Not exactly that, but I did go over a book a multitude of times, and had someone else proof it and when I was sure it was perfect, I published. A guy at work was the first person to buy it and as soon as I saw him, he said, "Hey, I spotted some typos in your book."

I couldn't believe it.

We have a natural ability to read what was intended - especially in our own work.

Here's an example of how our mind will fix what we're reading:

"I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg."

http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish...

Notice how easily your brain descrambled that and you were able to read it? This makes it very difficult for us to find errors in our work.

Yesterday I read a work in progress to my kids for some early feedback. My son was looking at my screen as I read and pointed out where I had the word "was" two times, but I read it as if it only appeared once, and didn't even see the red underlining in Word.

I am freaking out and now it's back in the editors hands. The mind is weird. I just didn't want these errors on my first piece out. People seem to enjoy the book even though.

I just took a look and the very first sentence has an error. But the good thing is, they can be fixed and the book re-published - as many times as necessary.

Your editor should also fix things that aren't technically errors, but aren't quite right either.

Like the 2nd sentence says:

"...I answered in my usually smart-ass way, "good thing she's not around then, right."

That should be "...I answered in my usual smart-ass way, "Good thing she's not around then, right?"

You might want to have another person look at it when the editor is done, in case he's getting too accustomed to the story to be able to spot everything he should.

Thank you so much!

I should of hired you lol

I should probably be an editor. lol

My brain is going crazy right now. I just want it perfect.

I know the feeling. The first time someone told me I had typos, I couldn't wait to get home, fix them and republish the corrected version.

Recently I realized some plot issues with another ebook I published and I put off fixing it, so it began to haunt me till I even dreamed about the problem. Every day I kept expecting to see someone pointing out the problems on Amazon or elsewhere. So this morning, I spent 10 minutes fixing the issues, and then HOURS re-publishing on Amazon, GoodReads, Smashwords, Google. ARGH! I hope I never have to do that again.

If you want, when your book is believed to be done, send it to me in Word format and I can look and tell you if I spot anything that still needs fixing.

And I can suggest corrections with Track Changes so you can see what I'd change.

That would be great! It's like paying someone to fix your car and then hearing the engine rattle.

If your editor was paid, he really should deliver on what he was paid for.

I was appalled when another author told me that his book was "proofed by a professional."

If your editor is a well-meaning friend, they may not have the qualifications. If it's a "pro" that you're paying, they should definitely produce a nice, finished product.

I sent it back to him with a "I need this flawless" message because I was so upset.

If you want to underscore the point, copy chapter one out of it, paste it into a new document and send it to me.

I'll edit it with Track Changes and send it back to you and you can pass it to him and say, "Here's what someone who isn't an editor found wrong with it."

Or you might want to be nice and give him a chance to make it right first. :)

I am giving him the chance but I don't mind sending the whole copy to you and if you want to look at it and track changes on some and read the rest for enjoyment that would be great!

Go ahead and send it to me. I'll message you my email address.

I'll do a demo of the first chapter, but wait to see the finished product from your editor before doing more.

Maybe I'll end up doing editing work and starting off by doing several books for free to show sample work.

Aww, Jennifer. It is a shame because your book is great, it just got a little confusing with quotation and speech all being mixed together. I also noticed Gianna spelt wrong once. Generally though your errors aren't huge. As Edward said if u paid this person, you aren't getting the service you paid for and you deserve that right.

Also beta readers are awesome, look on groups, they are free and spot errors, the more beta and editors the better.

Jagged Edge I changed lots and even now it has annoying errors, I have it free at the minute and I can't wait to 're edit again.

Even the best authors have typos, you'll get them all in the end.

Edward I would certainly bang down your door for a free edit, Maybe specify that you want credit though if you do go ahead.

Okay, you guys really have me thinking about this now. Except I wouldn't be a comprehensive editor who can say, "You need to develop this character more and eliminate that one. Change the gender of this other one and create a nagging mother for that one."

But I'd do more than just fix typos. In the three books that I edited for a friend, I fixed every mistake and also revised sentences to make them flow better and sound more natural, and spotted a few inconsistencies.

So it would be like mild editing or robust proofreading. lol

Mercy, I'm going to look at your book since it's free right now on Amazon and unfortunately someone gave you a really bad review. :(

(Sidenote to anyone who writes but has lots of errors - some people have a gift of storytelling, but don't have mastery of English. I'd gladly trade with you. English is much easier to learn.)

Haha, loved your examples there of changing genders and what not.

That's what an editor should do, be the English professor for our shoddy attempts lol.

Yes, I got a one star review on Amazon and a five star review on here today, my first ever five star... somehow it made me not feel so bad about it but it does hit home considering that's my only Amazon review atm. Plus that reviewer is harsh and basically gives one or two stars and five if it blew her away. Such is life.

You should quote that Edward, humbling for me, because I often find myself thinking that I can barely string a sentence together; should I really be writing a book? Lol.

I'm surprised you got any review at all. I had over 700 downloads of When Everything Changed without a single review.

After more than a month of In The End being on Amazon (and running neck and neck with Changed when it comes to sales,) it just got its first review yesterday. So I'm surprised someone immediately gave you a bad review.

I had been under the assumption that people download free books like crazy, but you don't get reviews on them because it could be months before they ever get around to read yours.

I only read a few pages so far, so I can't say if you're one of those people - but I have definitely seen amazing storytellers who can't really write that well. lol

In my case, I get snippets of ideas and just start writing, but I have no idea where I'm going with it, so I get stalled for long periods of time as I wait for something to come to me.

If I could envision a complete story from the beginning - I'd be dangerous. lol

Well it's been out since April 4th ish, I've had my five free days all gone by the end of today, my first three days free I 'sold' over 400 copies, this time so far over 100. In all of those I have received a fair few reviews or ratings, just unfortunate that they are all mostly on Goodreads.

I'm just concerned it will put people off because of the one star.

It is so hard to get reviews, on one of my books it seems to have just crawled along itself, one big reviewer asked to review it and I agreed not expecting a 4 star review at all and then getting a few more reviews.

I think I'm in that category; my writing isn't horrendous, it has some flare but my punctuation and grammar are definitely not as they should be, I write all my books on my kindle and so typos are a HUGE problem for me.

I write like you, my stories change all the time, I have about a thousand alternative endings in my head and I get so inspired by other books and stories I try to incorporate parts to bring the same zest to my characters.

I always set out knowing the start and a rough ending... 9/10 my ending changes entirely as I write the characters.

Mercy wrote: "Aww, Jennifer. It is a shame because your book is great, it just got a little confusing with quotation and speech all being mixed together. I also noticed Gianna spelt wrong once. Generally though ..."

Thank you Mercy!

Edward wrote: "Okay, you guys really have me thinking about this now. Except I wouldn't be a comprehensive editor who can say, "You need to develop this character more and eliminate that one. Change the gender of..."

This is me to a T.

Mercy! How can you write a book on a Kindle? That sounds totally crazy. You should get an award for such an accomplishment. lol

Wow a Kindle. I typed a lot of my book on the iPad before switching to my PC.

You guys are crazy. I can't imagine doing that.

haha. At the time my PC was old and crying out for help so I used my ipad which was nice. Once I got a new PC i switched over but my body gets sore sitting there for hours. I do have a keyboard to my ipad so it wasn't too bad.