision and going to publication with my name on the line as the editor. So far, I've been fortunate to work with authors who've done a good job on revision, or who have hired me to edit the revised manuscript. One thing I love about editing is that each job is so very different! Sometimes I work on an hourly basis, keeping track of hours (I worked as a paralegal for six years and learned to keep very accurate time sheets) and sometimes I work with an author on a project basis. Being able to evaluate cost/time/efficiency/best practice is a challenge, but open and honest communication is always the key.  

Comment by Regina Y. Swint on January 13, 2012 at 12:16pm

@Jolie...Your words ring true in my experience and personal observations, too. 

"...(Just because you can self-publish a book doesn't mean you should if you don't have the funds to do it properly.) Every self-published book that is full of errors, yet introduced to the public, is damaging to the image of self-published authors..."

Well said.  I wish more of us would take those words into consideration BEFORE we rush to publish.  I had a friend tell me a while back that she was going to publish with a certain company, and she was so excited because the publisher told her that she didn't need ANY editing.  I told her then that that was a red flag and to reconsider.  She didn't listen because she was just so excited to get published.  *Sigh*

In the end, it wasn't as good a product as it could have been.  I'm not even sure if that publisher is still around, and my friend is now very discouraged.  Weak editing (or just plain old lack of editing) makes self-published authors seem like a joke in a lot of circles, and that's really too bad.  A lot of folks frown on self-published works, at least from unknown authors, because they just expect them to be bad.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit the number of self-published authors I've supported only to be disappointed with the weak editing.  As a relative newbie, I want to support my friends in their writing efforts, but then I cringe when I see too many obvious and glaring errors.

One author "friend" even wrote a nasty blog about me for commenting that his story was good, but that his editing was weak.  Geez Louise.

Looking back, I was among those who rushed my publication of my first book (personal reasons), and although it's been pretty well-received and I'm pleased with it, I know it could have been better, IF I had listened to my editor, and if I hadn't rushed it through.  I found several simple errors that would have been cleaned up if I hadn't tried to do her job.  I'm lucky that I don't care about royalties.  I just want to be read.  And one of the best ways to increase my chances of getting read is to ensure a high quality, well edited product.

I'm lucky that I have the means to hire editors, because I know how important they are to a polished finished product.  I don't want anyone taking my writing as a joke.  So, for as much as I think of my writing, I am sensible enough to acknowledge that no one should go without an editor.  I will always use editors in my works, and now that I'm venturing into becoming an actual publisher, all of my authors' works (when I get some authors) will be using professional editors, too.  It's not only good for the writer and the writer, it's just plain good business.  And we should all make the investment.

Comment by Jolie du Pre on January 13, 2012 at 11:46am

Self-publishing gives us the opportunity to get our work out there quicker than a publisher can do it; it allows us to introduce subject matter that a publisher may not want to touch, and often it allows us to get a better percentage of royalties than a publisher can provide. However, self-publishing should not be used to avoid what is required. You can publish your work  without the benefit of an editor, but why would any serious author do that?

I'll modify what I wrote earlier in this thread.  If you can find an editor for free who will do as complete a job as a professional, that's fine.  However, if you're going with someone who is not a professional, and you know that the person is not as strong as a professional, but you don't care, because you don't want to pay for a professional, you're harming your self-published book.  You're adding to the bad rap that self-published authors get. (Just because you can self-publish a book doesn't mean you should if you don't have the funds to do it properly.) Every self-published book that is full of errors, yet introduced to the public, is damaging to the image of self-published authors.

This is not to say that traditionally published books don’t have errors. They do. (We all know you could take a red pen to some of the New York published books out there, for example.)  However, I believe every author should strive for as few errors as possible in their books, even bestselling authors.  It's difficult to catch our own errors.  Every author needs help.

Comment by Regina Y. Swint on January 13, 2012 at 10:47am

@Nancy, Diane, and Jolie...All of you ladies make great points.  I have always been a big fan of of professional editing.  I've preached about it for years to self-pubbed/indie-pubbed authors, including in my blog on She Writes a month or so ago.  Professional editors are certainly worth the investment.  And as authors, we should pay attention to what they tell us.  Learned that lesson the hard way, trying to do too much myself once upon a time.  But I also believe that there are some non-pros out there who are/can be helpful.  I understand if we disagree on some that, but for the most part, I believe we agree.

And thanks for that great article, Diane.  I'm going to add it to my favorites and go out and do some sharing.  :)

Comment by Nancy E. Frank on January 13, 2012 at 9:10am

As a magazine and newspaper copy editor who freelances for a living, I could not agree with you more on the subject of editing.  I have seen enough copy in 15+ years of editing to assure anyone that a second set of eyes is well worth the price of saving the author from acute embarrassment.  To me, a typo or grammatical error in the first sentence of a magazine piece or book is enough to put me off from continuing to read: there may be many who miss these errors, given the speed with which the info superhighway has forced us into media overload, but as a professional editor, I find these mistakes egregious.  Print may be dying, but editors are not.

Comment by Diane O'Connell on January 13, 2012 at 8:38am

In light of this conversation, thought you'd all like to see Tim Tebow's blog post for self-published authors. Among other things, he talks about the importance of hiring both copy editors and content (creative) editors.

http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/01/be-like-tebow-10-resoluti...

Comment by Jolie du Pre on January 12, 2012 at 6:37pm

I'm not a newbie.  I've been an author and an editor for many years, and I'll agree to disagree.

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