A while ago, I plugged a few of my pieces into the “I Write Like” analyzer.

One of the pieces I put in was Panic No More a story of goat gods and computer programmers. At the time, the analyzer compared my writing to Dan Brown, which made me sad. Since then, I’ve been working on a new revision.

I’ll more than happily accept this rating:

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Why'd you have to tell me that Mick?

The cover artist for Minion of Evil, Kris Phillipe  is unavailable for Fangs for Nothing.

I’m sure they’ll find a great artist and I’ll end up with a good cover, but it would have been nice to have the consistency of having the same artists.

I can’t even be mad, because I know that Kris is a professional. If she says she is too busy to take a job, it’s because of all the work she puts in to make sure her art is perfect.

Fangs for Nothing my novel about a loser vampire that lives in his parents’ basement, has sold. The publisher is going to try to rush the book out so it can be available for Convergence.

Today, Amanda Hocking is a big time author with St. Martin Press, but a year ago, but back when she was a 26-year-old, self-published author, selling a mere 100,000+ books a month, she was quite frustrated with the editing process.

What I find most frustrating about editing and being indie is that everything else I can do myself. Writing, covers, marketing, etc. But I cannot edit properly myself. It’s just not possible.
–Amanda Hocking, when she was an indie author

I totally feel her pain–about the editing stuff, not about the becoming a millionaire by selling kindle books. (I could am prepared to get used to it though.)

My upcoming book, Minion of Evil was edited by my wife, my critique group, me, my beta reader and by editor before I gave it my final read-through.I found around one error every four pages. When I was through, I asked my wife to go over my first chapter again. Two more errors were found.

EXPLETIVE DELETED

Today I was reading an Internet discussion about whether or not grammar is important to writers. I would never even think to ask that question. To me it would be akin to saying: Is it important for a carpenter to be able to use a table saw without slicing off their fingers?

Bad grammar, typos, and errors trip up the reader. They interrupt the flow of the book. They stop reading from being an enjoyable experience. Of course, not every person is going to read every error, hence the errors of mine alluding an editor, a critique group, and a bevy of beta readers, but every one you fail to clear adds the chance that you’re going to lose some of your readers.

Okay, on the bright side, or maybe the zeitgeist side, I have read big budget books with errors. Still, I want to put my best foot forward and make reading my book a worthwhile experience.