Final Steps
Just a few more odds and ends to sort out before Without Words is out for you to enjoy. This is one of the more stressful parts of releasing a book, since there's a lot less wiggle room left. Decisions have to be final, you can't second-guess things anymore. I've said before here that I'm not a perfectionist, and I'm still not, I just really hate the feeling of finding a typo 10 seconds after hitting the 'publish' button, or sometimes years later. Mistakes happen, things get through even the most vigilant re-reads, so at some point you just have to declare it 'done'.
What can I do to help this along? Several things. One, have someone else read it. That's the biggest. They will notice things you don't (or can't, in some cases). Fresh eyes haven't been looking at the same manuscript over and over for months, and problems big and small are much more obvious to them, from missing plot points to missing periods. (Remember, in my head I have all the parts that were cut out, the characters' motivations, what happens off-page, etc. Some things just get lost.)
Another is devilishly simple: change the format you're using. I've found that simply going from word processor to ebook reader makes a huge difference in revealing mistakes. The paragraphs are in a different shape, words line up differently, even a font change can make things stand out when you've been reading something the same way over and over again. Many authors swear by printing the entire thing out and using an actual red pen to circle mistakes, but that's a lot of paper and ink for my taste. (The Fires of Winter is almost 600 pages long.)
Without Words is going to be available in paperback from day one, so I want to make doubly sure that it's as good as it can be, hence the extra little delay. I've teased 'soon' a lot here, but it's for good reason.
The cover is ready, the description is written, it's almost ready to go! I won't jinx anything by giving an exact time frame, but I very much want my next post here to be the release announcement. Fingers crossed!
What can I do to help this along? Several things. One, have someone else read it. That's the biggest. They will notice things you don't (or can't, in some cases). Fresh eyes haven't been looking at the same manuscript over and over for months, and problems big and small are much more obvious to them, from missing plot points to missing periods. (Remember, in my head I have all the parts that were cut out, the characters' motivations, what happens off-page, etc. Some things just get lost.)
Another is devilishly simple: change the format you're using. I've found that simply going from word processor to ebook reader makes a huge difference in revealing mistakes. The paragraphs are in a different shape, words line up differently, even a font change can make things stand out when you've been reading something the same way over and over again. Many authors swear by printing the entire thing out and using an actual red pen to circle mistakes, but that's a lot of paper and ink for my taste. (The Fires of Winter is almost 600 pages long.)
Without Words is going to be available in paperback from day one, so I want to make doubly sure that it's as good as it can be, hence the extra little delay. I've teased 'soon' a lot here, but it's for good reason.
The cover is ready, the description is written, it's almost ready to go! I won't jinx anything by giving an exact time frame, but I very much want my next post here to be the release announcement. Fingers crossed!
No comments have been added yet.
