While most of us launching a new venture will do so with a degree of fear and trepidation it need not be like that when publishing e-books. How to launch e-books with complete confidence is about publishing e-books of quality. The confidence comes from knowing the quality value of the book. Yes, there is still some fear mixed with the excitement of knowing your product is as good as possible.

How to Launch E-books with Complete Confidence

A well-written e-book is crucial to sales or developing an email list. As part of the launch, authors seek to have reviews of their book. Great reviews are like gold for e-books.

I spent some time on Amazon Kindle reading reviews; most reviewers found positives to report on.  The reviewers that gave e-books thumbs down were by angry buyers who had paid for e-books that had not been well edited or proofread. They were scathing in their reviews.

Two primary reasons your creative words need an EDITOR

1. To eliminate mistakes – embarrassing mistakes!

A cookbook published by Penguin contained a recipe that called for ‘salt and freshly ground black pepper.’ However, the spell checker removed ‘pepper’ and substituted ‘people.’  This one-word slip up caused the embarrassed publishers to destroy the books and then reprint them at the cost of $20,000.

The truth is that we all make mistakes, after all, we are human.

Why authors can miss their own mistakes

The reason writers miss their mistakes is that they created the text, so they know it very intimately. When they are re-reading it, they may pass over an error because their brain automatically compensates with what should be there. Thus the mistake is missed.

Editors are trained to see errors.  As the editor’s brain has no memory of the written text, it results in the mistakes standing out.

2.  An editor seeks to enhance the reader’s experience

This has to be good for the acceptability of your e-book. However, some authors are upset and even embarrassed by the number of queries that the editor makes. The editor does not want you to feel bad, their only concern is to do their job and to assist you to improve your book.

Authors tend to view their work in a personal manner, and this can blind them to needed changes. On the other hand, editors can view your text objectively.

One example of improving the reader’s experience –

Original text

“In his journey, he met many of the prominent and wealthy families of Ireland. He composed and performed songs and music for them. Some became his patrons and he named tunes after them. Patrons were like sponsors and helped support musicians whose work they liked.”

Editor’s suggestion

“On his journey, he composed music and performed songs for many prominent and wealthy families. Some of these people became his patrons and supported his music and lifestyle. He named many tunes after them.”

Note how the editor could look at the paragraph in an objective way and streamline the text. The same information, yet the reader has eleven fewer words to read.

How to launch e-books with complete confidence

Normally editing has many levels and each level attracts a different fee.

My editing and proofreading service

I have only one level and that is thorough. Thus I have a flat-rate fee.

Copyediting and proofreading are not the same but they do overlap. Most of the checks listed below would fall into editing. Proofreading is checking for typos like the ‘pepper and people’ error in the above example. Spelling mistakes and common errors like ‘your and you’re’. I proofread right before the text is formatted and again after formatting.

What you can expect from my thorough service –

1. I seek to maintain the author’s personality in their writing.

2. Checks for obvious grammar mistakes; but I am not a grammar troll who can find fault in everything.

3. Your text will be checked for repetitious words that result in a boring read.

4. The consistency of information.

5. Tightening of the text. Can the same idea be conveyed in fewer words?

6. The consistency of headings and subheadings.

7. Do hyperlinks go to the correct destination? This includes the table of contents.

8. Are the correct captions under the graphics?

9. Checking of prominent facts.

10. Proofreading before and again after formatting.

In addition to the above

11. I have an independent reader check for comprehension of the text.  One method I use is to watch someone reading your text. A stumble while reading or going back for clarification, will indicate the need for some re-wording.

My fee structure for e-books

The first three pages are free.

The rate of $4.00 USD per 300 words of additional text.

“Kathleen did an amazing job editing and proofing my book, Budgeting Made Easy: Thriving on Any Income! She had very professional comments and suggestions on many things I simply overlooked. Kathleen was timely with her feedback.

After revisions and formatting, she made multiple passes through the book to catch all errors. I was extremely pleased with her conscientious work and great attention to detail in order to make my book a high quality and professional publication. I will definitely be using Kathleen’s fabulous proofreading and editing skills again for future work.”

Charissa Quade from Cook With a Shoe

“I am a freelance non-fiction writer. In time past I considered that I had a reasonable grasp of structuring and forming readable content for my blogs, articles or books. I initially relied heavily on a premium version of Grammarly and my previous formal training in writing.

I reached a point where I realized that if the quality of my writing was to advance and connect with readers it needed qualified editorial/proofreading input, not just a relative or some friend to read it and express their unqualified opinion. I engaged Kathleen to undertake that task.

She was meticulous in exposing errors and weak text that failed to connect with readers. She always took time to explain better ways of expressing a point and how it might be said with fewer words and yet convey the point more powerfully. I have to be honest, I was shocked to find how many improvements could be made in my writing. However, the upside of her editorial diligence is that it has been instrumental in making me a better writer.

My own experience has taught me the value of engaging qualified editorial assistance in my writing and I would not hesitate to recommend Kathleen as an Editor.”

Patrick.

If you would like to discuss editing and proofreading with me, there is a contact form in the footer of the page.

Learn more about writing – read this post, 5 weak words to avoid.

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