What Do Readers Choose to Read?

This is a related post from the one earlier today.  Something within that first blog stirred my need to know.  So I did more unscheduled research and came up with the following interesting info.  My apologies for any errors or math miscalculations.  Believe me, they were not intended.  However, with that caveat, here we go.

As authors we should consider this:  What are our potential readers reading?  What genres do these Kindle Million Club authors encompass?  Does offering a huge selection of books to the public help generate these one million books sold?  

Restricting this discussion to the Kindle Million Club authors, here is a thumbnail overview:

Line No.	Kindle Million Club Author	Novels Published to Date*	Genre
1.	D. Baldacci	22	Thriller**, Children's
2.	A. Hocking	9	YA Paranormal
3.	S. Meyer	8	YA Vampire Romance
4.	S. Larsson	3	Thriller
5.	J. Patterson	48	Thriller
6.	Nora Roberts	209	Romance
7.	Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb	42	Thriller
8.	C. Harris	12	Vampire Thriller
9.	Lee Child	16	Thriller
10.	S. Collins	8	Children’s, Sci-Fi
11.	M. Connelly	25	Thriller
12.	John Locke	12	Humorous Thriller
13.	K. Stockett	1	Historical
14.	J. Evanovich	45***	Humorous Thriller, Humorous Romance
15.	G. R.R. Martin	14	Fantasy, Sci-Fi

* -  no short stories or anthologies counted (at least not on purpose)

** - "Thriller" includes mysteries and police procedurals

*** - some of Janet Evanovich's novels counted here were co-authored

NOTE:  The children's genre is skewed as I was ignoring it at first, like I did the short stories and the anthologies--based on the fact they are probably not novel-length books, may not be necessarily offered via Amazon (such as articles, another category I overlooked, would most likely be published in magazines, periodicals, etc.) plus any anthology purchase could be deemed due to another contributor's name on the cover.  Hence, not part of why these authors made Amazon's Kindle Million Club.   However, it shows up for Collins as her bibliography has more books in that genre.  I plan to update this category with more research later (hopefully not today as I am already so off track--ha!).  At that time, I'll add the appropriate entries where needed and a confirming postscript at the end of this entry.

The million-sales-generating genres include crossovers so here's that tally per the authors referenced above, starting with the most desired/bought and working down to the other favorites:

     9 Thrillers/Mysteries/Police Procedurals, including the two mixed genres noted below

     3 Romance, including the two mixed genres noted below  /
3 Humorous, including the two mixed genres noted below

     2 Young Adults  /  2 Science Fiction  /  2 Humorous Thrillers  /  2 Children's

     1 Paranormal Romance   / 1 Historical  /  1 Fantasy / 1 Vampire Thriller  / 1 Humorous Romance

Remember, these numbers here indicate genres shared among these Kindle Million Club authors, not the number of books written.  If I have the genres wrong, then my math here is inherently erroneous, so take that into account.

Obviously Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb has the greatest number of books written to date among this selection of novelists.  Even adding together all the other authors' publications from the chart above, I come up with roughly 223 novels compared to 251 just by Nora.  That is incredible.  As author Nora Roberts, she has written 209 romance books.  Under the J.D. Robb pen name for her In Death murder series, she's created another 42.

Still, you have a debut author making this list with her lone contribution (K. Stockett).

So just because you aren't as prolific as Nora or have a humongous backlist to convert to e-book format, you can still accomplish great things with one individual story.

The other single-digit-book-producing authors here have trilogies--or a quadrilogy--going for them (Hocking, Meyer, Larsson, Collins).

The beginning of the double-digit producers (covering 11-19 books) seem to be replete with authors doing a longer series.  Look at Harris with her book/TV series, Child's Reacher series, then Locke's two series with his start on a third, ending with Martin who has one series among his other standalone books.

For authors offering twenty-something books to choose from, we have the series theme popping up again, with Baldacci's four (counting the children's series) and Connolly's three.

Nobody considered here has thirty-ish books published.  They either have less or more.  So we jump into the forty-plus-books-published category:  Patterson and Evanovich.  They both have embraced the book series, too.

Also, per our Kindle Million Club author listing, you can be traditionally published or Indie-published, as Hocking and Locke attest to, and still make the cut.

To recap, here's what readers want based on my personal analysis of Kindle's Million Club authors. 

A great entertaining read, first and foremost would be my generic answer, whether (1) hundreds of books prolifically written throughout the decades (keep 'em coming) or (2) a standalone adult novel, your first even, in whatever category (every one of these extraordinary authors started with Book One).  (3) Both traditionally and Indie-published authors appear in this list.  Top-selling genres include (4) Thrillers, then (5) Romance and Humor genres.  (6)  Create a series, at least a trilogy, but longer is better.  (7)  It is okay to mix genres.  Plus, as you see fit, (8) add in these elements:  fantasy, paranormal, vampire and/or sci-fi; (9) feel free to write to these audiences: young adults and children; and (10) they want more serious reads first and lighthearted reads second.

One final point.  No matter what genre of book is selling big at the moment, no matter what genre of movie is drawing record numbers at the theaters, no matter what genre of TV show is a huge hit, write from your heart.  Write what you want.  Write what you are drawn to.  If it happens to be the current "thing," so much the better.

Just as I am compelled to do this research and these two blogs today no matter what my To Do list may dictate, sometimes you gotta go with your gut.  Trust your instincts.  If they are nudging you now, then now is the right time to do it.

Like Kathryn Stockett's "differences" stand out among the other authors within Amazon's Kindle Million Club on so many levels (it's her debut novel, it's the only historical on the list, she made her one million in sales from one single book--that's a big following), she could be deemed the anomaly.  So could one of us someday.

And that's it.

For now.

Authors Are a Rare and Unique Breed--Be Proud, Authors!

This blog was not on my unending To Do list.  Still the idea for it kept flashing in my brain, annoying me like that incessant 12:00 blinking on a VCR to go deal with it already.  I seem to keep adding to my To Do list more than I am taking off.  Grrr.  So, to stop the madness from taking root, here is the not-on-my-To-Do-list post.

I am proud of all 2011 NaNo participants, the two hundred thousand or more spread out over this glorious Earth.  (Wish I had exact numbers, but my quick internet search didn't find that data.)  Since NaNo ends November 30 and it is only November 27, I have no figures on the winners' count either, but would love to have that fact come December if anyone wants to share it with me (please confirm your data source).

Again, I came up empty when I tried to locate the number of authors worldwide; even a round figure on the authors registered within Amazon's Author Central netted me nothing.  So I went to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and their online Occupational Outlook Handbook (2010-2011 edition), obviously with data mined from our Income Tax forms.  Based on 2008 numbers, there were 151,700 writers and authors here in the States.  There is no way for me to separate the two, but see my earlier blog about their differences.  Also see  http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos320.htm (where I found this info) for the great general descriptions that confirm my own definitions of "author" as versus "writer."

Since the BLS's figures are from 2008, with an expected 22,500 annual increase thereafter, I end up with an estimated 219,200 authors/writers being reported to the IRS at tax time for the year 2011.  And remember while there may be some 200,000 NaNo-ers this year, that does not mean all of them are reporting income and "have" to be among the 219,200 authors/writers the IRS recognizes.  They could be participating and winning NaNo yet not making any earnings therefrom at all.  Their salary may come from a totally different field or a day job to pay the bills.  Plus NaNo comprises people from all over the world, not just within the United States.

Here's the main point I'm leading up to.  Out of the 313 million people in just the United States, only approximately 219,200 are earning authors/writers.  Those figures alone should convince you of an author's uniqueness.  That's 7.00319 % of your fellow Americans. 

When we further refine that number, the statistics are amazing--at least they were to me.  The Kindle Direct Publishing's (KDP) November 2011 Newsletter gave me these statistics:  Within Amazon, there are only fourteen authors in the Kindle Million Club.  Remember KDP launched in 2007 along with the first Kindle release in November 2007 (not that e-books weren't born before the twenty-first century; they were there, as well).  So to have a tad more than a dozen authors reach one million in sales in four years is a pretty awesome accomplishment.

The current Kindle Million Club authors are:  David Baldacci, Amanda Hocking, Stephenie Meyer, Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris, Lee Child, Suzanne Collins, Michael Connelly, John Locke, Kathryn Stockett (with her debut novel), Janet Evanovich and George R.R. Martin, per KDP.

That is a club I aspire to belong to some day.  Even if it takes me decades.  However, should I do that in four years, we should throw a party or something.

Here are three more targets to keep in your sights.  

First Target:  Again per KDP, both John Locke and Amanda Hocking have sold more than TWO million books.  (Shouldn't their names be listed twice in the Kindle Million Club?  Ha!)  Really, there should be a distinction for these folks.  

Second Target:  Based on KDP figures, twelve KDP authors have sold more than two hundred thousand books.

Third Target:  From the same KDP newsletter, thirty KDP authors have sold more than one hundred thousand books.

Quite a litany, huh? Pretty impressive, I must say.  

And can be done, as these nice people before us have proven.  Like the four-minute-mile record that supposedly couldn't be broken, or Mt. Everest that couldn't be scaled--until some "uninformed" individual showed us differently.  If the KDP Kindle Million Club is too much to imagine from the get-go, look to hit one thousand in sales, then ten thousand, then one hundred thousand.

So whenever you authors out there are berating yourself mentally, or out loud--as we authors are somewhat prone to talk to ourselves--read this blog again.  Recalibrate the old mind-set.  Then get to your keyboard and pound out a new chapter, or revise an old one, or upload to Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Don't stagnate.  Do something wonderful with your gift.

#nanowrimo

Crossed Over the Magical 50K Mark In NaNoWriMo

Yep.  Yesterday.  This is such a wonderful thing.  The process lends itself to turning off the critical internal editor because our focus in on our word count.  Plus with the thirty-day deadline inherent within NaNoWriMo--as its slogan says, "Thirty days and  nights of literary abandon!"--there is the proverbial ticking bomb to get us moving.  So we have forward momentum, with no questioning or doubting to delay, distract, sideline or otherwise sabotage our efforts and presto!  We get words written.  Not an easy job, but can be done.  Obviously.  Check out the NaNoWriMo website for all the past winners each year.

While there is no prize money or plaque given, anyone who makes it over that 50,000 WC mark--and proves it by providing a copy (encrypted, please) of their document to the NaNo site--is deemed a winner that year.  I do not know how many authors participated this year, but I do know that on Thanksgiving Day, at times there were over 80,000 people signed in.  A quick internet search found this fact.  About 200,000 people participated in NaNoWriMo 2010.  Just amazing.

While I cannot maintain this daily November schedule over the remaining months of the year, I can see this becoming a seasonal activity for me, one every spring, summer, fall and winter.  If NaNoWriMo is the fall setting, then February, May and August would be the additional months of writing with abandon.  Then a month off from such strictly writing-generating activity to deal with whatever else makes your life full and satisfying, not to mention just having fun and filling up your memory tank.  The next month would entail editing, clean-up work, maybe enlisting some Beta-readers, a Final Edit, then uploading the finalized e-book version. 

This example precludes any day job is factored in.  If so, the process above slows down a bit.  A lot actually.  But a plan is a plan.  Even if you have to modify it to work around that thing called life.

P.S.  I encrypted my novel before copying and sending to NaNo to confirm my WC.  My actual WC is 50,017.  My "winner" WC shown otherwise within the NaNoWriMo site (which is a much bigger WC) must be due to the encryption adding in characters.  Even if the WC shown within nanowrimo.org is inflated, I'm a "winner" nonetheless.  Congrats to all 2011 NaNoWriMo participants and winners!

We Should Live More By Our Gut Feelings

I'm doing that more and more.  Living by my gut feeling.  I must forewarn you, though, people who are more "rational" will question you.  Heck, people who are more "emotional" will question you--well, more likely manipulate, control, try to get you to feel guilty, yada yada yada.

Don't let them.

Don't let you, ether.

I mean it.  I've been guilty of talking myself out of stuff without needing anybody else's notions added to the mix.  And what did I miss by not even trying?

I've read numerous times in a variety of places that we will regret more of what we DIDN'T do than what we did.  Also, I'm reminded of a statement I believe author Marianne Williamson made regarding a chapter in one of her books.  She hesitated putting it into this book, but did and had more positive comments and feedback on that particular chapter.  It entailed clearing out a drawer in your office to bring in customers (and money).

The Bible talks about us waiting to feel peace about a decision before we sally forth.  I definitely believe in that and follow it ninety-nine times out of one hundred.

But living by my gut?  Takes more courage whereas the "waiting for peace" part just takes more patience.

Regardless, I'm going the "riskier" route.  Believe me, you will not, dare I say never, find me bungee jumping, participating in NASCAR, parachuting from a reliable aircraft, running with the bulls, repelling mountains or skyscrapers or any other such extreme sport, especially those that involve heights.  I'm not talking about risks of that nature.  I'm talking about overruling my mind and the status quo (and what some people may expect me to do) with my gut and my intuition.

Want to join me?

P.S. One of my readers made an excellent point.  When you live by your intuition, you should not choose something unlawful, or that hurts anyone, including yourself.  No selfish acts allowed.  Just to be clear here.

Two More Things

Since I already have a post entitled "Two Things," I deemed it necessary to call this one "Two More Things" just for clarity's sake. 

First, one of my pet peeves is when authors do not take enough care with simple things like spelling and basic grammar rules.  I'm not talking about in an email between one friend to another or in a dashed-off birthday card or in your diary of secrets or in your grocery lists.  I'm talking about anything uploaded to the web.  A book excerpt, an article, a blog, a complaint letter, an e-book or whatever is put up for general consumption by the public. 

Note my deliberate use of the word "authors."  I don't hold every Tom, Dick or Harry to this ideal.  But authors?  Most definitely YES.  We are the standard-bearers of the (English) language, using our skills to accurately communicate our thoughts into words on paper (or computer) that are then received by our educated readers just as we expect them to be. 

And I'm not talking about a stray error or two within such internet publications.  We are all human.  We have all had the unfortunate incident of finding ourselves in a position to explain an incomprehensible error.  Which we find unexplainable and would never have committed knowingly.  But by some strange "brain blip," we did.  Although when I find one within my uploads, I hurry to change it immediately.  So far, I've changed mine before any reader comments made me aware of them.  Which is my preference.

But when I read things that have multiple spelling errors coupled with multiple grammatical errors, I cringe in embarrassment for both its creator and myself, as an Indie-published author.  I'm holding myself to a higher standard of excellence and professionalism, so no barbs can be pointed directly at me alleging any level of substandard work in my e-books. 

For all my individual attempts at professional excellence, I really hate to be generically lumped into any grouping that disparages me and my work.  Those overall remarks made about the low quality of e-books being self-published stab at my soul.  I am trying so hard to elevate that perception with each and every e-publication of mine, first to meet my own benchmark, but second also to overcome the negative stereotypes.

I love words.  I love reading.  I love creating both nonfiction and fiction. I love my freelance copyediting work.  That was my first dream-come-true.  I love Indie-publishing my e-books.  That was my second dream-come-true.  [BTW, while "dream-come-true" may not appear in Web11, I'm creating this multiple-word noun based on CMS 7.90.]

So when I see cluttered and clouded communication--caused by simple words being mutilated by misspelling and basic homophones any third-grade student has been taught (there, they're, their for one example and two, too, to for a second) being misused by an adult author--I wonder about the quality of education in America, where the minimum requirements should be fairly high.  As a communicator, as an author, as a copy editor, as a bibliophile, as a lover of words, I find that so very sad.

Plus, when a book containing those errors lands in the hands of youngsters with no formal training or at least not adequate schooling, they are then being mistaught by the very use of these mangled words and incorrect grammar.  We are just passing on these bad English lessons to yet another generation.

Parents want better things for their children.  As authors, we should remember we are surrogate parents to an unseen group of readers who are surrogate children and influenced by our writing to some degree.  We have a great responsibility to them.  I take mine seriously.

Second, on a happier note, I want to say a great big I AM PROUD OF YOU! to all the 2011 NaNoWriMo participants.  I've blogged about this before--probably one of the most repeated dreams is to write a book.  I would posit that almost every single person has had the thought "I could do that" and maybe fifty percent of them have spoken that wish out loud.  Yet, again, my best guesstimate here, I would theorize that maybe two percent do any actual writing.  I'm even broadening the catch of my proverbial net by counting simply writing down a title that's been floating in your head for decades.  Or a paragraph of notes, ideas.  Or an actual outline of your plot.  Just one sentence, one page, one list of bullet points--to me that makes you a newbie wannabe author.

BUT, to finish your creation makes you truly an author in earnest.  Whether published or not, by whoever's definitions.  And we all have been privy to myriad ones.  There is the RWA's definition of "published" which discounted my CP's short stories found in anthologies.  There is of course the snobbery abounding as to whether an Indie-published author (like me) is truly published.  To those snobs, the only definition of "published" is to go the traditional publishing route.  Which we all must agree is "published."  I just happen to think it is not the ONLY way to be "published."  As is my right as a U.S. citizen.

Nevertheless, to complete my thought from the above paragraph, I maintain you are a "published" novelist simply by putting words to paper regarding one story and writing until The End.  You have finished!  What is procrastination but simply NOT finishing?  So you are to be complimented.  Of course, there are other forms of publication--short stories, articles, blogs, poems, flash fiction, novellas, etc., etc.

Plus the Copyright Office agrees with me about the mere writing down of your creation makes you the author and the document deemed published at its inception, whether a copyright application is formally filed with its office or not.  Granted, from my layman's understanding, you cannot use this general pronouncement in a court of law to fight someone who may have infringed your copyright.  For litigation, you do need written approval of your copyright application considered by the Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 

Still, I hear you may be eligible for a minimal fine to be collected from an infringer even without a copyright on file with the government.  Check with your Patent & Trademark attorney or Entertainment lawyer or online for more information.  Links follow:  http://www.uspto.gov/ and http://www.copyright.gov/.  Boy, am I off target here.

Back to my main thoughts on this second topic.  I'm equally as proud of the NaNo-ers whose WC stands at 100 as I am of those with 60,000 and beyond already.  I'm equally as proud of the NaNo-ers who signed up and wrote one day as I am of those who have written on each of the twenty-one days in November so far.  I'm equally as proud of the NaNo-ers who decided to write in November and fell below that magical 50K number as I am of those who make and/or exceed the winner status.

For any action, any step, any decision, any thought that leads you to your dream, you are to be congratulated.  For the dreamers who take physical movement toward those ethereal hopes are rare in this world.  Probably less than one percent of all humankind.  Again, just numbers I've grabbed off the top of my head. 

But you see that same one-digit percentage re the world's finances--three percent have the bulk while the remaining ninety-seven percent live in want.  Same with goal-setting.  I've heard that the three percent who write down their goals are more likely to achieve them than the other ninety-seven percent who didn't and consequently never reached their desired destination.  So, it is not far-fetched for me to make such related claims. 

Just my opinions here.  But concerning two very important topics that are directly linked to my creed for living.

Write on, fellow 2011 NaNoWriMo participants!  I wish you well.  #nanowrimo

Professional Freelance Copy Editor Denise Barker

SUBMISSIONS REOPENED ON A TRIAL BASIS. Beginning March 15, 2013, I will consider copyediting requests from individual authors. Depending on my availability, I will take as many individual author jobs as my time allows.

SUBMISSIONS CLOSED. Beginning August 11, 2012, I am not able to take on new clients for individual author projects as my freelance work for publishing houses is now taking all my available time. Should my schedule change, I will update this post. 

Thank y'all!

~ ~ ~ ~

This is the "long version" as referenced in my NaNoWriMo ad, for those authors seeking a copy edit of their work.  This is not needed when going the traditionally published route as the publishing house hires a copy editor to review the contracted-for novel.  The process involves several rounds with proofreading done, as well.  I don't know all that is entailed, but I do freelance as a copy editor for a well-known NYC publishing house.

Here I am offering my skills and expertise to Indie-publishing authors, based on industry standards within the fiction community of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (Web11), and The Chicago Manual of Style, Sixteenth Edition (CMS).

I have intimate knowledge of the nine-hundred-page CMS and exacting familiarity with Web11. I implement Microsoft Word's Track Changes features as I edit, showing my suggestions and comments--where I am like the senate edicting laws. The author is then like the president with ultimate veto powers, having the final say; after all, it is his (or her) name on the front of his book. His brand, his ultimate responsibility.

NOTE:  No MS will be accepted for copyediting that has not already been spell-checked and grammar-checked via Microsoft Word and had one proofreading by either the author or beta reader.

Rates:  $25/hour – one read-through only. 

Estimated Rates per Book:  One novel (200-300 pp.) approximately $250 to $500, depending on the cleanness of the writing and the actual length of the document.

Writing Sample:  Give me your blog site or the first five pages of the novel to be copyedited or another story of your creation, so I can predetermine if your copy edit will be easy or hard and can therefore more properly estimate the total fee.

Self-Help:  If you would prefer to do-it-yourself, consider my e-book, A Copyediting Checklist for Novelists, available at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble online.  Links follow.

• http://www.amazon.com/Copyediting-Checklist-Novelists-ebook/dp/B004U2FLLM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317054041&sr=8-1

• http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-copyediting-checklist-for-novelists-denise-barker/1030986300?ean=2940012456953&itm=2&usri=denise%2bbarker

Also check out previous posts to my blog here where I delve into many matters regarding authors and their creations and copyediting concerns.  While I have Indie-published my own e-works under this DBA, I am not a public publishing company.  I do not wish to be a public publishing company.  I only wish to be an author and a freelance copy editor.

Background:  As of March 2013, almost five years of freelancing for a well-known NYC publishing house, having worked on 154 manuscripts to date, as well as some individual author projects along the way.  Previous career as a legal assistant for trial lawyers for three decades.  My love of reading and writing began early in life.  I currently have eight nonfiction and two nonfiction e-books offered through four online venues: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and Kobo. I have another fifteen works-in-progress. I am a perfectionist and a workaholic who loves her creative career.

Reference Materials:

The Chicago Manual of Style, Sixteenth Edition (CMS)

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (Web11), which trumps Word’s spell-check

UrbanDictionary.com and the like, as needed

Authorized websites confirming technical knowledge terms

My Copyediting Duties Defined:  WORDS.  I’m very sensitive to word choices and connotation versus denotation.  So while I require all my projects to have been previously spell-checked and grammar-checked by Microsoft Word to cover the basics, the human element is still very much needed for the intermediate to the more complex issues.  Web11 has “preferred” spellings that I double-check among other things, like confirming hyphenated usages over compound word construction.  GRAMMAR.  The CMS has 801 pages of English grammar rules and if I don’t already know them, I know where to look them up.  PUNCTUATION.  Proper use of punctuation is a communication skill.  Even with slang or dialects and the like, an apostrophe at the beginning of a word still means a missing letter.  If there is no missing letter, then the apostrophe is grammatically incorrect.  An apostrophe at the end of a word usually means possession and there are rules regarding plural possession and singular possession. These are just two examples when it comes to one punctuation mark--the apostrophe.  EDITOR OVERVIEW.  I have a great memory for details and timelines and geography, so the seasons, the months, the places, all fall together into an orderly puzzle in my brain—or if they do not, a glaring error to be fixed.  CONSISTENCY.  In character names, eye color, capitalization and sites.  If your story starts and ends in Chicago, the strange and unexplained mention of Cincinnati at one point will be addressed by me.

Document Defined:  A Microsoft Word document, double-spaced, preferably using Courier 10 font, properly formatted into Chapters.  English language only.

Payment:  Estimated half of total fees due received by my PayPal account before any work commences.  Balance of actual fees due to be deposited with my PayPal account the same day I return the copyedited MS via email.  That specific financial information to be shared later only with actual authors utilizing my copyediting services.

Online Editing Only (no mailing of paper manuscripts):  Only upon mutual approval and agreement to copy edit your novel, then your Microsoft Word Document would be sent via email to my contact info below.  Upon first PayPal payment (of two), online copyediting commences utilizing Track Changes feature within Word.

Estimated Time to Complete Project:  After mutual acceptance by the author and me of this copyediting project plus receipt of the first of two PayPal payments, project completed usually by two weeks but more often sooner.  The NYC publishing house projects I work on take precedence over any individual author’s project.  That is why I quote two weeks, instead of one.  I’ve never missed a deadline and I prefer to turn in my comprehensive work early. I work at least six days out of every seven and, because my career is so much fun, even on holidays.

What does the author do upon receipt of the copyedited MS?  Familiar with MSWord’s Track Changes?  If not, find articles about how to use it on the internet.  Basically, it concerns choices of Accept or Reject, reading Comment(s) and clicking on Final within the Track Changes toolbar to give you the new improved clean MS version.

Your returned MS will be marked to show deletions or insertions or replacement words for clarity or to correct usage (like misuse of their, there, or they’re, for instance).  For each such deletion, replacement or inserted word, the author either chooses to Accept the change I have suggested or to Reject same—in case I have misunderstood the passage.  However, usually the changes I recommend are because the passage confused me and I have attempted to clarify same.  There are also Comment features within Track Changes that give you further information from me, like why I did it this way here and probably the CMS rule to back me up.

My changes are suggestions based upon reference materials like Web11, CMS16 and authorized internet websites (meaning I will confirm with an authorized Ford website that it produces the Ranger truck).  Any such correction is made to improve communication via the book, to increase the reader’s understanding and to make the author look really good. The author chooses which remain or can stet the original wording by clicking Reject. 

Caveats:  My estimates for any project are not the final fee due.  The final fee due can only be calculated once I have spent the actual hours completing the project. 

I am human and, try as I might, I still make mistakes.  If I did a second read-through (which I no longer have the time to do), I would catch any of my mistakes overlooked during my initial read-through.  Since I am limited to only the one read-through, I would suggest noting any consistent errors marked within your MS so that you can perform your own search using Find/Replace.  Like “Philip” showing up as “Phillip” or too many times “canvas” (noun) showed up when it should have been “canvass” (verb).  As an author, I know my weaknesses and I am sure you know yours, too.  Double-check your weak areas.

I never share your creation with others.  Your work is safeguarded by me.  However, we all know about hackers and with email there is always that possibility.  If I could rid the world of malicious hackers, spammers, spoofers and phishers, I would have done so already.  In the meantime, we do what we can to prevent the possible theft of Intellectual Property.  However, I assume no responsibility should hackers make off with your manuscript.

Personality Differences:  If an untenable working relationship develops between the author and me, for whatever reason, we will agree to disagree and part company.  I will keep fees to cover the hours I have invested to this point of unworkability.  I will refund any overages paid.  I will return the UNFINISHED COPYEDITING JOB AS-IS to the author.  Thankfully, this has only happened once and it showed up pretty much immediately.  I had wasted six hours of my precious time.  I do NOT want a repeat of that.

I love copyediting and require that it remain a fun profession, shared between two serious authors (as I am an author as well as a copy editor) who both want to present a wonderful work of literary art--utilizing grammar rules and generally accepted spelling practices—by which they clearly communicate their story with their educated readers.

What I Will Not Do:

No marketing - No publication - No critiques - No promoting - No formatting - No uploading for e-publication - No cover art - Nothing but copyediting as defined above.

No research except as needed to confirm a technical term or career-specific phrase within the copyediting process.

Again--No MS will be accepted for copyediting that has not already been spell-checked and grammar-checked via Microsoft Word with at least one proofreading by the author or authorized beta-reader.

No telephone number for me will ever be given out.  Please do not ask for one.  It is a distraction from my copyediting work as well as my own writing.

No face-to-face meeting with me will ever be granted.  Please do not ask for one. It is a distraction from my copyediting work as well as my own writing.

No emails bouncing back and forth re the project.  I am as fast as I can be and still maintain the highest degree of accuracy.  Track Changes shows my suggestions and any further information can be found within Comments.

Copyediting is not a debate.  Within Track Changes, I am like the senate with the laws spelled out and the author is like the president with ultimate veto powers.

I have intimate knowledge of the nine hundred pages of the CMS and also with Webster's. I share that expertise regarding those grammar rules and preferred spellings when I copyedit. Each author has the final say; after all, it is his (or her ) name on the front of their book. His brand, his ultimate responsibility.

Referrals:  One of my CPs also has a copyediting service. For additional info, e-mail her at: Editor@CopyeditingSavesLives.com.

MY CONTACT INFO:

LivingTheDreamPublishing@gmail.com

#nanowrimo

The Magical Elements in NaNoWriMo

As a 2011 NaNoWriMo Participant, I have learned that inspiration can hit AFTER you start writing.  That even with worrying about your late start on the day's NaNo WC, the muse can still show up pretty much immediately upon tapping those keys.  

My mantra this year is to have fun with it, to keep my Internal Editor gagged and to not question the writing.  I leave notes that remind me to add this, or move that, and I've hit a sweet spot two days in a row, so I'm jazzed.  

As of late yesterday, my NaNo WC reached 17,489.  If I can keep up my current daily pace, I should hit the magical 50,000 WC mark by November 22!  Wow!  Of course, I intend to continue on.  

What helped me is that I took a character, the grandfather, from my soon-to-be-released debut novel, "Good Ole Boys," and am working on his story in the NaNo prequel novel.  In fact, some interesting details came out in the NaNo prequel that alters my timeline of some events in the original tale.  Good thing I know that now, so I can edit those entries before uploading the first story.

Two amazing things happened (so far) during NaNo.  I needed something on two occasions--two surprise factors--that slid home what emotion I was trying to hit, and hit hard.  It was astounding what came to me WITHIN NANOSECONDS (pun not intended here!) that I DID NOT KNOW about my own story creation.  They continue to shock me.  Just goes to prove that once you set about to do something, the universe or God, or whoever is your personal favorite, steps in to aid us.  Simply stupefying.  In a good way.

Oh, and just so you know:  Before a book is published, it is correct to put it within quotations as I've done above.  See CMS 8.195.

Of course, after publication, it becomes the italicized version we all know and love.

Write on, fellow NaNo peeps!  #nanowrimo