Friday, August 11, 2017

Progress Report: Back to the Manuscript (Galley Proof)

Another step has been completed on my soon-to-be-released novel—proofing the galley.

Since my last post, I've perused the galley for any typos, misspellings, grammatical goofs, and other corrections that need to be made before publication on Nov. 1 by Wings ePress.

As I've mentioned in other posts,  I have mixed feelings about reading the galley. The main aspect I dread is having to reread the novel—again! I've probably gone through it 15 times including rewrites and editors' suggested edits. For a work that's 93k words, you do the math.

But, on the positive side, seeing the manuscript in book form provides a fresh view about the story. I gain a stronger insight on how the novel flows. And in a new light, I might find a discrepancy, or two, that needs to be fixed. I found a couple that slipped by me on previous reads, and now they've been fixed.

While the ultimate goal is to clean up a manuscript to where it's 100 percent free of mistakes, that's probably an impossibility. I believe any author would tell you that, even those who are contract with the big publishing houses. Those little gremlins manage to pop up somewhere along the way, no matter how hard you try to find them. 

Now it's on to the cover art. I hope to share it with you in my next post.

Until the next time. . . . 


2 comments:

  1. It's a lot of work but you'll sleep better knowing it's done.

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    1. Thanks, Roger. Once the cover is finished, I'll get started on the thing you really enjoy -- promotion! Just kidding. Maybe in my sleep I'll have dreams of making the NY Times bestseller list, a worldwide tour, speaking engagements.... Yep, in my dreams!

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