What's the Difference?
A few readers have asked me what's different from the original versions of my books and the ones being re-released by Booktrope. The short answer is: not much.
When I first released the books as an indie writer, they had been read over by friends who caught a handful of typos. Since my friends were doing me a favor, they only read the books once each, which means things were missed. It happens.
When Booktrope decided to release the books under their imprint, they were assigned an editor who went through the books several times. Here are some of the things changed:
More typos. I can recite grammar rules in my sleep, but when I'm caught up in the moment on a 70,000-word novel or up at 3 a.m. because the words just won't let me go, I make mistakes. I spell "lightning" with an "e" in the middle or I say "site" instead of "sight." I miss those kinds of things when I proofread because I know what it's supposed to say. Someone reading the book once might miss it because they're caught up in the story. The person reading the book for the third time that week is much more likely to catch the error.
Bobble heads and seemingly endless seems. I'd gotten into a few bad habits in my writing that hadn't been pointed out before. In one book, there was so much nodding going on I had bobble heads for characters. In two others, I softened way too many sentences with some form of the word "seem." Those kinds of rough edges have been smoothed out.
What ever happened to…? In a very few instances, the editor pointed out loose ends she didn't feel I'd tied up well enough. One example would be Veronica's ex-husband in Suddenly a Spy – what had gone wrong in their marriage? A paragraph or two has been added to the new version; it gives more meaning to her reaction to Rick's secret.
We were careful not to change the novels too much. Thankfully, I have a publisher who likes the voice I've developed and understands what I'm striving for in my novels. But as one writer friend put it, we "polished the apples" a bit before re-releasing them under the Booktrope imprint.
I am so thankful to have someone help me make the books the best they can be. If you haven't read one of them yet, I am excited for you to read the new versions. I'm proud of the novels Booktrope has helped them to become.
If you've read the indie versions, thank you for overlooking the mistakes. If it weren't for your support, I wouldn't be where I am now. Do you need to buy a new copy? No. I'm not going to discourage it, but it's the same story. I announce the release of the Booktrope editions for the readers who haven't checked out a particular book yet.
That said, anytime you can go in and write a review on Amazon for the novels you've already read, you are doing me a much larger favor than you realize. In today's market, your voice will, to a very large part, determine my success or failure.
And I promise, there are announcements of new books coming very soon!
