I have been all over the place the last few posts here, and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for any confusion about the two new books I've recently self-published (Erin's Ring, 2nd Edition, and Marguerite's Diary).
I remember when Bezalel Books (a small Catholic company that no longer exists) put out Finding Grace and Erin's Ring more than a decade ago, I was a wreck about any possible typos or errors that might slip by unnoticed and wind up in the final printed copies. The publisher there, Cheryl Dickow, tried to warn me that, "There is no such thing as perfection in the printed word." And although I'm a big fan of perfection, of course there were errors! Not awful enough to ruin the book, I hope, but errors nonetheless. I was just about sick to my stomach for weeks after FG came out. I still really can't bring myself to read it, for fear that I'll want to re-write the whole thing--which I guess is typical of many authors.
I have been reading a lot about this lately, about how no matter how "professionally" done your book is, even at big publishing houses that employ paid editors, copy editors, proofreaders, etc., there are just some errors that will slip by because human error is a thing. Writers, especially, have trouble seeing their own mistakes sometimes, because they read a sentence the way they MEANT to write it, not necessarily how they typed it up. One writer said in an interview that it's best to read over your manuscript when it's "cold," not right after you've written it. Because the more distance you put between yourself and the book, the more likely you will be to catch the errors you've made. With Marguerite's Diary, I was surprised by how many boo-boos went right past my eyes and my husband's, too; luckily, the first edition that I published turned out to be quite helpful, because between my four granddaughters and their mom, who read hard copies just after Christmas, a number of mistakes were found and fixed. (BTW, I shouldn't have been surprised by how many errors I missed: I was kind of rushing to get that book written and published in time for Christmas; I was trying to write and proofread almost simultaneously, instead of waiting until I might get better perspective.)
I thought I'd gotten all the errors, finally, after my sweet girls, the best team of proofreaders ever, were through with it and I'd implemented the necessary changes...and the book got published again, this time with an official ISBN# and everything. But before I ordered the [hopefully] new-and-improved copies to replace the flawed Christmas gifts, I wanted to see one for myself. And sure enough, when my new copy of MD came, there was one problem with it that I hadn't caught: one page, page 159, had smaller type than all the other pages. I had "stretched" the print a bit to make the font a tad larger and easier to read, but I'd somehow missed doing it for that one page! My husband tried to tell me that it was no big deal, that it was still very readable; but it felt like a big deal to me. The prices over at Bookemon, where the two new books I've published are listed, are rather high. (And forget the Amazon prices. They are ridiculous!) If someone is going to pay that much, I want the product to be as perfect as possible.
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| My husband might be right...but it just bothers me that the print is smaller on page 159! |
I fixed the error on page 159 and republished the book; but the newer version is thought of as a whole new book and does not fall under the ISBN# I paid for. Two versions of the book are therefore available: the one that is shared on Amazon with the ISBN#, and the newer one I re-edited, without an ISBN#. If anyone is going to order a copy, I prefer the newer version, where page 159 looks like all the others. So finally, I THINK I have everything worked out. And I think I have links that I feel safe sharing. Here are the Bookemon links: https://www.bookemon.com/book-profile/marguerite-diary/1000768, and https://www.bookemon.com/book-profile/erin%E2%80%99s-ring/1000746. And the great thing about Bookemon is that it has the "look inside" feature and you can flip through the whole book without buying it.
I am so obviously not a professional. I'm just a Grammy who wants to leave something special for her grandkids and great-grandkids, if possible. And to do whatever good I can in spreading the beauty of the Catholic Faith through my books, given my limited abilities!
However...
The writing is the fun part; the publishing is another story. But overall, I do find much joy in the process.
