Self-Publishing and what I've learned

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klswaim

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've decided to publish my first novel via CreateSpace. Since I'm cheap, I'm doing my own editing. Wow, thinking like an editor sure changes the way I think about writing.

It's amazing how much I can cut. I started with 107,000 words and cut it down to 91,000. Not only is it shorter, but it reads better. Cutting that much had a dramatic difference in the pacing. It made my sentence structure tighter. I had some bad habits that are quickly fading, thank goodness. I hope this carries on to my next work, so I can do more of it when I'm writing and less at the editing stage.

Finally, I've learned you can cut too much. I tried for a thriller/action novel as filtered through Elmore Leonard, and wound up having to add some stuff back in. I'd cut to the bone in places, and there wasn't enough there to carry the story. P. Elrod helped in that regard, where she pointed out that it wasn't a screenplay. I owe her for that.

Hopefully I'll have it completed and up for sale in the next 2-3 weeks, and then I guess I'll find out what paying customers think.

I'm sure I'll sell tens of copies....
 

napow27

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Hey I'm self publishing as well this month, while I used an editor for my book, I did the cover design myself. I have background w/ Photoshop and illustrator.

Maybe we could share pointers and information about our journey through this crazy thing called self publishing.
 

Literateparakeet

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Welcome to the self-publishing world! It is quite a roller coaster, but all in all, I love it.

Best of luck with your book!

Leslie

(BTW, I'm no a fan of editing your own books, but since you weren't asking for advice in that department, I'll spare you. :) I hope your book is a big success.)
 

klswaim

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Yeah, in my perfect world I'd have amazing editors, lots of support and feedback from other writers, and an agent to help my career. Hey, if you're gonna dream, dream big. Might want to throw the lottery in there as well, but no paltry state lottery, one of the big multi-state jackpots.

In the real world, I'll make do with what I have. Which is nothing...

I'll surely sell tens of copies. :)
 

Spell-it-out

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Best of luck with your self-publishing adventure!
 

selfpubbedlysa

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Good luck with your project! I know from my own writing that being your own editor is very tough. Like I've looked at the same sentence dozens of times and not seen an obvious typo because I know how a sentence is supposed to read, I forget an "is" or "the" or whatever.

The brain teasers in this post on editing are pretty interesting. If you can't afford an editor, I'd say at the very least get a proofreader, just another set of eyes any way you can.
 

Jazen

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Good luck on your journey and I hope you do sell *tens of copies* ;).

I could never work as my own editor as grammar rules are NOT my friend LOL. Luckily I did have 2 friends that had a much better grasp on those pesky things and offered to help me out.

Put on your life vest and jump right into the deep end! :D
 

Dave.C.Robinson

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Good luck with your project! I know from my own writing that being your own editor is very tough. Like I've looked at the same sentence dozens of times and not seen an obvious typo because I know how a sentence is supposed to read, I forget an "is" or "the" or whatever.

The brain teasers in this post on editing are pretty interesting. If you can't afford an editor, I'd say at the very least get a proofreader, just another set of eyes any way you can.

One way to do it is either read your work aloud, or use a screen reader program to read your work back to you.
 

WriterBN

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Well, the Kindle version is available and the print version will hopefully be available by this time next week.

I feel ill. I'm sure that's normal.

Congrats! If you're feeling ill now, wait until you start obsessively checking sales reports several times a day :)
 

cwschizzy

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A lot of skill and a little luck. Congrats.
 

grayworld

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Congrats on #99, klswaim. There's something about seeing yourself in the Top 100... Best of luck.
 

Ann Joyce

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Adding my congrats to the others. That's great!
 

klswaim

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Well, I hit a high of 96, now I'm off the top 100. I'm starting a free giveaway tomorrow, we'll see how that goes. I've had some foreign sales, though, which I did not expect.
 

jerrimander

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Oooo you're one of the brave lucky duckies that got a critique from Ms. Elrod herself. I was too skerrd.
 
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