Website reviews

For this blog I chose to review some websites I found on our collaboration assignment posted by Mandy Chenoweth.  The reason I decided to review these websites is because on that particular posting Mandy mentioned that she is dyslexic.  This really hit home for me because I have a dear friend from college who was also dyslexic and I know how hard she had to work to overcome this disability, and get good grades on both individual, and team papers.

If memory serves me she always was concerned with the proofreading part of the assignments, and would always request a neighbor friend to proofread for her. I was very grateful to her because her disability made me work harder, and commit more to our work together right down to the day we graduated.

To begin with, I visited a website called www.Arborservices.co/editing.php. This website offers such services as editing, proofreading, line editing, and more.  The websites offers a detailed explanation of how each service works, and also a price rate attached to each product. For example, comprehensive editing cost 0.04 to 0.14 cents a word, line editing cost 0.04 to 0.08 cents a word, and book read cost $500 per 20,000 words.  While the services offered are excellent I find the prices a bit exorbitant.  For instance, if you go with the book read option you have to figure that 1,000 words will fit in 2 pages (depending on size of print) so 20,000 words will fit in 40 pages. This mean you will pay $500 for a 40-page book. Imagine if you have a 200-page book, this would not be an option for someone trying to self-publish.

Next I visited www.editing-writing.com/book-editing.shtml. This website was not as straightforward as the one above, and certainly did not have as much detail on the main page; the pricing was not there, and you need to navigate through different links to learn about services offered. One thing this website did have was some reviews from users, and their comments on the editor who helped them with their work. Reading the reviews shows you that the work is very personal, and the author has direct contact with the editor, which makes it more personal.

Overall I found both websites useful but different in many levels. I was pleasantly surprise to learn that many services exist out there to help authors make their material known to the public.  This was definitely a great learning experience. 

Is self-publishing right for me?

Throughout this class we have learned all about self-publishing. My personal focus lay on book self-publishing. Although all the information provided was most helpful the question still remains whether or not self-publishing is the right option for any given author. Something I found very interesting is the fact that authors face the same quandary but for different reasons based on genre, market, resources, and such.

The research I conducted on the Internet lead me to a website that provides a very generic checklist that anyone can use to determine if self-publishing is right for him or her. The fact that is generic in nature makes it easy for any author to make good use of it no matter the genre.

Of course one advantage of self-publishing is that you get to keep the rights to the book if you choose to do so and get 100% royalties. These facts alone make it very appealing to the average author who is trying to put his or her work out there.

The website’s checklist appears very simple but in my opinion the questions it poses really put things in perspective. It basically helps you analyze each factor independently. For instance, you have to consider the market and ask yourself, is the market narrow and easily targeted? If you have a marketing strategy ask yourself if you have the time and energy to set things in motion and keep them going? If you do self-publish are you setting realistic goals in terms of profit and time marketing will take? In addition, you have to ask yourself some hard questions and try to be as objective as possible. For instance, you need to do some soul-searching and look at your work as the average reader would and ask whether or not you would read this material? If a professional opinion regards your work as average and not excellent ask yourself if you are considering self-publishing for egotistic reasons (writeservices.com, n.d.)?

Previously I have mentioned how important is to have a strong foundation when developing a business plan. Self-publishing is no exception. I strongly believe you have to have a well-thought out plan before even searching for the means to self-publish

           

Writer Services. (2003). Writerservices.com. Retrieved April 14, 2011

               From http://www.writersservices.com/wps/s_for_you.htm