Tag Archives: Self-Publishing

Resurrecting Your Lost Manuscript

If you have an older manuscript that was published a few years ago and do not have the original text file available what can you do to resurrect the text so you can make a new edition or possibly offer it in eBook form? Or maybe your computer crashed (this is where backups are handy) but you have your work in a printed form.

In the last few years OCR technology has made great strides and continues to advance. Not too far back you would be lucky to correctly retrieve maybe 80% of a fairly clean hardcopy text. Now, scanned properly you can see on upward of 98% or better. For as many as we have converted, I’ve never seen a 100% correct conversion but I’ve seen a couple that were very close. Continue reading

Using your book to drive customers to your website

A quote attributed to Herbie Hancock goes, “One thing I like about jazz is that it emphasized doing things differently from what other people were doing.”

A lot of what I see offered in website driven marketing involves revamping the website whether it be a new design, SEO, key words and so on. Not so much different today than what was recommended yesterday. What’s needed is something that is truly different, that piques the curiosity, that generates interest. Rather than depending on being at the top of search results, which is important, what if they came looking for you? Continue reading

My Manuscript Has Been Edited!

When I hear, “My manuscript has been edited!” I usually cringe. Nine out of ten times when I ask who it was that edited the manuscript the response is invariably: “My neighbor who is a retired schoolteacher.” or, “My sister who has an English degree.” and so on. That’s all well and fine, and I’m sure they are good people who have a solid grasp of the English language, but…

Editing is as much of an art as it is a science, and it is hard work. A professional editor does more than fix your commas. Depending on their skills they can proofread, develop, copyedit, and line edit the text into a spectacular masterpiece.

What’s the difference between proofreading and the other forms of editing? Continue reading