The covers she's created from me have placed in contests and books she's edited for me have won awards.
The sale is on until the end of May. Well, go on!
Showing posts with label edits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label edits. Show all posts
Friday, 20 May 2016
Pre-made #Cover Sale! #scifi #fantasy #romance #art #bookcover
The covers she's created from me have placed in contests and books she's edited for me have won awards.
The sale is on until the end of May. Well, go on!
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
The Editing Process
A rough guide for new and aspiring authors.
All writers, at some stage, edit their own work to a greater or lesser extent. Whether you self-edit or have a partner/friend to help you with the process, even if your book is contracted by a publisher there will be more edits to come. Yes, you thought that final polish you put on that MS and the fact that it got accepted meant the edits were over, didn't you? Well, if you're new to the process you might have thought so, but no. So here's a list of what you can expect to come after that contract is signed.
1.Pre-edit guidelines. You may or may not get these, and they are likely to be particular to the publisher you're with. Some of it will simply be formatting your work to their in-house style. Some will require you to remove filler words such as that, while, little, then etc. To cull adverbs and remove passive voice. To check for repetitions of words, particularly in sentences, paragraphs or scenes, but also for any 'favourite' words throughout the manuscript (you KNOW you have some, right?). That there are no impossibilities, wandering body parts or shifts in POV. Also to minimize the number of dialogue tags you use. These are all things you should be looking out for before submission, but it never hurts to go over them again, and you'll be expected to do a thorough job on this. A handy little piece of free software that can help you with some of it (although, like Spellchecker, you should NEVER, EVER rely on something like this to be the cure-all) is EditMinion. This is especially helpful for tracking down passive voice, weak words, adverbs and replacements for 'said'.
I've included a screen shot of EditMinion with a snippet from Keir to show you how it works - as you can see, I got a green light on everything. Sorry for the slight blurriness but it's a little tricky to fit it in - if you click on the image it will give you a clearer version. Also it uses UK English spellings. Even though I'm in the UK myself, my publisher is in the US so something to bear in mind when using software like this. As an addition, another author recently recommended this piece of editing softward to me - Pro Writing Aid. This gives a more in-depth analysis of your work.
2.Content edits. You should be assigned an editor, and at least have received an introduction from them. They will give your MS a thorough going over, and I do mean thorough! Any discrepancies, any errors in logic, any lacking or overdone explanations, dialogue, problems with characterizations etc will be spotted. A good editor should brainstorm any issues with you, and there will be some passing backwards and forwards of the MS until everything is put right to your and the editor's satisfaction. For some helpful tips on the process of content edits (if you're a first time author) check out my post on how to survive them on Spacefreighters Lounge here. You should also take a look at Liana Brooks's post here on what content edits actually look like when they arrive.
3.Line edits. In my case, these passed to another person separate from myself and my editor. I think that's the industry norm. Again they will make any suggestions/changes they feel are necessary and highlight any errors. These then went back to my editor who approved or rejected them, before passing them to me for my opinion and/or acceptance/refusal. These were fairly minor, but again involved some passing backwards and forwards between me and my editor.
4.Galley. This is like a draft version of the final format. Because this came in PDF format I had a form to fill in with errors rather than making tracking changes as with the content and line edits. Also as mine is only coming out as an ebook it may work out a little differently with a print copy. For me it was a case of copying the section of text containing the error, pasting it into the form, highlighting the error and then typing the correction underneath.
I've included a screen shot of the kind of errors that I sent back. As you can see, most of them are missed or incorrect punctuation. At this stage, the last thing you want to find are any major errors!
5.Final Format. You may have thought your part in the book was over once you finally tell your editor that the last edit is done and you're happy with the galley. But you'll still be required to check over the final version and approve it for release. In the case of an ebook, it's checking that the chapters are in the right place, and that things like italics are correct. Everything was perfect on the final - except my name came up on the downloaded file as Piia Jay instead of Pippa Jay. Fortunately it was an easy thing to fix, but you do have to go over the final draft with a sharp eye.
NB. At every stage, you should thoroughly check each version before sending it back. The closer you get to the end, the harder it is to spot errors, especially when you're so involved the story and you've spent hours staring endlessly at the text. But it's necessary. Don't rely on others to spot mistakes, although that's part of their job too. Nobody is perfect. It's incredibly hard to make changes after the galley version, and you really don't want to be telling your publisher that they suddenly need to change the whole beginning of chapter seven, or that such and such a character is now going to have blue hair instead of purple.
That's the basics, but this may vary from publisher to publisher, and depend on your editor and how experienced you are. If you feel there are things I've missed out or you'd like more details on the process, just say so in the comments. :)
All writers, at some stage, edit their own work to a greater or lesser extent. Whether you self-edit or have a partner/friend to help you with the process, even if your book is contracted by a publisher there will be more edits to come. Yes, you thought that final polish you put on that MS and the fact that it got accepted meant the edits were over, didn't you? Well, if you're new to the process you might have thought so, but no. So here's a list of what you can expect to come after that contract is signed.
1.Pre-edit guidelines. You may or may not get these, and they are likely to be particular to the publisher you're with. Some of it will simply be formatting your work to their in-house style. Some will require you to remove filler words such as that, while, little, then etc. To cull adverbs and remove passive voice. To check for repetitions of words, particularly in sentences, paragraphs or scenes, but also for any 'favourite' words throughout the manuscript (you KNOW you have some, right?). That there are no impossibilities, wandering body parts or shifts in POV. Also to minimize the number of dialogue tags you use. These are all things you should be looking out for before submission, but it never hurts to go over them again, and you'll be expected to do a thorough job on this. A handy little piece of free software that can help you with some of it (although, like Spellchecker, you should NEVER, EVER rely on something like this to be the cure-all) is EditMinion. This is especially helpful for tracking down passive voice, weak words, adverbs and replacements for 'said'.
I've included a screen shot of EditMinion with a snippet from Keir to show you how it works - as you can see, I got a green light on everything. Sorry for the slight blurriness but it's a little tricky to fit it in - if you click on the image it will give you a clearer version. Also it uses UK English spellings. Even though I'm in the UK myself, my publisher is in the US so something to bear in mind when using software like this. As an addition, another author recently recommended this piece of editing softward to me - Pro Writing Aid. This gives a more in-depth analysis of your work.
2.Content edits. You should be assigned an editor, and at least have received an introduction from them. They will give your MS a thorough going over, and I do mean thorough! Any discrepancies, any errors in logic, any lacking or overdone explanations, dialogue, problems with characterizations etc will be spotted. A good editor should brainstorm any issues with you, and there will be some passing backwards and forwards of the MS until everything is put right to your and the editor's satisfaction. For some helpful tips on the process of content edits (if you're a first time author) check out my post on how to survive them on Spacefreighters Lounge here. You should also take a look at Liana Brooks's post here on what content edits actually look like when they arrive.
3.Line edits. In my case, these passed to another person separate from myself and my editor. I think that's the industry norm. Again they will make any suggestions/changes they feel are necessary and highlight any errors. These then went back to my editor who approved or rejected them, before passing them to me for my opinion and/or acceptance/refusal. These were fairly minor, but again involved some passing backwards and forwards between me and my editor.
4.Galley. This is like a draft version of the final format. Because this came in PDF format I had a form to fill in with errors rather than making tracking changes as with the content and line edits. Also as mine is only coming out as an ebook it may work out a little differently with a print copy. For me it was a case of copying the section of text containing the error, pasting it into the form, highlighting the error and then typing the correction underneath.
5.Final Format. You may have thought your part in the book was over once you finally tell your editor that the last edit is done and you're happy with the galley. But you'll still be required to check over the final version and approve it for release. In the case of an ebook, it's checking that the chapters are in the right place, and that things like italics are correct. Everything was perfect on the final - except my name came up on the downloaded file as Piia Jay instead of Pippa Jay. Fortunately it was an easy thing to fix, but you do have to go over the final draft with a sharp eye.
NB. At every stage, you should thoroughly check each version before sending it back. The closer you get to the end, the harder it is to spot errors, especially when you're so involved the story and you've spent hours staring endlessly at the text. But it's necessary. Don't rely on others to spot mistakes, although that's part of their job too. Nobody is perfect. It's incredibly hard to make changes after the galley version, and you really don't want to be telling your publisher that they suddenly need to change the whole beginning of chapter seven, or that such and such a character is now going to have blue hair instead of purple.
That's the basics, but this may vary from publisher to publisher, and depend on your editor and how experienced you are. If you feel there are things I've missed out or you'd like more details on the process, just say so in the comments. :)
Sunday, 1 January 2012
2012 - Hopes and Dreams
Happy New Year!
I don't make New Year resolutions. I have never kept the few I made, and I feel it just leads to too many disappointments. So, instead, I have a list of things I'm hoping for this year. :)
1.That Keir will do well when it's released on the 7th May (or at least not get too many poor reviews).
2.That I will finish editing the sequel in good time, and that my editor and publisher will like it.
3.That Gethyon will find a home with a publisher, even if that turns out to be myself via Amazon.
4.That my sfr short will be accepted into the anthology.
5.That I will get my other scifi short completed and up on Amazon.
6.That I will figure out the rest of books four and five which are still a little hazy in my mind.
7.That I won't run out of ideas and that my writing will just keep improving.
8.That my friends and family will be happy and healthy, for this year and many, many more to come.
9.That I will do more reading, and help clear a pending list of reviews.
10.To get into some kind of fitness routine to counteract the amount of time I now spend on my bum in front of this computer!
11.A late addition, but a scifirom with succubi has got my muse all in a tizzy and I've already done 5K words on it, so I hope the fuzzy idea I currently have is going to settle down into a proper story. It's not quite my usual thing, so a bit nerve-racking, as well as exciting.
I think that will do...
Do you make resolutions? Do you keep them? Or would you rather just let the year pan out around you? :)
I don't make New Year resolutions. I have never kept the few I made, and I feel it just leads to too many disappointments. So, instead, I have a list of things I'm hoping for this year. :)
1.That Keir will do well when it's released on the 7th May (or at least not get too many poor reviews).
2.That I will finish editing the sequel in good time, and that my editor and publisher will like it.
3.That Gethyon will find a home with a publisher, even if that turns out to be myself via Amazon.
4.That my sfr short will be accepted into the anthology.
5.That I will get my other scifi short completed and up on Amazon.
6.That I will figure out the rest of books four and five which are still a little hazy in my mind.
7.That I won't run out of ideas and that my writing will just keep improving.
8.That my friends and family will be happy and healthy, for this year and many, many more to come.
9.That I will do more reading, and help clear a pending list of reviews.
10.To get into some kind of fitness routine to counteract the amount of time I now spend on my bum in front of this computer!
11.A late addition, but a scifirom with succubi has got my muse all in a tizzy and I've already done 5K words on it, so I hope the fuzzy idea I currently have is going to settle down into a proper story. It's not quite my usual thing, so a bit nerve-racking, as well as exciting.
I think that will do...
Do you make resolutions? Do you keep them? Or would you rather just let the year pan out around you? :)
Saturday, 31 December 2011
2011
At the end of 2010, I started to write a post about my non-resolutions for 2011, but never published it. As 2011 draws to a close and I'm clearing out drafts of blog posts that never 'made it', I came across my aims for the year just past. It made for interesting reading, in terms of what I'd achieved, so I thought I'd share. :)
Plans - I already had two book reviews to write, was awaiting feedback from my two critique partners on my unpublished SFR (Keir) before doing a final edit and polish, and needed to write a blurb, synopsis and query letters for submission. I'd signed up for a university course to start in the October and run through to February 2011. I had ideas for a dark fantasy, and wanted to write a scifi novella. I also had two sequels written to Keir badly in need of editing, another sequel half written with vague ideas for a fifth, and a promise to edit a fellow author's second book.
Results - The book reviews weren't completed until February/March time, but they were done and more besides over the year. The edits on Keir took longer than expected, and then the whole submission was delayed because I submitted the first 500 words to a critique contest and had it ripped to shreds. My confidence was destroyed, and so I didn't submit Keir until June. In the meantime I managed to write and self-publish a scifi short story on Smashwords - The Bones of the Sea - tied into the same universe as Keir. I was also asked to guest post about my short by Laurie A. Green on the Spacefreighters Lounge blog.
I passed my university course in March. I wrote and edited my first scifi novella - Gethyon - and had it ready to submit at the same time as Keir. I finished the dark fantasy - No Mercy - and submitted it for a short story competition in June, after which time I had further ideas to expand the 5K short into a novella at a later date. I read, critiqued and proof-read my friend's book which came out in July - Blowing Embers, a paranormal/fantasy romance by Lauri J Owen.
Keir received the offer of a contract from Lyrical Press Inc (squeeee!) in June, with a projected publishing date of May 2012, and I finished my first round of edits in time for the 12th August deadline. Gethyon received a revise and resubmit request (another squeee!), and work on that took me into mid-August, with a promise for feedback from a fellow author in September. In partnership with Lauri, we took it upon ourselves to compile and maintain a list of book reviewers, now over 170 strong.
My second university course was due to start in October, a far more intensive one than the previous which would have taken me into June 2012. However, as the study material arrived I discovered that the diploma I had been aiming for was being replaced by another that not only required twice as many credits, but also in different subjects to those I'd chosen to study. As a consequence I quit the course. In September, I FINALLY began to edit Keir's sequel - Lost Serenity - despite struggling with the MS for some time. I had one of those eureka moments, where I could see how to change a major element of the story and improve the whole. Book Three - Shadowcast - still awaits edits, and Book Four - Seekers of the Nine - is still incomplete. However, I have made inroads into rewriting the very original prequel to the Traveller Series, including a new title, and started one scifi novella and another short chronicling Quin's early travels.
My edits arrived from my editor at the start of November and WOW was there a lot to do! I was given two weeks but eventually had to ask for three to complete it. It also raised huge doubts over doing any further work on the series.Thank goodness I wasn't doing my course though! Gethyon got a rejection but went out on submission again. If all else fails, I'm thinking of self-publishing it. My fantasy short didn't get placed in the competition and has been put aside for future work - again, I may expand it to novella length and either submit or self-publish.I've just finished and submitted an SFR short for a fellow author's anthology. I've also worked on a scifi short to self-pub in the New Year - Samaritan - and even have the cover half done. A fellow scifi author has offered to trade tweaking the cover for a beta read. :D Keir now has cover art and a release date of 7th May 2012.
In summary - I hadn't set myself very much for the year. I'm not sure if that was because of time constraints - I have three young children on top of writing and studies - or because I had such little confidence in what I could physically complete. I don't think I always make the best use of my time, but going by how much I did actually get done this year, I'm pretty impressed with myself. Of course now I'll have an inflated idea of what might be accomplished next year. :(
So how did you do on your goals for the year? Do you believe is setting yourself resolutions, or letting Fate have her way? :)
Plans - I already had two book reviews to write, was awaiting feedback from my two critique partners on my unpublished SFR (Keir) before doing a final edit and polish, and needed to write a blurb, synopsis and query letters for submission. I'd signed up for a university course to start in the October and run through to February 2011. I had ideas for a dark fantasy, and wanted to write a scifi novella. I also had two sequels written to Keir badly in need of editing, another sequel half written with vague ideas for a fifth, and a promise to edit a fellow author's second book.
Results - The book reviews weren't completed until February/March time, but they were done and more besides over the year. The edits on Keir took longer than expected, and then the whole submission was delayed because I submitted the first 500 words to a critique contest and had it ripped to shreds. My confidence was destroyed, and so I didn't submit Keir until June. In the meantime I managed to write and self-publish a scifi short story on Smashwords - The Bones of the Sea - tied into the same universe as Keir. I was also asked to guest post about my short by Laurie A. Green on the Spacefreighters Lounge blog.
I passed my university course in March. I wrote and edited my first scifi novella - Gethyon - and had it ready to submit at the same time as Keir. I finished the dark fantasy - No Mercy - and submitted it for a short story competition in June, after which time I had further ideas to expand the 5K short into a novella at a later date. I read, critiqued and proof-read my friend's book which came out in July - Blowing Embers, a paranormal/fantasy romance by Lauri J Owen.
Keir received the offer of a contract from Lyrical Press Inc (squeeee!) in June, with a projected publishing date of May 2012, and I finished my first round of edits in time for the 12th August deadline. Gethyon received a revise and resubmit request (another squeee!), and work on that took me into mid-August, with a promise for feedback from a fellow author in September. In partnership with Lauri, we took it upon ourselves to compile and maintain a list of book reviewers, now over 170 strong.
My second university course was due to start in October, a far more intensive one than the previous which would have taken me into June 2012. However, as the study material arrived I discovered that the diploma I had been aiming for was being replaced by another that not only required twice as many credits, but also in different subjects to those I'd chosen to study. As a consequence I quit the course. In September, I FINALLY began to edit Keir's sequel - Lost Serenity - despite struggling with the MS for some time. I had one of those eureka moments, where I could see how to change a major element of the story and improve the whole. Book Three - Shadowcast - still awaits edits, and Book Four - Seekers of the Nine - is still incomplete. However, I have made inroads into rewriting the very original prequel to the Traveller Series, including a new title, and started one scifi novella and another short chronicling Quin's early travels.
My edits arrived from my editor at the start of November and WOW was there a lot to do! I was given two weeks but eventually had to ask for three to complete it. It also raised huge doubts over doing any further work on the series.Thank goodness I wasn't doing my course though! Gethyon got a rejection but went out on submission again. If all else fails, I'm thinking of self-publishing it. My fantasy short didn't get placed in the competition and has been put aside for future work - again, I may expand it to novella length and either submit or self-publish.I've just finished and submitted an SFR short for a fellow author's anthology. I've also worked on a scifi short to self-pub in the New Year - Samaritan - and even have the cover half done. A fellow scifi author has offered to trade tweaking the cover for a beta read. :D Keir now has cover art and a release date of 7th May 2012.
In summary - I hadn't set myself very much for the year. I'm not sure if that was because of time constraints - I have three young children on top of writing and studies - or because I had such little confidence in what I could physically complete. I don't think I always make the best use of my time, but going by how much I did actually get done this year, I'm pretty impressed with myself. Of course now I'll have an inflated idea of what might be accomplished next year. :(
So how did you do on your goals for the year? Do you believe is setting yourself resolutions, or letting Fate have her way? :)
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Riding the Wave
Several things have happened over the last couple of days that have really hit home the reality that I'm a soon-to-be-published author. After three rounds of edits, Keir feels like a whole new book, and much stronger for it. The essence is still there, the heart of it still intact, but it's been polished up and revamped. The flaws have been smoothed out. It's a good feeling.
But Sunday I got a wonderful new present delivered to my inbox. My cover! Oh, it was a shock at first. I had to stare at it for a while, leave the computer, have a little wander round and then come back. And then I knew. I loved it! It was dark and brooding, like my MC. It was clean and simple. Perhaps not the Keir I had in my head, but the guy on the cover is very...er...VERY nice, and I can see him as my MC. He is missing his tattoos, but there are limits with photo stock images, and I understand that. As soon as I got permission to flaunt it you can bet I did just that! Here it is -
But it's not just the fab artwork. It's seeing the title in lovely, flowing script. The tag lines that I came up with stamped on the cover. And most of all, it's seeing MY NAME on it, with the publisher's logo. It makes it real in a way that the contract didn't. That even the edits didn't. This isn't just some picture that I've put together in my spare moments for a bit of fun, or a poster off the internet. This is the real deal, a proper book cover from MY publisher, with MY name on it as author. It's a beautiful symbol of all the work I've put in, all the tears and moments of doubt, all the voices inside and out saying I couldn't do it. I have done it, and the cover is there to prove it.
And then there was more! Tuesday morning I got a tweet from Lyrical Press. My gorgeous cover was up on their 'Coming Soon' page for all to see. Not only that, but my name and author bio are up on the site too. I'm officially and publicly Pippa Jay, author of Keir, with Lyrical Press Inc. Oh, man, that's such a great feeling!
There's still a long way to go. More edits. More forms. More steps along the way. I've been compiling lists of useful information for the lead up to release day. I'm doing a New Year blog hop and a guest post on the 18th. I just got my first author interview too! As the year draws to a close, I know the first few months of 2012 are probably going to be the most hectic so far. Would I have it any other way? Hell, no! :D
Friday, 2 December 2011
Update 02/12/2011
Soooo, I got an email overnight to tell me that my MS will be back to me today/tomorrow. In some ways it's a relief and exciting - although my stomach is tying itself in knots over what might still need doing and how long I'll have. However, I'm confident I can deal with it. :)
So expect a bit of silence for at least the next week. I had the foresight not to sign up for any weekend blog posts - not because I can't schedule things to go up, but because I think it's unfair for me to post when I can't be sure I'll have time to return reads to anyone. Apologies if you've come looking for my #sffsat or #sixsunday snippets. Hopefully I should be back in mid-December (just in time for the holidays, tsk!)
Keep writing!
So expect a bit of silence for at least the next week. I had the foresight not to sign up for any weekend blog posts - not because I can't schedule things to go up, but because I think it's unfair for me to post when I can't be sure I'll have time to return reads to anyone. Apologies if you've come looking for my #sffsat or #sixsunday snippets. Hopefully I should be back in mid-December (just in time for the holidays, tsk!)
Keep writing!
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