Category: Blog
Scissor Gnomes. They have been a plague upon me since I was a child. Put the scissors (or box knife) down while working. Use another tool for a few minutes… Finish. Reach for the scissors… They aren’t where I put them. Look everywhere in the vicinity. Find them not. Yell and scream at the Scissor Gnomes, tell them this is Not Funny. Walk out of room. Return. Scissors are back where I first put them down. Scissor Gnomes: Total jerks.
I’ve never been so glad to be working via remote. I am being interviewed for a podcast later today, and I’ll still be able to get some other work done, rather than spending most of my day commuting two hours to a recording studio for 90 minutes of set up and recording, then driving home again another 2 hours.
Some things about virtuality suck, but not commuting is not one of them.
I currently edit only a little Romance, but I have a coaching client who writes nothing but romance and he (yes, he) finds himself a little squeamish about “the sexy bits.” But the fact is, not all commercial Romance is “hot.” While spicy romance is high-profile and big-selling, there have always been—and always will be—categories of mainstream Romance which are not graphically detailed with respect to sex. These are broadly categorized as “sweet” romance and entire sub-genres of sweet sell in the millions of copies in the US and elsewhere every year.
There’s a silly idea running around among some non-Romance fiction readers that this genre is mostly soft- to hardcore porn for middle aged heterosexual women. It’s not. Romance covers a lot of ground, and a lot of romance is pretty mild in the bedroom department. I’m also pleased as punch that the Diversity movement is opening up more room for Romances that center on wider relationship options than ever before. While there have always been books about same-sex relationships, older and second-time-around romances, “sweet” Christian romance, Amish romance, Westerns, and YA romances (just to name a few), now there’s not only room for more, but room for damn-near everything.
If you’re reading or writing any story with relationships (and that’s all pretty much every story to some degree) you now have a lot more options for your characters to engage in ways that aren’t either “hot sexy times” or chaste kissing and a quickly closed bedroom door.
I engaged in a conversation recently on The Twit (@katrchrdsn) and FurryElephant (@kat_richardson@universeodon.com) with an #IndieAuthor, and others, about editing costs. She was quoted $6K for an edit based on word count and is aghast. I’m not, but then, I’m old and have been in the editing game since 1991.
Editing and Cover Art are vital to any book’s success and they are worth paying for. Yeah, $6k for editing may be high, however, cost depends on how much work the edit represents; word count, genre, level of edit expected, degree of interaction the editor offers, and so on make a big difference in the cost. Also the editor’s rep and hourly rate have a price. In-demand, well-regarded, and/or award-winning editors charge more for their time.
My editing prices start around $2.5K for developmental edit on 90-120K genre fiction manuscripts. Longer books, Coaching, Non-Fiction, line-edit, and Technical editing cost more. I don’t do Copyedit or final proof. Those are specialized skill sets and they should be performed by someone other than the author or dev/line editor, if possible (it helps to have new eyes on a project at that point, among other reasons.)
I will occasionally do “single pass crits,” which are super-light and get the client a short—usually bullet-point—crit letter to work from, but I still have to charge $800 for my time, because it takes most of a week to read 90-100K and write up the notes (plus my bookkeeping/invoicing). I try not to do a lot of these, since they take more hours than I charge for, and I bill at less than half my normal rate.
If the writer’s new to the self-pub systems, getting some help on formatting can also be worth some cash first time through (or trading services with another writer who’s more experienced). This is also something I don’t do, and which writers should not expect from a freelance editor.
If a writer doesn’t have the money for some services, they’ll have to settle for something less than their ideal. Shopping around and being willing to spend less on some things, and do more themself is necessary. If you consider yourself an Indie Writer, you are also, effectively, an Indie Publisher, and that comes with all the hats. You either wear them all, with varying degrees of success, or you farm some out. Editing is worth paying for, whether you pay in cash or with an exchange of services with another member of the Writing/Editing community. I don’t say this just because I’m an editor as well as a writer, and I want your money; I know first-hand that I’m a great editor when I’m working for someone else, and a bit blind to my own writing faults when working for myself. YMMV.
I’m heading to northern California for the month of December to spend some time with friends and relatives I haven’t seen in quite a while. I’ll be out of touch while on the road, so I won’t be checking in on mail or posting much between now and the new year. Still, I do love hearing from you guys, so please do drop an email if you want and I’ll get back to you when I can.
Happy Holidays, and be excellent to each other!
Wow! I really didn’t expect this to happen so fast. All the complete sets of the Greywalker novels are now sold and will be shipping soon. But that doesn’t mean there are no books left! I still have various formats of everything, but they don’t make neatly matched sets, and in some cases I only have a few of some formats or titles.
What’s still available:
So if you’re trying to fill out a set, or create a set just for reading and aren’t picky about the books all matching, there’s still books available!
Drop me email via the contact form if you’re interested.
After many website problems and a collapsing table… I have functionality so, back to the book sale!
To keep it simple, all book purchase requests must be placed through this website’s contact page (not the comments). Send your request list and I’ll reply as soon as I can with availability and pricing info.
Since I have very few copies of Greywalker and Poltergeist in US large format paperback, and very few Downpour in either US format, I can only make 4 complete sets of US large Format, and 4 of US Small format (MMP) . Therefore, those titles will not be sold separately, right now.
All prices are in US dollars and do not include shipping unless noted. Further details below the price list.
Full sets of the Greywalker series in US Large Format include the trade paperback of Greywalker and Poltergiest, and hardcover of the remaining 7 books of the series, plus two bookmarks and a sliding-tile puzzle. Full sets of the Greywalker series US Small Format will include all 9 mass market paperbacks, one bookmark and a sliding-tile puzzle. Additional bookmarks up to 4 total are free, but please let me know you want them. All books will be signed, but not personalized (think of my poor, cramped hands!)
Requests will be filled in order received and as soon as I can. Payment via PayPal unless other arrangements are made. All domestic shipping will be via United States Postal Service Media Mail to keep costs down. It’s a slow method, but it’s cheap and a box of books can be very heavy. Non-US shipping or domestic shipping other than media will be discussed individually. Yes, I am willing to ship these anywhere, but will have to quote you shipping costs and total prices individually.
And there y’have it. If you want signed books, or have questions, please send an email through the contact page and I will reply as soon as I can with information on availability, pricing, and shipping costs. I’ll be driving to California and back in December, thus out of range for packing and shipping, so let’s get to this!
Thanks, and Happy Reading!
Note: sets and some individual titles/formats are now sold out! ( as of this morning: November 10, 2022)
So, I was going to post the prices and such for the books last night, but it turns out my website email hasn’t been working since January. I’m working on fixing that.
In the meantime, the incredibly sturdy dining table… wasn’t sturdy enough. I was chasing the dog around it, it wobbled, I grabbed and pulled… and there was the sound of screeching as the screws holding the leaf extension failed. The table collapsed onto a box full of dog blankets, but, luckily, not the dog! So it’s not so bad.
Needless to say… book sale is postponed while I get the website mail form fixed and inspect the books.
Never a dull moment.
I had all the pricing and shipping info ready to post so any of you in a book-acquiring mind could buy books from me. But it turns out that my WP Forms-generated contact form has not been sending me email since… well, I’m not sure, but the last email I got through this site was back in January of this year. I’ve been trying to solve the problem, but so far, it’s defeating me. Tomorrow I shall bring out the big guns: Mr. Kat (who used to work for my ISP). Hopefully, we’ll be able to get it working and then I can sell you guys books! And exchange email with you!
And all this time I thought no one was sending me email. Gosh, I hope I didn’t miss something really wonderful while my contact form was broken…
I’ve unpacked all the Greywalker series author copies from storage and piled them on my former dining table (pictured on the left). I knew I was short on a few, but no idea how badly until now. These shortages are going to make full sets very limited—specifically, I can only make 4 complete sets of Original Format, and 4 complete sets of the Mass Market Paperback (MMP) Format. All of the books are first edition/first printing. All the hardcovers have their original dust jackets intact and in good condition.
Here’s what’s in the pile
Note: No hardcover editions were ever produced of Greywalker or Poltergeist and, beginning with Underground, US Trade/Quality Paperback was discontinued as a format for this series. As a result, full sets of this series are either exclusively MMP format, or mixed format. There can’t be any full sets in all-hardcover or all-trade paperback at this time, but who knows if limited editions, or new editions, will come out in a consistent quality format in the future?
In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out pricing, shipping, and how to sell these puppies to you guys with minimum drama.
And if you’re wondering why these are such a hodge-podge of sizes/formats, etc… well… that’s just the way it is with author copies. I originally got only 10 of each US format, then I started getting 20, then 40, and I often carried copies of the earlier books to events with me to give away or consign. Later, I rarely needed to do that, since the books were usually available through vendors on-site. Translation and UK editions are another whole story: the French publisher either went out of business, or dropped the series (the first two of which they’d already paid for) before the second book was sent to print (although the translation was completed), and the UK and German Publishers also dropped the series before it ended. There were also Russian, Polish, and Chinese (RoC/Taiwan) editions of Greywalker, and that latter edition was even re-printed with a new cover at one point. I don’t have copies of those available—some I never received at all, and some I got only one copy of. Though I do have to say, the Polish edition had the Harper version that most looks like the Harper in my mind.
So, once again, stay tuned for further developments.