There have always been nods to my textile hobbies in my books—Druyan of The Wind Witch weaves and spins, and coaxes prisoner of war Kellis to sort and card fibers for her endeavors. Elisena spins—her drop spindle, with the pattern of little birds pressed into the clay of the whorl, sits in the room she and Tristan share. Elisena wove a self-repairing cloak for Tristan—a handy skill, as her wizard is really hard on his clothes!
   I never really thought, when I was writing Wizard’s Destiny, about what Elisena might have been doing, while she spun yarn and wove cloth. Years later, I have a better understanding. She could spin miles of yarn while Tristan read those numberless volumes of Calandra’s history aloud to her, and they discussed the nights away. I’m sure she spun protections for her family into her yarn, and unlike me, she probably knits. Socks that never wear out, sweaters that the kids never grow out of. She doesn’t have to make all of her cloth, of course, only what she chooses. She’s had no problem bringing to light the fine fabrics stored away in Crogen’s secret rooms, so there’s plainly more to her textile work than simply acquiring a wardrobe.
   In a few hours, Spinzilla begins. I’m a part of team Dyed in the Wool with Three Sheep, and for seven days spinners all over the globe will be spinning to challenge ourselves—to spin more yarn than we have ever spun before, to try new fibers, to boldly try new methods of spinning and plying…
   I have washed, dyed and carded the entire fleece which Jake the Chardon Farm Park Jacob sheep produced this year. It may well be Jake’s final fleece, and I want to do something special with it. So, that’s the fiber I plan to spin for Spinzilla!

Young or old, self-taught or a university grad, native English speaker or not, whether the project is a novel, poem, short story or forum post, if you choose to call yourself a writer, you agree to a modest standard of literacy, and you should aspire to more.
 
There’s no excuse for not reading, not learning the craft—no one can actually make you write, other than for a class assignment. Writers choose to write. You could just as easily choose to paint, sew, bake bread, braid hair or weld metal into a sculpture.
 
Yet, writers with only a slight command of language write…and publish, now that it’s so easy literally anyone with an internet connection can become a publisher. So either learn to write in a workmanlike way, or don’t publish. Writers need to write. They don’t need to publish what they write. There’s no entitlement in the marketplace, sorry.
 
This post began as a review of an Indie Published “book” Blacky and Me by Thina Muhammad Ali. I will take care that it does not become longer than the book itself, which is at most 10 printed pages. I first became aware of the work as one of many seeking “feedback” on KDP’s Voice of the Author forum—back then the title was Me and My Blacky, and the author was blissfully innocent that her title might be offensive to many, many of her potential customers. After all, it’s simply the story of a girl and her cat, a children’s story.
 
Now the book’s out. And there was another request for “feedback”.  I’ll stand by what I posted: This book should be required reading for all Indie authors. Here’s why:
 
It won’t take you long. Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. What you’ll learn: It’s way too short to be broken into five chapters. And extra blank pages and weird formatting are as unattractive as poor spelling and illogical plotting.
 
It won’t cost you much. 99 cents. What you’ll learn: That’s still a lot of money for not much of an experience. Don’t promise your customer what you can’t deliver. Customers expect content, not just the honor of reading your work.
 
It’s got a real nice cover—a lovely witchy woman holding a black cat in front of some scary trees. Might be the book the author had in mind, but it’s not really the book she wrote. What you’ll learn: Don’t mislead the customer with your cover. (And if you credit an illustrator in the Product Description, there ought to be some illustrations in the book.)
 
We’ve all been there. Writing. Yearning to share. Mostly we’ve been 12, and we didn’t publish, but still! I wrote my first books in old diaries. Carefully hand-printed text and chapter headings, dust jackets with watercolors over ink and pencil. I’m so grateful that they are safely locked away, that I never had to face the temptation of sharing them with strangers all over the world. That I kept writing and readings and learning until I had something I was happy to share with an editor, with a publisher, with readers.
 
Thina Muhammad Ali is very brave, to put a barely literate work out for the public’s merciless judgment. May we all have such courage—but let’s learn from every other writer, even if it’s only that there’s a better way, that it’s smart to be prepared, that there’s no need to rush into anything other than doing our best, literate work.

What is editing?
 
Here’s how it worked in traditional publishing (Fiction, my own direct experience):
 
The Author was the First, Best Editor. Because—if its creator was unwilling, unable, or just unaware as to the importance of making the writing the best it could be, if correct manuscript format was not practiced— that manuscript was not going to go any farther than the editorial assistant’s desk and the thank-you-for-showing-us-your-work post card. (And there was no appeal process. You could approach another agent or publisher, one after another, never several at once. If they all rejected the work, there was no publishing except a costly vanity press.)
 
Work offered a publishing contract got you consultation with the publisher’s editing staff. This could be written in great detail on a first contact, by phone later. “Here’s what you need to work on…” This is called a Content Edit. It is going to involve the Author re-writing/revising the work until the editor feels it works. No, the editor did not re-write the book for the author. And the work is not approved for publication until the Editor said it was.
 
The revised manuscript then went to the Copy Editor. (Sample Chapters might also go to the Cover Artist.) Publisher’s Style Manual would be followed, same as for a newspaper or magazine. (Is it a.m. or AM? One Thousand Dollars or $ 1,000.00? British English or American? Is it King or king? Military fiction?) Specific concerns were hashed out between the editors and the author. This is the Line Edit—every line being read and edited for spelling, continuity and fact-checking. The author is involved for major issues. The Copy Editor handled obvious typos as a matter of course.
 
Now the manuscript went to the Typesetter. Font and point size determined by formula to calculate number of pages and cost of book to produce. Manuscript format also made the typesetter’s work easier and allowed for editing.
 
Finally, the Galley Proof. Exactly as the book would appear in print—typeface (font), point size. My first galleys were looonnng strips of book paper the width of a paperback page. Review and return only those pages with corrections. Later, galleys became Bound Proofs, and these were also sent out as advance or review copies. Either way, by this stage the process is Proofreading, because editing is essentially done. And whether I was Proofing or Reviewing, the turn-around time varied from a week to three weeks. The Proofs were physically marked with the corrections and physically returned to the editor’s office. (Some authors read their galleys at the editor’s office.)
 
Finally, the author received, from their editor, a final printed copy of their actual book. Saw the cover for the first time. Read the back cover copy. And undoubtedly spotted a typo, once ‘twas too late!

Copyright Susan Dexter 2016
 
 

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Crocken the peddler

 had made a bad bargain.

It wasn’t the first time.

He’d lost at love, he’d lost his life savings--

he even lost his own shadow!

For the promise of gold and a chance to keep breathing, he’d agreed to conduct the shadow-remnant of a murdered wizard to the distant kingdom of Armyn.

Crocken kept his end of the deal—he braved leagues of trackless wilderness, flooded rivers and savage beasts. He won through to the fortress of Axe-Edge—where he found his term of servitude endlessly extended

at his shadow-master’s whim.

He found he was mistaken for a hero.

He found that doors opened for a hero which would have been slammed in any ordinary peddler’s face.

And behind one of those doors

 waited the wizard’s murderer…

The Wizard's Shadow is now up on Kindle. Soon to follow: Nook and Createspace.
Look for me at the Beaver County Bookfest Saturday, September 12th
in downtown Beaver, Pennsylvania!

Editing is NOT Proofreading

 

Mary Tudor loved her half-baby sister.

His eyes rolled across the kitchen, muttering.

Roxanne’s heart trashed against her ribs.

Albert rubbed his chin with furrowed brows.

 

   The above examples all appeared in indie-published novels. Identifying details have been changed so as to avoid slapping any author in the face, but I assure you, those highlighted words are the only words I changed in those sentences. All of them are grammatically correct sentences, but the picture they make in a reader’s mind is surely not what their authors intended. And every one of these problems can easily be fixed by any author. All it takes is will and the desire to put your very best effort out there. (And in fact, if you are ever putting out something you know is not your best effort—shame on you!)

    No one is making you write. No one is making you publish. These are choices, and the ability to self-publish is in the hands of the authors in ways it never was before!

   With great power comes great responsibility. So, no fair whining about what you can’t do, because you can in fact do anything you choose to do, and no one can write and edit your story better than you can. No one!

 

 

 

copyright Susan Dexter 2015