Being Busy is Good

I like when I'm feeling productive, even though I sometimes grumble about not having time to scratch my butt. I've been editing for some awesome clients since the beginning of the year and that took up most of my time. I'm in a little lull now (I try to schedule in a few weeks where I'm not editing, so I can catch up on other things) and have been able to write a novella and a half, a short story and hopefully will get the fourth book in the Unveiled Seductions series finished soon too! :) Makes me happy.

I also heard that Ellora's Cave will be putting the first two books in the Unveiled Seductions into a print anthology! No word yet about when it'll be released (I'll be going to Romanticon this year, so it may be then) but it's still exciting. I love e-books like cats love arrogance, but there's still something really thrilling about holding a book with my name on the cover in my hand!


The two novellas that will be in the anthology are Fleeing Fate and Stone-Hard Passion, with two of the most awesome heroes I've ever written--Jakuta, my West African storm god and Vidar, the shy and gorgeous troll. The heroines are no slouches either, Grainne the banshee, looking to find and hold on to emotion, and Jasmina, the strong, sexy jinn who doesn't think she's capable of love. When the couples come together, magical sparks fly, in more ways than one!

To Jump on the Bandwagon...or not

It seems everyone is self-publishing these days, or considering it, and I'll confess I'm no exception. However, being the kind of person I am, there's an awful lot of thinking going into the decision. I often wish I were one of those people who was comfortable just jumping in to things, but unfortunately I'm not! There are pros and cons to everything, and self-publishing is no different. Yes, you have a great deal of autonomy over what you produce, where you publish it, what the cover looks like and all of that. But as an editor I know there are costs newcomers to the concept often don't think about.
Editing can cost you a pretty penny, as can a professional cover and the proper formatting. You, the author, are in charge of ALL advertising and promotion, which can cost both time and money. And unless you have a loyal following already, you don't have a reputable publishing house's name attached to the project to let people know what quality to expect. On top of all that, it seems to me there are still an awful lot of people out there who expect a self-published book to be as close to free as to be insulting to the author.
Of course, there are ways around many of these things if you have the time, energy and skill to do a lot of it yourself or, like me, hope to eventually bribe one of my kids to do some of it for me. Editing I have worked out (and no, I'm not taking the chance on trying to edit my book myself! I'm not stupid...even editors need someone else to look at their work!) and I've sourced some reasonably priced cover artists. The formatting and loading I'd pass to my son to do for me, because I have neither the time nor the patience. As for the rest, if I do decide to self-publish, I'll have to work it out as I go along.
I can't help looking at the publishing world right now as the Wild West... and I'm not sure I'm enough of a gunslinger to survive!

Grammar Goggles--That All-Important Second Look

Today I'm welcoming... well... myself. But this is Anya wearing her other hat, that of editor, and giving away a gift card worth $50 toward availing yourself of my services. As the song says, "Let me introduce myself..." with a little piece I like to call...

You Just Might Need an Editor.

So you’ve finally got your masterpiece of a novel completed. Congratulations! Have a drink, celebrate, but realize the work isn’t over yet. Besides everything else, it’s a given your newly minted book needs editing. “Wait!” I hear you say. “My book is perfect just the way it is. I’ve gone over it with a fine-toothed comb. I guarantee there’s nothing, not one jot or tittle, needing fixing.”

Uh-huh.

It’s not that I don’t believe you. I know you feel the above statement to be one-hundred percent true. There’s just this one little problem… nobody’s perfect. Wait, don’t go away mad, or take it personally. It’s just the stone truth. No matter how long a person’s been writing, or how assiduously they’ve studied the craft, there are always issues cropping up in his or her books. The wise author knows an editor can help fix them.

You want a “for instance,” don’t you? Well, let’s take an easy one. Typos. There are a variety of those suckers, and they’re the sneakiest sons-of-beotches in the world. You have your transposed letter typos, homophonic typos, damn-there’s-only-one-letter-different typos. Let’s not even get into the “crap-I-thought-it-meant-something-else” typos. Those are almost guaranteed to spark amusement in places you really didn’t intend.

And the biggest problem with typos? The more you read over your work, the less likely you are to notice them. We see what we expect to see. If you wrote, ‘It was written in blood on her bear back,’ and don’t catch that homophonic typo the very first time you read the sentence over, chances are every time afterwards your eyes will see ‘bare,’ not ‘bear.’ Can you guarantee there isn’t even one typo in your book? If not, then you just might need an editor.

Still not convinced? Okay, how about comfort and garbage words? Do you have a go-to word or phrase? If I used the ‘find’ function on your manuscript, would there be multiple instances of it? If I were to pick up your book and start reading, would those words or phrases start jumping out at me like fleas off a stray dog? Can’t answer that? Then you just might need an editor.

And what about that plot hole? “What plot hole?” I hear you yell. “I did my research, have everything worked out to the Nth degree.” Did you just shake your fist at me too? Hey, take it easy and hear me out. I know you did your research. I can only imagine the spreadsheets and sticky notes it took to keep everything straight. The problem is, what you know about your characters, their situations and back stories probably didn’t all make it into the book. Are you completely and utterly sure you’ve told the reader everything they need to know for every facet of the story to make sense? Think about it for a moment. I’ll wait… *whistles* If you can’t convince yourself you have, you just might need an editor.

So, before you consign editors to the “useless” or “necessary evil” heaps, remember we’re here to help. We catch the little things you might overlook, make sure you’re saying exactly what you want to and preserve that most precious of commodities in our brave, new world of publishing—the reputation you build with your readers. If all those points are important to you, you just might want to hire an editor.

Bio:

Whether just starting out or an experienced author, looking to break into a new market or planning to self-publish, Grammar Goggles can help you polish your manuscript and take it to the next level.

Introduction:

My main focus is on grammar and line editing but my rates also include low-level content editing, where I make note of any questions regarding continuity, pacing and story line. These services are built into the charge since I know, from experience, I can't see problems in those areas without making mention of them.

Contact information:
anyaedits@gmail.com
www.grammargoggles.blogspot.ca

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