With a LOT of help from my friends • Lynne Garner
Over the last few months I've been working on two new short story collections, the first of which came out just under a week ago as an ebook (paperback to follow later this month). Now, the thing with being an indie writer is you have to think about things that when traditionally published you don't have to. This is where being a member of the Authors Electric team makes life that bit easier. You see between us we have a diverse and huge pool of knowledge, which over the last month I've found invaluable.
For example, the question of double or single speech marks was raised by my proof reader/editor. I was taught to use double and automatically use these. However in the last few books I've read single speech marks have been used. After some research I was still scratching my head. So, I put the question to the Authors Electric team, many of whom are also traditionally published. As per usual I received lots of replies. These replies included:
"I prefer to use single, they look neater."
"I had a publisher take all double speech marks out and replace with single. The publisher who sub-published the same book took out the singles and replaced with doubles."
"I was told UK publishers prefer single whilst US publishers prefer double."
"Either, as long as you're consistent."
As the feedback was echoing the results of my research I decided to stick with double.
I asked for feedback on the first version of the cover being designed by a very talented friend (Debbie Knight). As usual the Authors Electric team came up trumps (thank you Karen, Dennis, Debbie Y and Debbie B). And with their comments the cover you see here came into being.
My next question was "what are the benefits of purchasing my own ISBNs?" After receiving some good reasons for purchasing ISBNs off I went, signed up to Nielsen UK ISBN Agency and purchased my first ten ISBNs. (Thank you Chris, Katherine and Debbie B). This led onto a question about bar codes and again I received some great advice from Debbie Young, about CreateSpace's new barcode policy, which saved me a lot of time.
So with a LOT of help from my Author Electric friends I was able to publish my new book and am well on the way to publishing the second in a few months time. So THANK YOU folks for being willing to share your expertise and offer advice.
Lynne
For example, the question of double or single speech marks was raised by my proof reader/editor. I was taught to use double and automatically use these. However in the last few books I've read single speech marks have been used. After some research I was still scratching my head. So, I put the question to the Authors Electric team, many of whom are also traditionally published. As per usual I received lots of replies. These replies included:
"I prefer to use single, they look neater."
"I had a publisher take all double speech marks out and replace with single. The publisher who sub-published the same book took out the singles and replaced with doubles."
"I was told UK publishers prefer single whilst US publishers prefer double."
"Either, as long as you're consistent."
As the feedback was echoing the results of my research I decided to stick with double.
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| ebook just 99p |
My next question was "what are the benefits of purchasing my own ISBNs?" After receiving some good reasons for purchasing ISBNs off I went, signed up to Nielsen UK ISBN Agency and purchased my first ten ISBNs. (Thank you Chris, Katherine and Debbie B). This led onto a question about bar codes and again I received some great advice from Debbie Young, about CreateSpace's new barcode policy, which saved me a lot of time.
So with a LOT of help from my Author Electric friends I was able to publish my new book and am well on the way to publishing the second in a few months time. So THANK YOU folks for being willing to share your expertise and offer advice.
Lynne
Comments
Debbie - Over the years I've always got constructive feedback from AE members, which really does help.