I think “editing” can be defined as: The act of rearranging mistakes and replacing them with new ones elsewhere, in an attempt to make things better. But gradually, like sand blowing in the wind and carried in the rivers that gradually wears down giant boulders, typos and mistakes disappear. Nearly done.

I uploaded it to Amazon, put in all my information, and am now working on tweaking the formatting of things while awaiting  final replies from a couple of proof-readers before I go live. Getting graphics right, bullet points, all the rest, will be interesting. Once I get these replies, and the formatting looks OK on their previewer (which, no surprise, doesn’t quite look exactly like it does on my discontinued model Kindle after going through a Calibre conversion into a MOBI file), I’ll let people know. Continue reading Flinging format →

I have concluded that using a professional editor is a very good idea. That said, I also think it is important to keep your editing goals in mind, and make them explicit. I have determined that my goals are not literary, but commercial. Brilliant phrasing and eloquence and perfection in word selection are great if they happen to happen, but spending endless time aiming for them gets in the way. All I desire is Clear, Correct, Consistent, Concise, and Done. Brain-cycles spent doing more than that, for me, are wasted.

Clear: Is it easy for the reader to understand what I am saying?

Correct: Does it follow proper conventions, and did I say what I meant to say?

Consistent: Does the style and format stay true to itself, so the reader doesn’t get goofed up on things that are not really a  part of the story?

Concise: Aim more for Hemingway than Rand, but don’t be obsessive about it, because–

Done: Without this, the rest is wasted. Don’t play ivory tower, think Larry the Cable Guy, and just git ‘er done.

Your choices might be different, because you might have different goals… just be clear what your goals are.