Category: Miscellaneous
June 3rd, 2019 by Melanie3101
Another busy and incredibly enjoyable month with a wide range of projects working with both experienced authors and new writers facing the challenges and excitement of completing their first novel.
The month began with another of Tony Harmsworth’s brilliant sci-fi novels, The Visitor and was followed by a young adult fantasy novel by a new author—details to follow when published.
John Carson’s first novel in the new Scott Marshall series Old Habits was next, followed by another young adult fantasy/sci-fi novel by new author Gail Griffiths—the first in a series which will be published soon.
The fabulous Mindslip, a psychologically disturbing science fiction novel, again by Tony Harmsworth was an emotional challenge, and then I completed the third in the new DI Hogarth mystery crime thriller series by Solomon Carter. The Secret Fear series is available now.
A third young adult novel for this month, set in Japan, Hazakura should be published soon—details when available, and then a short non-fiction work by Tony Harmsworth – The Moon Conspiracy Explained, available via the website Tony Harmsworth Website.
May ended with a disturbing memoir by Stephanie Jameson about a woman who survived a physically and emotionally abusive relationship Why Don’t You Just Leave Him? and another thriller involving abuse by Sharon M Thompson, to be published shortly.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Portfolio Tagged with: Copy Editor, Editor, Line Editor, Proofread
May 1st, 2019 by Melanie3101
Fully booked for May and June – bookings now being taken for July.
Posted in Miscellaneous
April 23rd, 2019 by Melanie3101
Over many, many years of reading, I would rarely if ever have chosen to read sci-fi but my eyes have been well and truly opened with a couple of books I’ve recently edited for Tony Harmsworth.
I’ve just finished editing the second novel of his that I’ve worked on and it was brilliant. I’ll be sharing links as soon as it’s available!
Posted in Authors, Miscellaneous
April 22nd, 2019 by Melanie3101
I cannot stress enough the importance of marketing, especially for new authors. It doesn’t matter how good your novel is, if you don’t get the marketing right, it won’t sell. Even badly edited and relatively average novels can sell a million copies with the right marketing strategy as I’ve discovered recently.
Knowing that this was a successful author, I started a series earlier in the week and was surprised and dismayed to find numerous errors – I even persevered to the second in the series, wondering if it would improve – it didn’t!
This author has sold over a million copies of their book – purely through using excellent marketing strategies even though twenty-five per cent of the reviews are three-stars and under.
Fortunately, there are many options available for authors to learn about marketing and I attach links to some of the available resources here – I don’t advocate any – I haven’t done them, but it has to be worth investing time and/or money to learn the necessary marketing skills.
Reedsy – Marketing 101
55 Essential Resources for Authors
Creative Indie Crash Course
Self-publishing Courses – Which is best for you.
Ingram Spark – Social Media Course
Karen Banes – Book Marketing Tips
Self-publishing School – Book Marketing
Books Go Social – Digital Marketing
There are many, many more – some of them cost and are, possibly, worth it, but whatever you choose to do, please don’t publish without both a professional edit and some knowledge of marketing strategies.
Mark Dawson, a very successful author, also offers a range of marketing courses. There are fees associated with these, but I believe they are very popular. Mark Dawson – SPF Courses
I’ve read some fantastic stories as an editor, many of them better than some of the novels in the bestseller lists. They deserve to be seen, read, and appreciated by a wide audience.
Posted in Miscellaneous
April 18th, 2019 by Melanie3101
For the first time since becoming a professional editor, I have some inkling of how an author feels when they receive a rejection slip or a bad review.
More often than not, when I provide a sample edit, I am asked to complete the work unless my schedule doesn’t allow me to meet the author’s deadline for publishing.
This morning I’m gutted to lose out on a project that I was incredibly excited about and for reasons that are unclear – possibly a misunderstanding on the part of the author. I completed the sample edit last weekend and received positive feedback “…your comments were spot on.” and was thrilled at the prospect of working on this novel as it is set, at least in the beginning, in a location that is close to my heart and which I visit regularly.
For all those authors who’ve experienced this feeling, you have my sympathy.
Posted in Miscellaneous
