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| IWSG |
For those of you who are simply driving by because your curiosity cured the bacon, sausage and ham, today is the monthly blog post for the IWSG blog hop, where a plethora of writers suddenly tune into the same wavelength and get down and get with it (Shaun Cassidy will knock your socks off) and blog about all kinds of writer stuff.
So.
This has been an absolutely brutal summer for me writing-wise. Writing has taken such a backseat to family obligations (daughter starting her freshman year of college in roughly 3 weeks and son getting married in about a month), that I may have to decloak with a few of my writing groups so as to figure out what I'm supposed do again once these obligations are completed.
But, since this is a writing related blog hop, we must offer up our 64 cents (inflation) to the masses. So I present to you, the topic for discussion: mistakes.
Somewhat big and somewhat costly, there are some mistakes that run parallel to the old adage, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me".
The costly mistake that I made twice was to send a manuscript off to be edited to a high glossy finish, instead of recruiting a few beta readers to offer up their valued opinion on what should be fixed in the book. The 1st time, I sent it off to a ex-FB friend who was a freelance writer to be edited. What I got back was as book that needed a boatload of extra work to make it readable. Chalk up the $350 spent to a very expensive lesson learned that I swore not to repeat.
Fast forward about 6 years or so, and we're finishing a fourth round of edits before sending another manuscript out to be edited to a high glossy finish. However, we ultimately wound up with the same end result: a nicely edited book that needs a ton of work in order to make a good stand-alone story while also being part of a trilogy. Only this time, we dropped twice the amount.
Unlike the first time, the second time was a well delivered and well deserved reality check on what I did wrong in writing this story (trust me, there were a lot of things done wrong by me with this story). So basically, we repeated the expensive mistake made 6 years ago, and got the same end result.
Definition of insanity, eh?
So my friends, think very long and hard before you finally decide to hire a very good professional editor (like I did) to work on your book, because the last step that you should do is have a few people take a look at it, so that you can do one final round of edits and fix whatever glaring errors there may be.
Because the last thing that you want to do is to fix major holes after the fact that should've been fixed before sending it off to a professional.
{c} 2019 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved
That is very good advice. I once swore I'd never publish anything without a professional copywriter until I let a deadline get the best of me. Surprise, surprise that several of the reviews commented on typos. My bad.
ReplyDeleteThanks. The person who edited this is a fellow writer and does this kind of stuff (editing, ghostwriting, etc.) for a living and I really respect her opinion.
Deletelike i said, an expensive (and to a large degree, very necessary) lesson to learn.
Sorry! That's why I use test readers and then critique partners for fixing story issues.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is, a few years ago, I actually did use some test readers and got some positive feedback on it. Did fix a main issue with it, but in hindsight, should've searched out more.
DeleteAgreed! Is disappointing!
ReplyDeleteMost definitely, but once some of this family stuff gets completed (beginning of October) i should be able to find some time to sit down and take a good hard look at it.
DeleteOh, this is tough. If they were obvious issues, then yes, perhaps you should have waited, re-read, edited, and sent to betas. But if the editor had good, concrete suggestions, then the money was an investment in your writing. Make the changes and improve your book. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteTo a degree, I think there were, but because i wrote this book in a seriously unconventional way, I just didn't see what was staring me right in the face. Unlike last time, the money was very well spent and the knowledge/tips gleaned was spot on.
DeleteSigh.
ReplyDeleteYup.
Delete