It took me seven months to write my first book. After making corrections suggested by several beta readers and reviewers, I felt that the book was ready. I was anxious to publish, especially since I was going on tour to talk about the Camino de Santiago. I ordered 100 copies, and then sent one to my editor to do the final edits.To my dismay, the book returned riddled with red lines. It took two go-rounds with the editor to correct all the errors. Lesson learned: NEVER EVER, publish without using a professional editor. Too embarrassed to even sell the books, I had to scrap them.
Guest blogger, Karen Cole discusses the importance of editing services.
Book authors who are publishing independently often lose out on one important tip: they should have their book manuscript edited before having it published. This is very important and is integral to the success of their published books.
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A lot of indie writers nowadays market and promote their own books, both during their creation and after the finished copy is finalized. It’s best to market when the book manuscript is being created, as that puts a head of steam on the book. The market has changed overall through the years, and nowadays everything is content driven. So book authors need to start upon the inception of their projects, by developing their book sales websites, getting their content together, and making business connections so that when their books are finalized they can show them to the wide variety of people they have garnered that are now following them.
And the best way to finalize your book manuscript is to get it properly edited by a ghost writer slash editor, who can put it into the best possible shape, finishing and readying it to see print. This writer, who will receive no credit for working on your book but who will be paid decently for the work will carefully go over it, checking for grammatical and syntax errors (line editing and proofreading), and also fact checking and possibly making some final changes such as removing redundancies. The ghost writer can also professionally format your book, getting it ready to be indie published.
Paying for such work to be done is well worth it. A lot of books, thousands in fact, are indie published each year while they still contain some horrible, widespread grammatical and syntax errors, making their books much harder and less entertaining to read, and also making them harder to market and promote when it comes to selling them widely. If you really want your book to grow a vast or at least a decent audience, be reviewed professionally (such as by newspapers and magazines), and otherwise be seen as marketable and able to sell well, you really should hire a book editor or ghost writer to work on it.
Using your own editing skills may seem like a money saver, but the reality is that your eyes are probably “tired” from going over and over the written copy in your book, so it would help you to hire someone else to go over it, a professional writer and editor who can give your book that gleam and polish it needs to be seen as professional and marketable in the modern, extremely competitive book world.
And even if you aren’t seeking any major book sales, it helps you very much to have a finished book manuscript that doesn’t contain lots of god-awful spelling and other glaring errors. Your “pride and joy” of a book should be something a reader would love to read – not something to suffer through instead. Hiring a good or even a great book editor will save you lots of trouble and tears, and you might make the money you lay out for your ghost writer or editor right back on the sales of your book over time.
AUTHOR’S RESOURCE BOX:
Hello, I am Karen Cole, your friendly neighborhood Ghost Writer! I have been running Ghost Writer, Inc. since the days it was Rainbow Writing, Inc., back in 2003. I am responsible for well over 200 books being properly written and edited, and eventually published as well. My ghost writer services company includes over 100 writers, editors, illustrators, marketers and other book, screenplay and music oriented workers. Stop by our website to review our services today!
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