BEST ENDEAVOURS

Jane Cable’s blog about what happens once that digital publishing deal is in the bag continues.

PAINSTAKING ENDEAVOURS

This week has been proof week. Proofs, edit notes, and blurb. But mainly proofs – and more proofing, until my eyes were out on stalks. Luckily I was able to escape to Cornwall where the phone doesn’t ring and normal domestic distractions don’t seem to apply. Plus it was raining.

I dealt with the edit notes first. As I said before, they were nothing major but required me to clarify a family tree a little, consider whether a character over-reacted to a certain situation, and make slightly better sense of some of the supernatural elements. The third one took the most time because I had to track through the manuscript until I found just the right place for an enhanced reveal.

The proofing took most of my time. Endeavour provided me with two pages of notes of the changes they’d made or wording they were unsure about and going through these was fairly straight forward. But I believe the responsibility for a perfect manuscript can’t be delegated and so I decided to do my own proof read as well. It’s a painstaking process of considering every sentence in and out of context – and even at this stage I discovered some missing words. It’s incredible what the brain will fill all on its own – but that’s my brain, and it knows this story inside out. For a reader even the smallest of errors is hugely off-putting.

Then there’s consistency: punctuation, capitalisation, presentation of texts and quotes. Holding these things in your head is like juggling – copious notes are needed and I found it’s so much better to do the proofing over a short period so that you can actually remember what’s gone before. My mind was fair boggling by the time I’d finished and stocks of paracetamol were running low.

On the third afternoon I’d finished and miraculously there was a let up in the storms. Pulling on our wellies we climbed up to the cliff path, the stiff breeze blowing away any remaining cobwebs. Our part of Cornwall is mining country (think Poldark!) and the ruined stacks split the landscape against a backdrop of scudding clouds and dark turquoise sea. Just the headspace I needed.

But the break didn’t last long… then it was back to deal with the blurb for Amazon. But to do so I felt I needed to know if I had a title yet. Had Amy (the publishing director) had time to consider my proposal? Should I give her a little nudge? Well, she could only say no, so I sent off the email. And she came back almost immediately: yes, they’re happy with (small but important drum roll) Another You.

Great news, so I turned back to the blurb – only to realise that I didn’t know the Amazon categories and keywords Endeavour are proposing. And I still don’t. The ever-patient Amy told me not to worry, they’ll add the metadata separately. This, I think, is what I am going to find most difficult; as an indie author I was in complete control of the marketing of my books (although I was helped immensely by the ebook team at Matador). Now, although I know I’ll need to get stuck in and market my socks off when the time comes, it isn’t me who’s making the decisions. Something of a steep learning curve ahead I think.

Jane Cable is the author of two independently published romantic suspense novels, The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree, and a sporadic contributor to Frost. Another You (formerly known as The Seahorse Summer) tells the tale of how two American soldiers born sixty years apart help forty-something Marie Johnson to rebuild her shattered confidence and find new love. Discover more at www.janecable.com.