“I Found a Typo in Your Story”

Why indies writers should publish anyway, even if they must self-edit

As your local head cook, and feather-ruffler, I figured it was time to get after the don’t-you-do-it world of editing. As I’ve mentioned before, there are a million rules of writing. Yet, there are no rules of writing. One of these rules is: no matter what, no questions asked, you MUST have an outside editor, or your book will be a failure… or some rendition of that.

Now, before I take a second step to my soapbox, I want to make a full, unabashed announcement that the world is a better place with editors in it.

My sister is an editor for some of the biggest names in publishing.

I get it.

Editors don’t have the personal investment in the writing. Editors see your work through an editor’s eye, not as you, the writer. Editors will help make your book suck a lot less.

If you have the means to hire an editor, do so. Especially as an indie. Your book must be as-good-as, or better-than all the traditionally-published books in your niche.

This is the only way we compete in our space.

Craft is critical.

But…

and here’s the big but…

If not having an editor is preventing you from shipping your art, it’s 100X better to self-edit and get your book before your readers, than become paralyzed that you’re not good enough.

There’s no writing rule that can’t be broken. There are writers who don’t use caps or punctuation (and their audience loves the stuff).

The more time passes, the more you’ll avoid publishing.

The more time you wait, the fewer readers will know you exist.

Maybe you can’t afford an editor. Maybe you’ve got your own reason for not hiring a third party to clean-up your book. Indie writers are responsible for everything. Not only must we write the stupid book, but we’ve also got to build our own tribe of people to read it.

Otherwise we launch the book to an empty room (and there’s nothing more deflating to a writer than an empty room).

Why you’ve got to ship before you’re ready

You’ll never be ready. The chase of perfection will ruin your creative career. You can produce amazing work, with the hand of a craftsman, and never be perfect.

Perfect doesn’t exist.

Everyone has opinions about your work — good and bad (plus, you know the saying about opinions).

This isn’t a free pass to ship a junk book. However, your readers are the only judges who matter. Not the armchair critics. Not the wannabe authors who haven’t written word-one of their own. Not your mom, or Sal from down the street.

If not having an editor is preventing you from shipping, it’s time to get your book in tip-top shape, to the best of your abilities, and ship it.

Then write the next one.

Make the next one better than the last.

When you have the means, hire an editor.

But never let your lack of an editor prevent you from shipping your work. The typo mafia will still be there when you return. There are thousands of people who believe it’s their duty to point-out every error in every piece of writing they read.

Those folks are special in their own way.

…and they’ll let you know where you missed a comma, whether Simon and Schuster published your book, or you did. I get these emails (and DMs, and comments, and wherever else they like to let me know I screwed-up).

I appreciate their efforts. But a missing comma or misspelt werd does not a bad book make.

Not to the readers who feed you.

Don’t publish a book with typos

Your book must be professional. There’s no room for slop. There’s no room for mistakes. This isn’t a publish your first draft kind of article. Every book has mistakes. Editors don’t catch everything.

The best you can do is publish the best book you can. Then write the next one.

Some books will hit and many will miss. There are millions of titles on Amazon. Everyone thinks they can write a book now, because the barrier to entry is zero.

But you have something to say.

You’ve got an amazing story.

You are not everyone.

You care.

But you might not have the means to hire an editor. This should never keep you from shipping. The longer you wait, the more years will pass. You’ll be the writer with ten manuscripts in the drawer and zero books on the shelf.

Ship before you’re ready.

Ship something great — the best you can.

Decide. Don’t try. Choose to publish a great book. Make the best it can be — until it hurts a little. Then, work it a little harder.

But don’t wait, because you don’t have an editor.

You’ll be waiting a long time.

We want to read your book now.

We’ll forgive a mistake or two every 50,000 words.

Ship before you’re ready.

… and if you want your potential readers to buy your first book, you better create an reader’s list now, so you’ll have an audience when you do publish your book. This should be a list you own (instead of relying on your precarious social platform). Tap the link below. Enroll in my Tribe 1K indie email masterclass. I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 subscribers (and your next 1,000) without spending one hot nickel on ads.

We’re waiting for you.

Enroll in my Free Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.