Indie Publishing
It's been said before: There is no substitute for having your book professionally edited. A lot of indie authors just “wing it”. They write their book, revise it a bit, and then publish it. I'm sorry to say this, but it shows.
Some authors say they can't afford a professional editor. Others either think they don't need an editor, or don't trust a stranger with their unpublished work. Remember this: YOUR name will be on the cover. It's your reputation you are risking. If you turn out a crap book, don't expect people to come back to buy your next release.
Some indies try to rely entirely on “beta readers” to pick up the editing slack. I suppose if you have the right team of people, you might get away with this. Chances are, though, you won't. The term “beta reader” is often misused. In the indie community, it has become a name for “anyone who will read your book for you before you publish it.”
My idea of a minimalist model for indie publishing looks like this:
1) The author writes the first draft.
2) The author goes through the draft several times, making revisions, producing the second draft.
3) The second draft is sent to “alpha readers”, who read the book and give comments. They are not editors. They are not going to catch your typos, punctuation errors, etc. They will tell you if the story makes sense, if it grabbed their attention and held it, if there were parts that “didn't work”, point out plot holes, etc.
4) The author takes feedback from the alpha readers and makes additional revisions, producing the third draft.
5) The third draft is sent to a professional editor. A professional editor does far more than simply finding errors. An editor will also suggest changes to help story flow, catch continuity problems and plot holes, and much more.
6) The author reviews the editor's suggestions and makes final revisions. Ideally, the editor should go through the book again to review the changes. The result is the final draft.
7) The final draft goes out to “beta readers”. Their job is to read the book after the editor has done her job, and tell you if it is ready to publish. Remember, if you don't use beta readers, you would be publishing the book at this point. Let that sink in for a moment. Without beta readers, this is where you would be asking people to pay money for your book. It had better be publication quality.
8) The author reviews feedback from the beta readers and makes any final adjustments to the manuscript. Again, ideally the book should go back to the editor at this point for a final check. If you use Change Tracking (and you should) this process will be quick and easy, as your editor only needs to review the little changes that have been made, not reprocess the entire manuscript. I can't stress this enough – USE CHANGE TRACKING. If you can get your alphas and betas to use it also, that helps. They can put comments right into the document where it applies.
9) Time to publish. Okay, there is more work to do, but the manuscript is ready to publish. You still have to write a blurb, have cover art done, format the manuscript, etc.
It is important to have a good team. Choose your alphas and betas wisely. Do not choose your team members because they are good “cheerleaders”. You don't need people to blow smoke up your ass, telling you how wonderful your books are. If your team members aren't willing to tell you what is wrong with your writing, you don't need them. You don't want them.
While the main job of your team is to help you get your book ready for publication, it is a plus if they will support you with the release, sharing your new book on their facebook page, on twitter, or on their blog.
Find a good, professional editor. How do you find a good editor? Good question. You probably know other indie authors. You've probably read some of their books. If so, you know which ones have good editors (though you may not know which ones have poor editors – more on this later). Ask for recommendations. Also, most editors will do a free sample edit. They will edit a brief section of your manuscript for free so you can review their work.
I can't stress this enough: With a few extremely rare exceptions, authors cannot edit their own work. I know a famous, traditionally published author, who also worked for many years as a professional editor. This author self-published a short story a while back, and I found half a dozen typos in a fifty-page published work. You cannot edit your own work.
A note about professionally edited books. I have seen books which I know were professionally edited receive reviews saying the book was poorly edited. Often, this occurs because the author does not accept many of the changes suggested by the editor, and then publishes the book without having the editor take a final look at it. Please understand, the editor does not “fix” your book and publish it. It is up to the author to do that. If the author chooses to ignore the editor's suggestions, the results is a poorly edited book, through no fault of the editor.
One thing I've heard almost universally from other indie authors is that having a book series is the best key to continued sales. If you hook them with book one, they'll buy book two. If book two is good, they'll buy book three. If you've written a book series and sales have fallen off exponentially with each new release, you might need to re-evaluate your approach to publishing.
I'll say it again: Authors, your name is on the cover. It's all on you. You are 100% responsible for the quality of your books.
Confession: I was one of those people who didn't use a professional editor. At first, I believed I didn't need an editor. Later, I said I couldn't afford an editor. Those books are no longer available. They were so embarrassingly bad, I took them off the market. I may rework them and republish them with the help of my editor. All of my currently available books were professionally edited, and I will never again publish without my editor.
Some authors say they can't afford a professional editor. Others either think they don't need an editor, or don't trust a stranger with their unpublished work. Remember this: YOUR name will be on the cover. It's your reputation you are risking. If you turn out a crap book, don't expect people to come back to buy your next release.
Some indies try to rely entirely on “beta readers” to pick up the editing slack. I suppose if you have the right team of people, you might get away with this. Chances are, though, you won't. The term “beta reader” is often misused. In the indie community, it has become a name for “anyone who will read your book for you before you publish it.”
My idea of a minimalist model for indie publishing looks like this:
1) The author writes the first draft.
2) The author goes through the draft several times, making revisions, producing the second draft.
3) The second draft is sent to “alpha readers”, who read the book and give comments. They are not editors. They are not going to catch your typos, punctuation errors, etc. They will tell you if the story makes sense, if it grabbed their attention and held it, if there were parts that “didn't work”, point out plot holes, etc.
4) The author takes feedback from the alpha readers and makes additional revisions, producing the third draft.
5) The third draft is sent to a professional editor. A professional editor does far more than simply finding errors. An editor will also suggest changes to help story flow, catch continuity problems and plot holes, and much more.
6) The author reviews the editor's suggestions and makes final revisions. Ideally, the editor should go through the book again to review the changes. The result is the final draft.
7) The final draft goes out to “beta readers”. Their job is to read the book after the editor has done her job, and tell you if it is ready to publish. Remember, if you don't use beta readers, you would be publishing the book at this point. Let that sink in for a moment. Without beta readers, this is where you would be asking people to pay money for your book. It had better be publication quality.
8) The author reviews feedback from the beta readers and makes any final adjustments to the manuscript. Again, ideally the book should go back to the editor at this point for a final check. If you use Change Tracking (and you should) this process will be quick and easy, as your editor only needs to review the little changes that have been made, not reprocess the entire manuscript. I can't stress this enough – USE CHANGE TRACKING. If you can get your alphas and betas to use it also, that helps. They can put comments right into the document where it applies.
9) Time to publish. Okay, there is more work to do, but the manuscript is ready to publish. You still have to write a blurb, have cover art done, format the manuscript, etc.
It is important to have a good team. Choose your alphas and betas wisely. Do not choose your team members because they are good “cheerleaders”. You don't need people to blow smoke up your ass, telling you how wonderful your books are. If your team members aren't willing to tell you what is wrong with your writing, you don't need them. You don't want them.
While the main job of your team is to help you get your book ready for publication, it is a plus if they will support you with the release, sharing your new book on their facebook page, on twitter, or on their blog.
Find a good, professional editor. How do you find a good editor? Good question. You probably know other indie authors. You've probably read some of their books. If so, you know which ones have good editors (though you may not know which ones have poor editors – more on this later). Ask for recommendations. Also, most editors will do a free sample edit. They will edit a brief section of your manuscript for free so you can review their work.
I can't stress this enough: With a few extremely rare exceptions, authors cannot edit their own work. I know a famous, traditionally published author, who also worked for many years as a professional editor. This author self-published a short story a while back, and I found half a dozen typos in a fifty-page published work. You cannot edit your own work.
A note about professionally edited books. I have seen books which I know were professionally edited receive reviews saying the book was poorly edited. Often, this occurs because the author does not accept many of the changes suggested by the editor, and then publishes the book without having the editor take a final look at it. Please understand, the editor does not “fix” your book and publish it. It is up to the author to do that. If the author chooses to ignore the editor's suggestions, the results is a poorly edited book, through no fault of the editor.
One thing I've heard almost universally from other indie authors is that having a book series is the best key to continued sales. If you hook them with book one, they'll buy book two. If book two is good, they'll buy book three. If you've written a book series and sales have fallen off exponentially with each new release, you might need to re-evaluate your approach to publishing.
I'll say it again: Authors, your name is on the cover. It's all on you. You are 100% responsible for the quality of your books.
Confession: I was one of those people who didn't use a professional editor. At first, I believed I didn't need an editor. Later, I said I couldn't afford an editor. Those books are no longer available. They were so embarrassingly bad, I took them off the market. I may rework them and republish them with the help of my editor. All of my currently available books were professionally edited, and I will never again publish without my editor.
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