How do You Know When to Let Go?

Many authors find proofreading and editing to be physically and mentally exhausting. It’s possible to make the process less of a chore. I list a few tips in my blog post, “The Joys of Editing” (https://wp.me/p30cCH-L1).

An emotional challenge may also exist, as the time to publish approaches for an Indie author (or the time to submit to agents and editors, for those who are traditionally oriented). How can an author tell that it’s time to let that brainchild take its first toddling steps into literaturehood?

Keeping track of the chapter length helped me know when I was done with editing, because there came a time when revising things didn’t significantly affect word count: There’s usually more than one good way to express something, and those ways don’t often vary much in the number of words they use.

I knew I was done proofreading the manuscript when a full reading could find an average of 1 error (preferably less) per chapter. That would add up to 34 mistakes (preferably fewer), which constituted what I felt was the irreducible minimum for a book that was close to 200,000 words long. That doesn’t mean they were the last 34 existing mistakes, because I knew I’d still miss finding errors. It just meant that despite my being a perfectionist, I wasn’t going to let the job of proofreading drive me nuts. (I’ve found as many errors – and even more – in “professionally edited” books put out by traditional publishers.)

No job of parenting ever comes out absolutely perfect: just as most children don’t leave home to become promptly and persistently wealthy and celebrated, most books don’t leave their publishers to garner instant and enduring fame and fortune for their authors; nevertheless, chances are that the outcome will be reasonably good in both cases.

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A Busy Year Bites the Dust.

Dec. 24 was my 5th Anniversary at WordPress.

My fifth year of blogging was not as active as past years, although I launched a few more blog sites for future development. But I did add more than two dozen titles to my print publications, with visual creativity dominating, and published my first poetry chapbook. In addition, I coached my sister through her first adventure in Indie publishing.  🙂  I’m hoping that the coming year will bring a return of my verbal creativity, yielding more growth in my novel-in-progress.

Whatever your creative goals for the new year, I wish all of you success in 2018!

U.S. Copyright Registration May Get Easier and Cheaper

Back in August, the Library of Congress submitted a rulemaking proposal to simplify and streamline the deposit requirements for copyright registration. In brief, if such changes are made, publishers of most literary works and sheet music will be required to supply only one copy of these works with copyright registration applications and fees (the current requirement is for two copies). This will cut registration costs, and is anticipated to also cut down processing time for registrations.

The window for public comments has now closed, but there has been no announcement of an official change in policy, so don’t let news of this proposal delay a decision to protect your work by registering your copyright. For the best level of legal protection, the Copyright Office recommends registering within three months of publication, or definitely BEFORE copyright infringement occurs.

You can read a summary of the proposed rulemaking here and see the full proposal in the Federal Register here.