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!
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.
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.
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.
Another lovely testimonial – I’m really looking forward to editing the rest of this series.
First off – the quality of the edit was top-notch. So many typos and inconsistencies were picked up. And there were explanations as to why certain bits didn’t work or why she suggested a change. For me, the thing that elevated her service to 5* though was that she did was [sic] she promised. She gave me a slot when she could edit and requested the document the day before. She works incredibly fast and always responds to questions. For me, this responsiveness and honesty is essential.
Another wonderful and humorous instalment in the Guesthouse on the Green series as Mammy and Moira travel Vietnam.
I love the series and can't wait for book four!
A quick but emotional read - reading about the cruelty to the dog was heartbreaking but this was a lovely tale of the love and healing that animals can bring to our lives.
I would have given five stars but for the missed typos - a few t...
I get the impression that this could be a nice story but I've had to give up after forcing myself to go as far as 15% of the way through. If this novel has ever been near a remotely professional editor then the author was conned.
Chapte...
Another very enjoyable story but with a few niggles, hence the four stars rather than five. Maybe it's because I was tired but the editing issues grated on me more than in the first story and, do people really generally believe that 'ear...
