Hens Lay Eggs
food for thought
Use the right tool for the job
Within the various writers groups to which I subscribe and in which I participate, I come across every day someone posting about difficulties producing a book. People ask about appropriate program to write their books, create illustrations, design their books, and format their e-books. Inevitably, many complain that the software they use for whichever task isn’t doing what they want it to do.
Case in point: My best friend was tapped to design the flyers and newsletter for her equestrian group. The person who had been performing that task used Microsoft PowerPoint: not the correct tool for the job. She complained about the difficulty of the task and praised my friend’s ability to design documents that met expectations.
“How do you do that?” the woman asked.
“Magic,” my friend answered, when in reality the more accurate response was to use the right tool for the job.
I understand why someone would gravitate toward a familiar tool. If you’re proficient in the use of a particular tool, then that’s the one you want to use. It’s easy for you because you’ve already mastered it. However, just because you can use that tool doesn’t mean you should use it or that it’s suitable for that particular purpose.
Using the wrong tool adds difficulty and complexity to the task and results in exasperation, frustration, and less than optimal results. Really, there’s no benefit in using a tool that makes you want to tear your hair out. Using the wrong tool that delivers amateurish results does you no favors.
This is one reason why I so strongly advocate for hiring professionals.
A professional already knows the correct tool(s) to use for the task and has mastered its(their) use. Knowledge, experience, skill, and mastery are what make a professional professional.
If you want to learn how to use a particular tool to save some money and acquire a new skill, go ahead. Be brave and adventurous! Understand that these specialized, powerful tools tend to have learning curves; it will take time and practice to learn how to use them correctly and gain proficiency. It also helps to learn the lingo of the task you want to do. The jargon accompanying designing for print differs from the language used for e-book formatting.
But until you master that tool and can produce professional results, hire a pro so you don’t inflict amateurish work on the unsuspecting public.
The correct software for the task was designed for that task. Many programs also incorporate features and functions that expand upon their original purposes. For instance, Microsoft Word has evolved to incorporate many formatting options; however, it was not created for page design and, frankly, doesn’t do a very good job of page design. Yet many people know how to use it and do use it to design their documents … then they wonder why their documents don’t look quite professional.
Use the right tool for the job.
So, what are the right tools?
- Writing (i.e., word processing): Microsoft Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice
- Illustrations: Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator
- Document design (i.e., page design): Adobe InDesign
- E-book formatting: Your guess is as good as mine because this is not my forte. (I’ve heard Sigil, Atticus, and Vellum do very well for this purpose.)
Think of it this way: If all you know how to use is a hammer, no matter how skilled you are with a hammer, it’s not going to be very useful if you want to make a cake. Writing and editing, graphic art and graphic design are all entailed in producing books, but they are not the same tasks, nor do they entail the same skill sets. If you want to produce a book but you lack skill in any of the tasks necessary to create professional results, then hire a professional for that task.
Every word counts.
Pobody’s Nerfect
I read a book over the weekend. That’s not significant.
The book was a fluffy romance—basically brain candy. No mental exertion required. The writing was engaging but not stellar, and the editing satisfactory until my eyes stumbled to a halt over “She lied down.”
ACK! Argh! Noooo!
The incorrect use of “lie” is a pet peeve. “Lie” is a verb with two meanings:
- To recline.
- To tell a falsehood.
Only in one of those uses is the simple past tense “lied” acceptable. The author’s use was not it.
I had no confusion regarding what the author meant. She meant “lay down,” “lay” being the correct simple past tense of “lie” meaning “to recline.”
Perhaps the author relied solely upon herself and maybe a beta reader to edit her manuscript. Perhaps she stopped editing after using editing software. Perhaps she hired an incompetent editor. Perhaps the manuscript received by the editor was simply a hot mess, and that glitch fell through the cracks. Perhaps she didn’t hire a proofreader who (also) should have caught the error. Pehaps …
When editing one’s own writing, the author see what should be there. The editor brings a keen, objective perspective, but is not infallible. Hiring the wrong editor for the task, such using a developmental editor for copy editing, equates to using the wrong tool for the job. When cooking, you don’t use a butter knife or a spoon to julienne vegetables.
Even books produced by publishing companies with deep pockets and multiple levels of editing have occasional errors. Most independent authors don’t have those resources yet are still held to the same standards of professionalism readers have come to expect from the major publishers—as they should be. A simple reality: errors are more likely to be found in an indie author’s books.
However, a zero tolerance attitude toward errors isn’t realistic because perfection is impossible.
Although I, as a reader, would have expected an egregious errors like the one described above to have been corrected before the book was published, the book as a whole contained only a smattering of copy errors, certainly not enough to justify lambasting it with a scathing review or giving it a low rating.
Regardless of whether a book was published by a major publishing company or a struggling indie author, some errors are to be expected and tolerated.
It’s said that if your copy editor corrects 95% of the errors in the manuscript, he or she did a perfectly acceptable job. It gives one pause and makes one think: How terrible was that manuscript when it landed on the editor’s desk? Speaking from experience as an editor, when slogging through a manuscript riddled with every linguistic mistake known to mankind (and repeated!), it’s all too easy to miss things. Speaking from experience as an author whose manuscript comes back practically dripping in proverbial red ink, a ruthless, eagle-eyed editor is a godsend!
The pursuit of perfection, however, results in frustration, exasperation, and nasty feelings of discontent. The author can always tweak a word here, a punctuation mark there. The author can waste innumerable hours making infinitesimal improvements, the very definition of the law of diminishing returns.
A successful author knows when the manuscript is good enough for public consumption. Not perfect. Perfection cannot be attained. However, a savvy author strives for excellence, not perfection. Excellence allows for the imperfection of human endeavor.
Neither authors nor editors are divine.
If you intend to self-publish your book, it behooves you to find an editor who’s a good match for the project. Preliminary determination of suitability means the author must provide information about the project:
- Fiction or nonfiction: Editors specialize. Some only work on fiction, some only on nonfiction.
- Topic or genre: Editors specialize. Some only accept certain genres or avoid certain topics.
- Word count: The document’s length enables the editor to roughly estimate how long the project will take.
- Level of editing needed: This refers to using the right tool for the job. If your story needs a developmental editor, then hiring a copy editor to correct grammatical errors is premature.
- Deadline for completion: Many editors are booked months in advance. If your deadline is tight, the editor may not be able to fit the project into his or her schedule.
- Budget. Editors command different rates based on their expertise, qualifications, availability, and the kind of editing they do. A professional editor won’t accept a project with too low a budget.
Simply put, a professional editor who determines he/she is not a good match for the project won’t waste his/her time or the author’s by submitting a proposal. If you’re an author, you won’t know how many editors decline to respond to your request for proposals, but it reduces the clutter of bids from the hordes of scammers, low-bid vendors, and competent editors you will receive. Regardless, no professional will guarantee 100% error-free editing; however, a professional won’t introduce errors into your manuscript either like editing software does.
Remember, to err is human.
Advice for new writers
I see an awful lot of “new” writers who are beginning or working on their first novel length manuscripts. They’ve never written a book before, but they want to know how much money they’ll earn, how long the book should be, who are the best publishers, and more.
Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works.
Sure, there are exceptions we can name, but those are exceptions. The vast majority of us have to play by the rules and follows established processes.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
One thing I caution these new authors about is the expectation that their first novels will make the rich and famous.
For someone to expect a first attempt at anything to make him or her rich and famous is unrealistic and smacks of hubris. The first attempt at anything serves as a learning experience. In the creation of that first manuscript, you learn what you do well, what you need to improve, and what you really struggle doing. That first attempt teaches you that you need a lot more practice.
Do you remember your first time cooking or sewing? Your first time building something? Your first time driving? You weren’t an expert at it; you were a novice learning how to master those skills.
Your second, third, and eighth attempts might also serve primarily as learning experiences. Remember, writing is a craft. Mastery of any craft requires practice and, often, instruction.
Your first manuscript will likely be a disorganized mess utterly unfit for public consumption. That’s normal. Expect it but don’t be discouraged. Learning is a messy process filled with errors and moments of brilliance.
I know this from my own experience. I wrote nearly 10 full-length novels before publishing one. They were terrible, but I learned from each as I worked on them. As I continue to write, I continue to learn. Like any other writer, my skill evolves as I practice.
Learn about the industry.
Every industry has its own jargon. Publishing is no exception and combines other fields, each with its own jargon. If you want to be successful as an author, it helps to learn as much as you can.
First, there are three basic kinds of publishing routes: traditional publishing, hybrid publishing, and self-publishing.
Traditional publishing is the kind of path most people immediately think of: the author submits his manuscript, the publisher publishes it, the publisher pays the author. What uninformed authors don’t realize is that traditional publishers typically accept only 1% to 2% of the manuscripts they receive and generally pay a maximum of 15% royalties after the author has earned out his advance. The reason royalties are so low is because these publishers employ professionals to produce quality books, and those professionals’ salaries must be paid.
To heighten their chances of acceptance, authors must follow each publisher’s submission guidelines. Oftentimes that means seeking out literary agencies and following their submission guidelines. This entails researching publishers and literary agencies, learning how to write a stellar query letter, understanding standard manuscript format, and patience, lots of patience.
When it comes to hybrid publishing, the first two parts are the same, but the author pays the publisher. Unfortunately, hybrid publishing is rife with vanity presses that exist to exploit naive, ambitious authors. (Again, my personal experience attests to this.) Hybrid publishers also have submission guidelines authors must follow, and many also employ professionals to help produce quality books. Hybrid publishers make their money by charging authors for their one-stop-shop services.
Self-publishing is exactly what it means: the author publishes his work himself. Because it’s highly unlikely that one is an expert at writing, editing, graphic art, page design, and proofreading, it makes good sense to hire a team of freelance professionals to produce a quality product. The author must pay these professionals for their services before the book even begins to earn any money—and the book won’t earn any money until the author develops and implements a robust marketing strategy (or hires a marketing team).
Be patient.
Fame and fortune do not await every ambitous author. Statistics show that 90% of authors earn less than $1,000 in royalties per year. Many earn less than $200 in royalties per book total. Publishing books is not a get-rich-quick scheme, especially if you’re hire ghostwriters to write your books for you.
There have been and continue to be ways to manipulate the system to your advantage. One such tactic was “book stuffing.” Plagiarism, AI content generation, and other cheats remain threats to honest authors and their revenue. Amazon and other online platforms do attempt to crack down on those dishonest tactics, but the best protection an author may employ is to be informed and aware of what’s going on in the industry.
Many new authors anxiously review their dashboards for sales figures and wait on tenterhooks for royalty payments. They don’t understand that sales figures take time to accumulate and royalty payments are not made when copies of a book are purchased. For instance, Amazon pays two months after royalties are earned. That means royalties earned in January will be paid at the end of March.
This means a one-time marketing blast cannot sustain sales. Marketing of books and authors is a marathon, not a sprint. It demands repetition and ongoing effort to be effective.
Follow the process.
Authors who pursue traditional publishing and authors who self-publish follow different processes. I typically work with authors who self-publish, so that’s the process I know best.
- Write the story.
- Edit and revise the story. Use robust editing software to help you refine your writing.
- Solicit feedback from beta readers and revise the story.
- Hire professional editors. You’ll most likely need both a developmental (structural) editor and a sentence level (line and copy) editor. [I am a sentence-level editor.]
- Revise the manuscript after each round of editing.
- Write the back cover blurb and get it edited.
- Hire a book designer. If you’re competent at page layout, do this yourself. If not, hire a pro. Remember, book design for print differs from book design for e-books. [I offer book design for print.]
- Hire a cover designer. If you’re knowledgable about your genre’s expectations and are competent at graphic design, do this yourself. If not, hire a pro. Do not use generative AI. Generative AI is unethical and readers don’t like it.
- Hire a proofreader. Your proofreader should receive the whole package: book interior and cover. Your book designer and cover designer should be involved in implementing the proofreader’s corrections. [I offer proofreading.]
- Publish. Upload the appropriate files: a PDF of the book’s interior for print, a PDF of the cover for print, a JPG of the book’s front cover for the e-book, and an EPUB of the book’s interior for the e-book.
The process outlined above generally yields consistently good results in product quality, but don’t expect perfection. Editors and designers aren’t perfect. The quality of the end product also depends upon the quality of the author’s work: no editor or designer can turn dross into gold.
Every word counts.
Author
Hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, and sunny side up: eggs are the musings of Holly Bargo, the pseudonym for the author.
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Karen (Holly)
Blog Swaps
Looking for a place to swap blogs? Holly Bargo at Hen House Publishing is happy to reciprocate Blog Swaps in 2019.
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