Fun fun fun! Re-Editing eBooks for 2019

Fun fun fun! Re-Editing eBooks for 2019

It's time for some spring cleaning! As well as writing a new novel, adding to another novella to turn it into a novel, and writing my Open Novella Contest entry for 2019, I had a brainwave and decided it was time to go back and take a look at all my currently published eBooks.

First thing I did was create a spreadsheet and check when each of them had last been updated.

Some of them haven't been touched since 2011!

https://media.giphy.com/media/12Y3f7U3SF3Akw/giphy.gif

Boy is their back-matter going to be out of date if nothing else.

I also discovered several that never made it to Google books, ever. Not that's it's overly surprising, I never sell anything over there anyway, it's just I'm a completist and like to have all my bases covered.

So I have three check boxes on my spreadsheet:

• needs a new cover
• needs reformatting
• needs new back-matter

Let's just say, I have my work cut out for me. I was hoping for more with ticks just in the back-matter col, but there are quite a few that need reformatting too.

https://media.giphy.com/media/UGxfEt5POsukg/giphy.gif

I've decided to go with Kindle Create as a standard start, because it converts easily for Google and it's easy enough to apply a different template for Smashwords to take out anything their converter can't cope with.

FYI - if you, like me, decide to go from the Modern Theme in Kindle Create to Smashwords - the ePub converts fine, but the PDF does not because it doesn't know the font used for any of the page/chapter titles. I subbed in Verdana.

Had lots of fun (can you hear my sarcasm) yesterday, converting Cat's Call to the new Kindle Create format. It is really useful, but it has bugs. Usually I can find a way round them, but not this time. I added numbering to the chapter titles and it screwed up the formatting of my table of contents. No matter what I did I could not make it consistent, even in when it messed up.

I can only assume it's adding in things I can't see, because it has some background processes running, since it's a plugin. If it didn't save a huge amount of time I'd go back to doing it manually so I know exactly what was going on when. Had to number the chapters manually so it would work - which is so against my instincts!

https://media.giphy.com/media/r5jHiw40rx5OE/giphy.gif

Anyway, so that's what I'm up to at the moment.
What are you up to? Anything fun?

Why Distance Can Be Our Greatest Ally When Drafting Fiction #TipsTuesday

Why Distance Can Be Our Greatest Ally When Drafting Fiction

We all know we can be a bad judge of something when we are too close to it. Bad decisions can come from having too much invested in a situation or having far too much information to know which way to look next.

The same goes for writing fiction.

Distance can be the answer for different aspects of the process.

Image from Pixabay via Pexels

Writer's Block

We've all had those times when we just run out of steam as we're writing, we burn out.

• All the creativity dries up. 
• We start to hate our plot or our characters.
• We can't seem to think of a way out of the blind alley we seem to have written up.
• Everything we write is clearly terrible (to us at least).
• We get caught up in an editing cycle that is going nowhere because new words and ideas are so hard.

These problems can often be solved by a little distance. Step back, walk away, work on something else for a little while. 

• Sometimes it takes hours - sleep on it, 
• Sometimes days - focus on another project for the rest of the week
• Sometimes weeks - put the manuscript away, bring out other projects, be they creative or managerial.

It all depends on the work, but putting it aside and coming back to it can give perspective and insight and reignite the creative fires.

Editing the All Important First Draft

Whether we use a professional editor or not, we need a decent first draft. It's exciting when we type the final word and sit back and know we have come to the end of the story - BUT - we should never be tempted to bundle it up and send it to everybody.

If we have alpha readers, we can send it to them, but, unless we are some sort of literary genius, we should all realise our first draft it not yet ready for other eyes.

However, we should also not be tempted to jump straight in with the self-editing.

At this point we have all the facts buzzing around in our heads, we know exactly what everything it supposed to mean, how it is supposed to go. If we re-read now, we are likely to miss things. The secret is to:

• close the file
• sit back
• pat ourselves on the back - we've done a great thing
• move on to something else for a couple of weeks at least.

THIS IS HARD!

Photo by Kat Jayne from Pexels

Yes, I know, I totally understand, the manuscript is our baby, we have worked very hard on it and we want it to be perfect right now! However, what we need to understand is this is unlikely to happen if we just dive right back in.

What we need is distance.

Taking that step back will allow us to see many things:

• Spelling mistakes - there will be many we have just not noticed and coming back to text fresh helps them pop out.
• Grammar - we often read on the page what we expect to see, or what is in our head, taking a step back gives us fresh eyes to see what is really there.
• Pacing issues - we loved a scene so much we put in way too much information and slowed it down, or we were so excited writing something it is over way too fast.
• Plot holes - we totally forget that Leopold needed a way to find out that Maxine was flying to Budapest before he chased after her.
• Missing information - the fact Leopold is addicted to chocolate but is vaguely allergic to it was in our head, but we forgot to mention it, so him having a horrible headache after binge eating a whole fudge cake makes no sense.

All of these things can be helped by alpha and beta readers and editors, but if we want our first draft to be palatable and to spark excitement, we can fix a lot of this ourselves before we send it out.

In Conclusion

Our writing comes from our hearts and minds. It is part of us. Sometimes the creative process is wonderful and everything flows onto the page, sometimes we have to force every word. However, no matter how we got there, our manuscript is close to us. 

This is amazing, but it causes issues.

If we're having trouble, or we just want our work to be as good as possible for the next person to see it, what we often need is distance. Take that step back and look away for a while, it can really help.

Have you found it really hard to step away from a project either at the end or during it? Did it help in the end?

The Wonders of Pen and Paper #WriterlyWednesdays

The Wonders of Pen and Paper

Now I am the first person to reach for the keyboard most of the time when I'm writing. I know some people swear by pen and paper for their first draft, but I just can't write fast enough to keep up with my brain.

Well I can, but reading what I have written afterwards is like trying to decipher hieroglyphs without the Rosetta stone :).

I haven't used anything except a keyboard to write fiction since I was at uni. My fingers work much faster when typing than they do with a pen. If I try and write fiction by hand I always end up frustrated and with sentences that have a whole heap of words missing. Pen and paper tend to be strictly for notes when I'm writing.

However...

There is one thing for which I find pen and paper really, really useful: proof reading.

There are many other techniques for finding errors in writing:

• change the orientation of the page
• add in columns
• read out loud
• put it on an eReader or phone
• etc.

Printing out the fiction and going through it with a red pen is another option that can be incredibly useful. I'm currently proofing my novel Dead Before Dawn: The Vampire Curse (available free to read on Wattpad) for paperback and it's amazing what the eye picks up when changing medium from screen to page.

There is no substitute for another set of eyes on our fiction, there's no getting away from that, but even the best editor might miss something (I've found more than my fair share of typos in traditionally published books). It can be the silliest things, for example, a missing carriage return under a chapter title or an 's' missed off one word. I've found that paper and a pen is a great help in finding these last few tiny errors that the eye just misses on the screen.

Anything that makes us re-read the words on the page rather than skimming over them because our brains have become used to the layout and know what there can be useful. We have wonderful pattern recognition skills, it's what makes us so versatile, but when we're looking for mistakes this can be very unhelpful. We see what we want to see, not what is actually there. Hence, shaking up what we are looking at really helps.

I know printing uses paper and ink, but that's why there's a duplex and draft option on the printer and I recycle the paper once it's finished with. I try very hard to only print out one copy and sometimes we just have to go with what works.

Do you find printing out your work helps you to iron out the final wrinkles in your novel/story or do you prefer other methods?

~*~

Defence, Pretence, Offence (Harry Potter, Harry/Draco, NC17)

So my latest Harry Potter fanfiction is now up to chapter 8 and things are getting exciting.

Summary: The threat of open war in on the horizon. The Order and the Ministry are of one accord and both know that where Harry Potter is, Voldemort will eventually be. Preparations are being made and this time the side of the light will not be caught unawares.

Summer classes, sabotage, revelations about Draco's father, teaching and the final showdown with Voldemort all await Harry and Draco in this exciting sequel to Gold Tinted Spectacles (LJ | AO3 | Wattpad).

Link to all parts: LJ | DW | AO3 | Wattpad 

New chapters will be posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Guest Post: The 3 Steps Of Editing, Heidi Angell - WriterlyWednesdays 16

Please join me today in welcoming Heidi Angell to my blog. She has many talents from author to editor and today she is sharing her insight into editing.

The 3 Steps of Editing

From Rough Diamond to Jewel

by Heidi Angell

Our lovely host Tasha asked me to write about editing. She specifically asked about the difference between copyediting and proof reading. I decided to cover the three steps of editing that every editor should be offering because going across the internet I found that it must be very confusing for a writer. There are so many terms to describe “editing services”. Why are there all these terms, and what are you really getting? (Sometimes the “editors” don’t know either, which is where it gets really scary!)

When professional editors break these down, they are doing it to charge extra. Each of these are necessary steps in editing, and a good editor will include all of it into a price quote. (That is what I do.) But it is very important that you clarify that, because you may find your work is not being properly polished if you do not. Then you end up spending a small fortune, not to mention risking your reputation, if you don’t know better!

Let’s start at the beginning of the editing process to keep everything straight.

The first step is general editing (Also called content editing, revisions, story editing, substantive editing, re-writes, etc.). This is where the editor goes through the story and fact checks, catches plot holes, recommends what needs to be cut, re-written, added, etc. A lot of authors work in peer groups and get this done for free there, but a good editor will still check this as they are going through. Let’s use the analogy of your book being a diamond in the rough: This is where you are carving that diamond out of the bedrock surrounding it.

http://hikarinosizuku.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/diamond-in-the-rough-htleiqd5.jpg

After the editor sends this draft and you do your cleaning up, then they go to the copyediting stage (also referred to as line edits, stylistic editing, second edits, or for lazy editors “editing”) This is where the editor will go line by line to make sure the sentence structure is correct, the grammar is correct and the meaning is clearly conveyed. They will recommend word changes, writing in active voice, or removing sentences that are repeating information already conveyed. 9 times out of 10, when you get an editor who says they “provide editing services” this is what they are referring to and unless you clarify you will get nothing more.  This would be clearing the last bits of bedrock away and cutting the diamond.

http://www.gia.edu/library-diamond-cutting-school

The last step is proof reading. There is a lot of difference in what this covers across the internet. The gyst is that proof reading is a last read through to catch typos. A lot of editors do this pre-layout, but IMHO (and in traditional publishing) it should be done after layout to catch any “missed bits”. The benefits to doing this after you complete layout is that the proof reader can look at the product as if they were the reader. They can catch not only misspellings, homonyms that spell check and sometimes your editor miss, and punctuation; they can also “double-check” layout, catching all the “writerly bits” as well as spotting funky layout on the page, widows and orphans, and the general appeal of the final product thereby making recommended fixes.

They can catch and polish up the final product to make sure that you are presenting the shiniest diamond out there. IF you do it pre-layout, it is like using a buffing cloth and then tossing your diamond in the bin to be set. Doing it post-layout is like buffing off the diamond after it has been set, getting all the last scratches and fingerprints right before you put it in the display case. A much shinier final diamond, right?

http://thesilverring.com/product/princess-cut-diamond-ring-white-cubic-zirconia-large-stone/

What are your editing questions? Let us know in the comments below, and I will be happy to answer.

~*~

About the Author

Heidi Angell is an author, editor, layout editor, book designer and jack of many trades. She is here to be the Angel on your Shoulder for all your writing needs.

Learn more about Heidi Angell.

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Authors - win a month's stay in a castle for NaNoWriMo 2016 via Derek Murphy (book designer and author).

Click to Enter (Ends Dec 14th)

(occasionally you see a page not found, but wait a second and it will redirect you to the right place - I think sometimes the server is overloaded)