New Edition – The Benefits Of e-book Publishing
I published Special Treatment & Other Stories – my first book of short stories – two years ago and was pleased with the result. Since then I have published The Truth In The Lie – a further book of short stories – and I know my writing has improved. When I read back over the earlier stories I could see plenty of faults there. Not mistakes exactly, just that I knew then the stories could have been told better. I related this sentiment to my eldest daughter who had just done an excellent job of editing The Truth In The Lie. "I wish I could change those stories now," I said.
"Why can't you?" she asked, "if the book has only been published as an e-book, how hard is it to publish a second edition?"
The next question from me was obvious – would she edit it for me?
"I'd love to," she said.
Fortunately Alex had a few weeks before returning to work at the top of a mountain in the Pyrenees. Once she was there, cut off from what we misguidedly call civilisation, there would be no chance of her doing it. "Start today," I said.
Two or three weeks after that I received her edits. There was a surprising amount of red to deal with in track changes. "Was it that bad?" I sighed.
"Not really," she replied, "just that you could do a lot better."
All through her edited document the phrase "you can do better," appeared in comment boxes. I squirmed with discomfort for the first few days. Later, however, I came to gain pleasure from it. I had responded to this challenge she repetitively laid down for me numerous times by now and each time I could see just how much better I could do. Why on Earth had I been so stupid as not to have asked for her help when I had the first draft complete, I asked myself? Because she had been up her mountain then, that's why. I won't make the mistake again though. She's a hard taskmaster but the benefits are very clear to me now.
In some of the stories only a few details have been changed. In many though, the entire plot has been adjusted. Often the outcome of a story had been revealed too early. In others, while the outcome had been perfectly clear to me, it had not been to others it would seem. Phrases that I felt were entirely of my own invention were singled out as being cliches. None of us knows where our ideas come from. We may think we do but often we are wrong. This is the reason people are sometimes accused of plagiarism. They have read, seen or heard something and filed it away in their subconscious then retrieved it at some later stage believing it to be our own original thought. Agonising when it's pointed out to you of course. This is why we need good editors. Proofreading for typos and errors is not enough. The best of independent authors still need a fresh set of critical eyes over their work before hitting the publish button. I know that now.
I am assuming that by simply replacing my old document with the new one on Amazon KDP and on Smashwords, that anyone having bought and downloaded the original version of Special Treatment & Other Stories will be able to download the new version for free. I'm sure I read that somewhere. So please do me a favour. If you read on-line that I am about to launch a new book, please ask me, "has Alex edited it yet?"
Download: Special Treatment & Other Stories - 2nd Edition
On Amazon.com
On Amazon.co.uk
On Smashwords
I published Special Treatment & Other Stories – my first book of short stories – two years ago and was pleased with the result. Since then I have published The Truth In The Lie – a further book of short stories – and I know my writing has improved. When I read back over the earlier stories I could see plenty of faults there. Not mistakes exactly, just that I knew then the stories could have been told better. I related this sentiment to my eldest daughter who had just done an excellent job of editing The Truth In The Lie. "I wish I could change those stories now," I said.
"Why can't you?" she asked, "if the book has only been published as an e-book, how hard is it to publish a second edition?"
The next question from me was obvious – would she edit it for me?
"I'd love to," she said.
Fortunately Alex had a few weeks before returning to work at the top of a mountain in the Pyrenees. Once she was there, cut off from what we misguidedly call civilisation, there would be no chance of her doing it. "Start today," I said.
"Not really," she replied, "just that you could do a lot better."
All through her edited document the phrase "you can do better," appeared in comment boxes. I squirmed with discomfort for the first few days. Later, however, I came to gain pleasure from it. I had responded to this challenge she repetitively laid down for me numerous times by now and each time I could see just how much better I could do. Why on Earth had I been so stupid as not to have asked for her help when I had the first draft complete, I asked myself? Because she had been up her mountain then, that's why. I won't make the mistake again though. She's a hard taskmaster but the benefits are very clear to me now.
In some of the stories only a few details have been changed. In many though, the entire plot has been adjusted. Often the outcome of a story had been revealed too early. In others, while the outcome had been perfectly clear to me, it had not been to others it would seem. Phrases that I felt were entirely of my own invention were singled out as being cliches. None of us knows where our ideas come from. We may think we do but often we are wrong. This is the reason people are sometimes accused of plagiarism. They have read, seen or heard something and filed it away in their subconscious then retrieved it at some later stage believing it to be our own original thought. Agonising when it's pointed out to you of course. This is why we need good editors. Proofreading for typos and errors is not enough. The best of independent authors still need a fresh set of critical eyes over their work before hitting the publish button. I know that now.
Where my editor runs away to when I get too much for her
I am assuming that by simply replacing my old document with the new one on Amazon KDP and on Smashwords, that anyone having bought and downloaded the original version of Special Treatment & Other Stories will be able to download the new version for free. I'm sure I read that somewhere. So please do me a favour. If you read on-line that I am about to launch a new book, please ask me, "has Alex edited it yet?"
Download: Special Treatment & Other Stories - 2nd Edition
On Amazon.com
On Amazon.co.uk
On Smashwords
