I thought the revision process was daunting, but nothing compares to the intense review of the pre-publication document whether it is in the form of a galley, epub document, or a PDF file.
When my first book was in the traditional publishing process in 1987, I received the galleys. This is a proof of your book, printed in a single column with wide margins for making corrections. The galley I received from my publisher then was difficult to read, and even harder to correct. It took me two weeks to go through it, and mark all the missing periods, question marks, mis-spelled words, fragmented sentences, and mis-placed paragraphs.
My second book published by Collca in March as an ebook was much different. Mike Hyman, the Managing Director, send me an ePub file. This allowed me to correct errors right on the document. I spent two days going over it line by line, and I still missed several things. Thank heavens my publisher is extremely smart. He knew that authors tend to miss things since they have spent so much time reading their manuscripts over and over prior to publication, so he asked me if it was all right to have a second set of eyes take a look. Whew! My research mentor reviewed it for me, and found everything I missed.
Now, for my third book, which I am self-publishing through Halo International as both an ebook and a printed book, I received a PDF file. This required me to create a separate document where changes, their page and paragraph numbers, would be recorded. But that is not where the pre-publication review began. With self-publishing, you need to make sure your book is copy ready when it is submitted. Once the PDF is created through a company assisting you in self-publishing, every change or correction costs extra. Now if you use something like Smashwords to publish your ebook, cost is not a factor because you can simply update the on-line copy. That is how my next book will be published.
Now for the faint of heart, you can always hire someone to make sure your work is camera and print ready. However, I would still want to go over every word and illustration just to make sure it is exactly what you want. But regardless of the format, plan to spend time combing through each and every word, sentence, and paragraph. It will only make the book better.
When my first book was in the traditional publishing process in 1987, I received the galleys. This is a proof of your book, printed in a single column with wide margins for making corrections. The galley I received from my publisher then was difficult to read, and even harder to correct. It took me two weeks to go through it, and mark all the missing periods, question marks, mis-spelled words, fragmented sentences, and mis-placed paragraphs.
My second book published by Collca in March as an ebook was much different. Mike Hyman, the Managing Director, send me an ePub file. This allowed me to correct errors right on the document. I spent two days going over it line by line, and I still missed several things. Thank heavens my publisher is extremely smart. He knew that authors tend to miss things since they have spent so much time reading their manuscripts over and over prior to publication, so he asked me if it was all right to have a second set of eyes take a look. Whew! My research mentor reviewed it for me, and found everything I missed.
Now, for my third book, which I am self-publishing through Halo International as both an ebook and a printed book, I received a PDF file. This required me to create a separate document where changes, their page and paragraph numbers, would be recorded. But that is not where the pre-publication review began. With self-publishing, you need to make sure your book is copy ready when it is submitted. Once the PDF is created through a company assisting you in self-publishing, every change or correction costs extra. Now if you use something like Smashwords to publish your ebook, cost is not a factor because you can simply update the on-line copy. That is how my next book will be published.
Now for the faint of heart, you can always hire someone to make sure your work is camera and print ready. However, I would still want to go over every word and illustration just to make sure it is exactly what you want. But regardless of the format, plan to spend time combing through each and every word, sentence, and paragraph. It will only make the book better.
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