Proofs and Publishing

Another busy week for me as I worked my way through Word files and Kindle formats checking that nothing has gone wrong (again). This is all the result of painful experiences as a result of failing to ensure that the finished product I send to Acclaimed Books for publication on Amazon is 100% accurate. All authors have to take responsibility for the book they present to their readers in order to avoid critical reviews and subsequent loss of readership. That’s the reason I’ve been busy. I pulled A COVERT WAR off Amazon because of typos and grammar errors, and re-edited the Word doc and Kindle file. I scrutinised everything before satisfying myself that the work was error free (if that’s possible) and asking AB.c to restore the books to Amazon. Also during that time I have been reading HELL’S GATE in Kindle, which I have prepared, looking for that elusive error that the keenest of reader will spot. Often the mistakes are quite small, like a space after a hyphen (fast- reader). It’s irritating, I know because I get irritated whenever I come across mistakes in other writers’ works, and believe me, there are plenty, and not necessarily the unknown writers. But I have had to put that on hold because AB.c has sent me the PDF file for A COVERT WAR. This needs to be checked before submission to Amazon. Another aspect of preparing a book for Amazon is the book jacket, and together me and my son, Terry have been putting together ideas for a suitable jacket. Usually I give Terry an idea of what I imagine the jacket would look like. He then comes up with jacket number one, and we go on from there. It’s usually something like No.8 before we agree on the jacket. I’m pleased to say that we are finished with that and the .jpg file is in the AB.c dropbox ready for processing. And in amongst all that I have been in to my local church (TCF) working on a faulty alarm system, trying to figure out why I can’t do what the manual tells me I can. The trouble with software programmes is that they are fairly straightforward to the guy who writes them, but when a willing soul tries to interpret the inner workings of the system, it’s as clear as mud! I did manage to leave the system in a workable condition, but it now needs the expert to dive in. I had a piece of excellent news today: Harlequin Books who are publishing my latest hardback novel (THE BOY FROM BERLIN) in paperback, have agreed to publish another of mine, THE EAGLE’S COVENANT. Great news indeed!