Book news

[avevale_intelligencer]

Proof copies of The Eight-Man Austin and of Three Windows arrived today, and they look very nice.

Unfortunately, I found still more typoes in both of them.

The good news is that the revised and (please gods) typo-free versions are immediately available from Lulu, so if you were planning to and haven't already, buy buy buy folks. The bad news is that, as I mentioned before, Lulu's inflexible policy is that before they will put the things forward for wider distribution via Amazon, B&N and Ingrams, I have to shell out for another proof copy, wait for it to arrive, look at it and hope like hell I don't see anything else wrong. I can't say "it's all right, I've gone through it and I'm satisfied, go ahead." Such is their concern for my professional standards that they won't let me. Plus, of course, they get their whack on all the proof copies.

Given that I would have to sell roughly eighty copies of each book on Amazon or whatever to make back the cost to me of another proof copy, you can understand why I'm baulking, and wondering whether all this is really worth the candle. I now have one brand new proof copy of each of the books I've published recently, and every time I open one all I can think is oh gods, did I spot that one?

I'm very lucky. I love writing. It keeps me sane, for given values of. I enjoy having written, and looking back and finding that I do still enjoy reading my own stuff. I like formatting books, and coming up with tchotchkes to add if the actual story's a bit thin. I have fun designing covers. There's even a thrill to the act of uploading the files. But this part, this part is inexpressibly disheartening.

Nonetheless...since I found that the Temeraire book I bought had a glaring typo on just about every page, since I read that Clive Barker book in which one character says something like "You know, it's weird," and the other character turns round and says "What's funny?"...it's been a point of pride with me to Get It Right, as far as I can. So, in a few weeks time when I can, I'll order another proof copy of Tetrad or Oonaverse, and start again. I've begun on this, so I'll see it through.

Wish me luck.

Originally posted on http://avevale_intelligencer.dreamwidth.org. Comment here or there or both if you wish.

Comments

[little-cinnamon.livejournal.com]

It's remarkably difficult to proofread one's own work. Do you have someone helping you with the task?

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Sadly, no. aunty_marion is very busy, has woes of her own at the moment and needs to make money with her time. soren_nyrond has very kindly gone through OIK, and someone else is going to read it for me and try to spot inconsistencies and plot problems, but again, they're busy and have a life, like everyone else. It's basically down to me, and yes, it is difficult, but I'll get there. Persistence is one of my virtues; it's only the cost of the repeat proof copies that gets me down.

[little-cinnamon.livejournal.com]

I am torn between wanting to offer to help (it involves what I do for a living, after all!), and knowing that, realistically, things are busy and difficult right now. So if there's an electronic proof, you could maybe send me that, on the basis that you may or may not get another set of eyes on it, depending on circumstances here. Not the most useful offer in the world, I know!

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

My dear, it's not only very useful but very kind. I'll take you up on it if I may.

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

I'll also offer to pitch in and help. You know where I am.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[aunty_marion]

After all this time, I've begun to think I'm not going to make much more money out of proofreading/copy-editing, so might as well do it for fun. But you're right, at the moment I have rather a lot on my mind and couldn't really give it its due attention. Maybe after this *£&$*%^(*@ mouldy hall wall is fixed and I have my kitchen (and bath) back, and after I get back from my 'holiday' in Swansea.