I have before me a glass of wine, some cheese, wheat-free crackers and one very excited writer. Cindy completed a book awhile ago about her journey through breast cancer. When she discovered I freelance as an editor, we began working together to edit her work. Now, she's going forward with self-publication. Having just hit the send button, she cracked the wine. Time to celebrate a work seven years in the making.
This got me thinking about forays. For one thing, self-publication has been streamlined and the possibility of writing a book of my own-- as a side project while I edit, of course-- stirs me a little bit. I was charged by my witty, charming, beautiful aunt with writing the great American novel. It seems my grandmother was planning to, but got busy so passed the torch to my aunt, the next generation's grammatical torch-bearer. My aunt, however, passed that torch on to me. What have I done with it? Used my powers for good, I like to think, editing other authors' work.
I enjoy it. And, frankly, it's a heck of a lot easier to go through and tighten up a work already written than to sit at the typewriter, open a vein and bleed a story from scratch. You are brave souls, you authors. We editors love you, too, but I would much rather edit as a profession and write as a hobby. For now, anyway.
To get to brass tacks: Cindy is pursuing self-publication on CreateSpace, which was highly recommended to her by a friend involved in the self-publishing industry in some form. It was simple to create a profile, and then she was asked about the ISBN. Apparently, whoever owns the ISBN is the publisher. To keep ultimate creative power, she opted to buy her own. Bowker.com took her through the process of purchasing ISBNs from a re-seller (She purchased ten for the price for two). Within minutes, she had an ISBN to enter into the field on CreateSpace. From there she followed the prompts, selected her options and is now waiting on a couple of the pieces-- i.e. the cover, to be drawn by a certain grateful daughter.
One of the perks of going through CreateSpace appears to be a presence on Amazon.com and some of its tentacles, not to mention a surprising rate for royalties on each book sold. I was surprised.
Maybe inspired?
This got me thinking about forays. For one thing, self-publication has been streamlined and the possibility of writing a book of my own-- as a side project while I edit, of course-- stirs me a little bit. I was charged by my witty, charming, beautiful aunt with writing the great American novel. It seems my grandmother was planning to, but got busy so passed the torch to my aunt, the next generation's grammatical torch-bearer. My aunt, however, passed that torch on to me. What have I done with it? Used my powers for good, I like to think, editing other authors' work.
I enjoy it. And, frankly, it's a heck of a lot easier to go through and tighten up a work already written than to sit at the typewriter, open a vein and bleed a story from scratch. You are brave souls, you authors. We editors love you, too, but I would much rather edit as a profession and write as a hobby. For now, anyway.
To get to brass tacks: Cindy is pursuing self-publication on CreateSpace, which was highly recommended to her by a friend involved in the self-publishing industry in some form. It was simple to create a profile, and then she was asked about the ISBN. Apparently, whoever owns the ISBN is the publisher. To keep ultimate creative power, she opted to buy her own. Bowker.com took her through the process of purchasing ISBNs from a re-seller (She purchased ten for the price for two). Within minutes, she had an ISBN to enter into the field on CreateSpace. From there she followed the prompts, selected her options and is now waiting on a couple of the pieces-- i.e. the cover, to be drawn by a certain grateful daughter.
One of the perks of going through CreateSpace appears to be a presence on Amazon.com and some of its tentacles, not to mention a surprising rate for royalties on each book sold. I was surprised.
Maybe inspired?
Comments
Post a Comment