I’m putting myself out here pretty vulnerable today. I’ve been working very hard on my first direct publication release. I can’t tell you the countless hours I have spent editing, (my partner has spent, my critique partner has spent, … get the idea. Lots of people…lots of read through time, out loud and on the screen.)
Now I want to preface this by saying that this Direct Publication project is actually my eighth release. The previous titles were handled through a publisher. So, I’m not the new kid on the block but still in my toddler-hood of publishing.
I couldn’t resist taking a peek and reading some of the finally published book last night. Imagine my horrrrrrification when I found an error, and another, and another. Little things perhaps, huge in my mind. My baby has a flaw. It’s not perfect, it’s freakin messed UP!~
Oh what it done is done. What can I do now. Learn from it is the best advice I can give myself.
First off I am going to fix the errors.
Next, learn that no matter how many times I’ve edited…me and my crew…there are going to be mistakes. Accept that as part of life. The Navaho create beautiful art and leave one tiny flaw on purpose so as to not mock the Gods…human’s aren’t perfect.
Second, never under estimate the value of advanced reader copy.
Perhaps I would have found those errors by printing the whole smole from the Create Space final proof. Certainly if I had allowed time in my process to order one printed copy of the book to read one FINAL time myself, I would have found the errors.
Some how the words do look different in print compared to the computer screen.
If I had budgeted my time, planned better then those typo errors would have been found. Maybe? most of them? perhaps. But I let myself get pinched on the end. I took two weeks off when my daughter had a horrible motorcycle accident. That wasn’t in my time budget and it caused me to crimp things on the end.
I didn’t take the time….have the time…make the time… to order that final advanced readers copy. Now, I’m sad.
I’ve exposed myself here and made myself very transparent. I think it’s important to talk about those hard things.
So, learn form my mistake. I hope I do.
See my other articles on this wonderful creative process of direct publication:
Front Matter; Body; Scene Breaks; Headers/Footers; End Matter; Formatting for Kindle
Eden Glenn 