Editing the Beast

I feel like I’ve been editing the trilogy for half my life, to tell you the truth.  Sure, I’ve revised and rewritten it multiple times over the last decade, but there are days when I wonder if I’ve hit or gone past the point of Needing to Let It Go.

Well, to be honest, that’s one of the reasons I sent A Division of Souls out into the world already.  I knew that I went as far as I could with that as a whole; it did not need any more revision or rewriting.  The first edition might still be full of piddly errors, of course — a formatting error or a typo — but that can be easily (and quickly!) rectified by fixing them and uploading the newer version.  This is why I’m doing a galley edit before I set the physical book out into the world…that one needs a bit more fiddly TLC than an ebook, and I don’t want to kludge it.

Am I flirting with danger, doing everything DIY and not hiring an editor?  Well, maybe I am.  I’m sure I could use more than a few extra eyes to find egregious errors and lapses in judgment.  I won’t say I’m a special snowflake who thinks he’s above editors and beta readers.  I’m sure I could use them more often.  Perhaps on future works I shall do so.

At the same time, though, I’ve committed myself to seeing just how far I can go without the extra help.  It’s not me being a cheapass to save money, or making myself out to be some kind of indiepub wunderkind…or being subconsciously afraid that I actually might suck as a writer, and that someone will tell me so to my face.  It’s me wanting to learn the entire process, from start to finish, both as a writer and as ‘producer’, as it were.  I want to understand how to write a successful story, but I also want to know how to edit my own work.  I want to know how to make an eye-catching cover.  I want to know how to format the novel to different platforms.  I want to know how to release it into the world.  I want to know how to promote myself and my work.  And I’m willing to dedicate time and brainspace for all that.

It’s been a very instructive and busy couple of months so far.  At last count, I’ve had nine downloads since it went live a month ago.  That’s pretty small, but it’s actually more than I expected at this point in time.  [No, really.  I was honestly expecting crickets.]  This is a huge learning curve for me, but I’ve been able to ride it and learn from it.

Onward and upward!