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working writer wending her way through the labyrinth that is self-publishing

Friday, July 11, 2014

Snafu!

I published Gypsy's Return on July 8th after having my editor edit for content and then do a thorough proof. Excited, I ordered twenty copies and then proceeded to advertise it on Goodreads, and set it up on Smashwords. Alas. Today, thanks to KDP, I discovered that the book has 21 spelling errors. Twenty-one!!!! Every other book I've published has had a few, Gypsy's Quest coming in with zero mistakes.

I looked through them, not surprised to see letters switched and letters left out of words. I've become fairly dyslexic of late and my eyes are not what they once were. But the real misspellings were a surprise. And there were more than I care to admit. I was a master speller in school and won spelling bees all the time.  (insert violin music here)

Word spellcheck is a joke. When the MS reaches a certain point in length it announces that it's shutting itself off--too many mistakes to keep up with. But when I turn it on it comes up with things that are fine the way they are--that versus who, for instance. I was taught that 'who' is used when referring to people, 'that'  when it's an inanimate object. Spellcheck also refuses to acknowledge names. The grammar feature is even worse. Who programmed this thing?

My mistake was assuming that my editor caught everything and not taking the time to go through it one last time before handing it off to my formatter. Luckily Rik Hall is willing to make the changes in the docs he formatted. (I sent him the list and what pages they were on)

And so the book has been pulled. My apologies to anyone who has already ordered it. I did notice that I had one sale on the first day. It won't be too long before it's up again.






2 comments:

  1. Nikki, this is the job of the editor, not Microsoft. I, too, am good at finding errors, but I wouldn't trust myself. Now, you may have a good relationship with your editor, maybe someone you know and trust, and maybe he/she does it for you as a friend, maybe free or at a reduced rate. Twenty-one errors is not good, and zero is impossible. As I continue in my writing career, I'm beginning to pay for things that I could do for myself. I'd prefer to write than proofread.

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    1. I too pay for these things now--no discounts. I have a formatter, a cover designer and an editor. Not sure how this happened exactly, although this time I left it more up to her. My eyes are not what they once were! But it does make me wonder about possibly finding another editor for proofing! thanks for reading and commenting!

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