Monsters Re-Release (Or, How I Owned Up To My Weaknesses And Learned To Love Editing)


Hello, Little Spartans, it's been a while hasn't it?


I'm not going to sit here and give you the reasons I've not been around, but let's just say that I was taking a sabbatical and I wasn't at all kidnapped by aliens and experimented on. *WINK*

But seriously, TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER!

lol. No, just kidding. We can do that later.

First of all, I'd like to talk about my book - MONSTERS. Hold on, stop shaking your heads. I know you know I wrote this one a while ago. In fact, some of you have even bought it. 


Best of all, everyone seemed to like it. I got great reviews and a terrific response from everyone who read the book.


"Doyle was a great character..." 


"...the story was well paced..." 


"...unique..."


"...a twisting thrill ride..."


However, a few of the negative comments all hit on the same thing: head-hopping (POV ping-ponging between characters during a scene instead of shifting at a natural point like a scene change.)

Before I self-published Monsters, I edited it. Yes. Me. I also got a good friend to take a couple of passes on it. But, if you learn only ONE thing from me, let it be this: there is no substitute for getting an actual EDITOR to edit your book.

It's as simple as that. 

Now, I completely understand why people don't want to do that. Editors cost money. Everyone's gotta make a living. Chances are you'll spend more producing your book than you'll make back. For a good while at least. So, is it worth it?

AYE!! Trust me.

I hired grammar-ninja, Gina Hylton, and she was able to help me weed out the problems with head-hopping and catch a few stray adverbs and rogue commas. I fixed the head-hopping scenes and it tightened up my writing immeasurably.

So, I am proud(er) to say, Monsters is back and better than before. The story is the same, but the writing is better. And, although I plan to publish the follow-up through a conventional publishing house, I will never again cut that editorial corner.

And if you want your self-published book to be treated seriously, you should definitely hire an editor.

Monsters is available on KINDLE


Gina Hylton (aka Regina West) is currently an Associate Editor and soon-to-be-published romance author with Pandamoon Publishing. You can follow her on Twitter (@GinaWestAuthor) and Facebook.


Now...TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER.



Comments

  1. YAY for editors! YAY for writers! YAY for editing! YAY for blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Gareth!! Glad to have you back. Missed your posts. Totally understand needing a sabbatical, and I 100% agree that edits are important. I know from my own work that if I didn't have my editor...ruh roh...look out! lol Congrats on your re-release! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Big up! First time learning from your mistakes ! Ha! Seriously - good move and I'm sure Gina taught you a lot. I've been impressed with what I've seen of her work so far. Now, I thought the first published version was good, so this must be gooder? However, I am extremely impatient waiting for the follow up! Get on with it!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Selling your book or selling your soul?

Questions for Spartagus.

#movies - Review - King Arthur: Legend of the Sword