Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Francine Howarth on July 7, 2012 at 14:31

Hi Nel,

There are freelance editors around, some who work on contract for publishers. It all depends on what you consider to be very expensive! Self-pubbing can be a very expensive venture even though there is little cost involved in uploading a book for free to Amazon Kindle and Createspace paperbacks. Unfortunately little in this life comes for free, more's the pity for writers when trying to cut costs to the bone in testing the waters of self-publishing. It all comes down to investment Vs income. There are authors who've self-published at great expense and still yet to get a return on investment re covers, editing etc., while others who've carried out every aspect of the self-publishing process have coined it from day one of book release. There are authors who've signed with On-line Indie publishers and received crumbs in return, others making a modest gain. Few unfortunately could be rated best-selling authors raking in gold. Rankings at Amazon are not always what they seem. One author has a novel in the top 100 on Amazon for historical romance for over a year, her sales figures don't in any way equate to her elevated position. Her sales are zilch at present and have been for five months.    

I'll be honest and say I do my own cover artwork, I do my own Kindle formatting. I have a beta-reader and like-wise do same for her, plus I have a friendly editor (academic) who drops a peg or two to the level of popular fiction on a read through. :o   If you're really pushed for a read through I'll take a peek: francinehvr@yahoo.com 

When it comes to sales, one can have a super-duper cover, superb fancy formatted interior and, score loads of hype from family, friends, fellow bloggers and fellow writers to push a book to top ranking. But no matter how good the cover, how good the interior looks, the content and quality of content is what counts. Once family, friends, fellow bloggers and fellow writers have done their bit for the book the public at large will decide whether the end product is to their taste. There's nothing worse than buying a hyped book only to be disappointed and swear never to buy a book by that author ever again. Because, in truth, such can make one feel cheated by hype alone, and worse friends and fellow bloggers are likely to have recommended said book. So who is kidding who?   

Permalink Reply by Phillipa Ashley on July 11, 2012 at 14:07

If you contact Nell Dixon she may be able to put you in touch with a fomer RNA member who has copy-edited professionally for several big publishers. She is very reasonable IMHO.