By Bob Deakin
I didn’t want to do it, but I couldn’t let it slide.
I noticed a few errors in my new release, Unruly Mix (Tales of Music, Artist, Posers and Misfits). Nothing major as far as content, just a number of references in stories that weren’t italicized, a few commas here and there and one name mis-spelling. No one would ever notice but me, but once I know I’m not going to forget, so I had to do something about it.
I made the corrections in both the ebook and the paperback manuscripts and re-submitted them to Amazon and Smashwords, my other distributor. I still can’t figure out how the errors made it through but they did. I was my own final proofreader for this project, and the ebook manuscript was good, save for the mis-spelling, but the paperback script had the errors.
You must submit separate manuscripts to your distributors for ebook and paperback, as the formatting is dramatically different, but as long as you have your story edited as you like, that part should be complete. I discovered that in my haste, I must have made a final edit to the ebook while failing to make those changes to the paperback.
Fortunately it’s 2021 and paperbacks are print-on-demand for indie authors like myself. It’s not like the old days when an author or publisher ordered hundreds or thousands of copies at a time for distribution. That is still the case if you’re J.K. Rowling or James Patterson but not Bob Deakin.
I can now commence with marketing and various other enterprises associated with Unruly Mix, which I’ve been holding off on pending this and other technical issues. It’s an expensive and time-consuming undertaking, and since it’s my first book and self-published, it’s on me.
Also, since it’s my first, it is strongly tied into the subsequent release of volumes two and three, which I’m still working on. If you own a copy of the paperback already, you now own a collector’s item. I’ve got my work ahead of me, but at least I’ve got the first one like I want it; until I find the next error.