Indie Publishing Secrets Revealed - Copy Edits

Is there such a thing as an error free first edition?

I've never seen it.

With that being said, I can't stress how important it is to get a great copy editor. In fact, you might need two. For Protected, I'm actually using three.

Why?
Well, I'm not very good at editing-especially when I've made a thousand changes during plot editing. I get to a point where I can't see the problems. I'm too focused on the story itself.

So, after I get all my plot edits done, I give it to a couple of English geniuses to help me fix the copy errors they see. After I fix those things, I send it to a paid copy editor. Yes, it costs money, but it is worth it.

Because she finds so many errors (especially commas. I love them and use them way too often), after I fix all the mistakes she finds, I send it to another English wiz to catch anything my copy-editor missed.  It's easy to miss things when there is a sea of mistakes.

I'm happy to say, that she didn't find many this go around. Yay!

Then, after it's published, I wait for my fans to tell me about errors that still remain. Yep. After all that, some mistakes still linger.

You might be thinking that I don't have a good editor. Well, it simply isn't true. In fact, there isn't one author I've talked to about editing who hasn't told me their editors, no matter how amazing or how expensive, miss things. It happens. So be prepared.

I happen to know some awesome copy-editors that are honest and very competitively priced. Check them out.
1. Tristi Pinkston  
In fact, you could win a 250 page evaluation from Tristi by signing up to attend a cool workshop THIS coming Saturday, January 21st. No joke. Sign up here. That'll save you a lot of dough!

2. Precision Editing Group

Have you ever read a book that had no errors? Not a single one? If so, what was it?

Oh, No!

Wondering where I've been? 

This has been one crazy week.

First, I got this horrible cold on Sunday.

On Mon. I was behind on my Nano goal and had a good 10,000 words to finish by Wednesday...

I'm subbing for three months for my good friend, Jen, at a junior high in Davis County.(She had the cutest little girl on Thanksgiving Day). So, I had to sub every day from 8-3, then, I had to be at a different Costco each day from 3:30-7:30.

On Mondays, I spend the evening with my family. This Monday was no exception. I was still sick.

I wrote every chance I got on Tues and finished my 50,000 words on my indie publishing book on Wednesday afternoon. Nano completed! Whew! Boy, did that feel great! My critique group came from 8-10 p.m. Still sick.

On Thursday, hurricane winds showed up at my house about 2 am. The winds were so loud, no one slept. They hung out until about 2 pm. No kidding. Winds up to 100 miles an hour crashed against everything in their path.

Our 40 year old pine tree bit the dust, landing on my little fruit trees, flattening them. Something hit our chimney and broke it off, our fence fell right before our eyes, one section at a time, our pool house collapsed, shingles went flying, along with our trampoline that crumpled up in a small ball and we have no idea where our wooden bench went-not a leaf remained in our yard.

Even though trampolines were flying through the air, the School District did not close the schools and so, my car being pelted by all kinds of debris, I drove to the junior high. It only took me 30 minutes(it usually takes me 10). I saw three semis on their sides on my way and my car swayed precariously the whole way there.
We were in class for 1 hour and the power went out. We played games in the dark (the window did cast a bit of light).

At noon, they finally let may teachers leave since most of the parents had already picked up their kids.

The power was also out at my house. Once the temperature hit 50 degrees in our house, we headed for my mom's to spend the night.

Luckily, the school district closed the schools on Friday. I spent the day at Ogden and Bountiful Costcos.

Today, Sat., I spent the day at the SL Costco and my cold is still hanging on....

But, I'm back...hooray! Tuesday I'll have some fun indie news for you.

Happy Winter!