I'm one bleary-eyed editor!

Two marathon sessions on the weekend (a total of approximately 26 hours) came to an end around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday night....when I finally finished the edit of ARTIFICIAL INTENTIONS, the second book. Hopefully, with a few last swipes, I'll be ready to send it in to iUniverse and get it into production.

Had a note today from iUniverse that the first book OPTIONS, has been assigned to the "London" production team -- so, things are happening. Looking forward to the next phase for both books.

No...more....reading..... for at least a day!

Book #1 in Production

So, I finally finished editing Options for the three thousandth time the other night and sent it off to iUniverse, telling them I was by-passing any further editorial work. I quickly sent in my revised back cover text and bio with the hope that somewhere in Indiana (I think that's where iUniverse lives), someone is now busily preparing my book.

I love my first book. (The editorial review I got was fair and if I was to compare the review to a mark given by a teacher in school, I probably got a B, however, I'm digressing.) I love my first book, but I have read it at least twenty times (no joke) in the last three months, and every single time I read it I find errors and things to correct. I think I nailed it this time though, and hope that any mistakes left are the type that an average reader won't notice. (Although I must admit I am a SERIOUS snob when it comes to finding errors in professionally published books and I'm finding more and more of them lately.....shame on you Penguin Books and all you other large houses!)

So, sayonara Options (although I believe I get one more go around when iUniverse publishes the proof). It's been fun. It's been fourteen years. Time to send you off....

Let me sign off by saying how sick to death I am of the comma.....

p.s. any mistakes in this post are the sole responsibility of the author (I feel I must add this rider)

My iUniverse experience -- so far

I have now received editorial evaluations for both books which were very positive.

The editorial evaluation format from iUniverse is very user-friendly. The editor sends you a multi-page document containing their comments on various topics (the basics; title; marketing text; opening; basic premise and tone; point of view; structure, plot and pace; setting; characterization; dialogue; basic punctuation and grammar; and general comments about the manuscript). The evaluation finishes off with their trade mark "Editorial Rx Referral".

On each topic listed above, the editor has a series of standard questions they answer about the book (yes or needs work), and then they give a narrative answer, citing examples from the book. I found this very valuable. For both books I received lots of constructive comments which I plan on integrating into the manuscripts.

Any complaints? You betcha. And I've shared this with iUniverse. They have a program called "Editor's Choice" where editors at iUniverse identify good, solid books to get their "gold seal of approval". Both of my books were recommended by the editors for this program. However, there's a catch. You have to submit to their recommendations (i.e. have your book copy edited, or have your book line edited, etc.) and pay very big bucks to their organization to have the job done.

Don't get me wrong, I know that copy editing and proofreading are very expensive propositions (see one of my first blog entries). And they are worth every penny. iUniverse's services are not out of line with industry prices for the same type of service and I'm sure their editors are worth the money. I just wish I had several thousand dollars to pay for these services......but self-publishing is costly enough.

So, I'm going to incorporate as many of the changes as I can that were recommended by the editors and get both manuscripts re-submitted asap!

Over and out!