Monday, August 8, 2011

Let the Proofreading Begin

The e-book files for Wild Bill came back from the formatter’s this morning. I’m 26% through the .mobi file and have found one minor error, and one question to ask that may have been my fault in the first place.

There’s something different about seeing your book in someone else’s print—even electronic print—for the first time. It creates a distance between you and the finished product that wasn’t there before which makes it easier for me to read it as others have, which means it’s easier for me to see some of the warts. (None of which are so disfiguring that it won’t be worth your time and money to read it when it comes out in a few weeks.)

All things considered, it’s nice. Not like holding a bound copy of a book someone paid for the privilege of publishing, but still an accomplishment to take some pride in, considering how many people never finish a project, or can’t even bring themselves to start one in the first place.

Will it be successful? Based on my definition, it already is. Will it be a best-seller? Depends on your definition of best-seller. To me, if I make more money from this ebook than Todd Robinson paid me to print “Green Gables” in his Blood, Guts, and Whiskey anthology, then it is, by definition my best seller.

And that will do.

3 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

A weird world we now inhabit.

Mike Dennis said...

Good luck with it, Dana. Are you going to go back and correct the errors (necessitating a re-formatting of the entire book)?

Dana King said...

Mike,
My understanding is I have to tell them where the errors are and they can made edits to the file without having to reformat the whole thing.

I'll keep posting updates, as it occurs to me (and you have reminded me) that other people will have the same questions.