E

E... is for e-books, editing and elephants. It's also possibly for 'enterview' if you apply South African pronounciation and my gifted spelling talents (They kicked me out of the spelling competition because I started to spell Bee with an A. And I insisted it was two words and therefore an unfair question.)

As you read in yesterday's post I am putting my money where my mouth is and putting material out through an e-publisher that I consider to be offering reasonable rates and services for their ask. While NR's books are going to be available from other outlets, I am putting my authorly bid for purchases to be made from the NR site itself. Firstly that's better for the company, and it's better for me, which adds up to better for readers too, as that will help us thrive.

Editing is rather like something else with an e... Enema, with a similar result and it is nearly as pleasurable to me. I gather I am a good editor of the work of others. If I EVER do it for you, I think you have vast potential. Give yourself a pat on the head, and then remember that the industry and I always see perfectly eye-to-eye about what everyone wants to read and they should buy. (I'm right and they're wrong. I have to believe that. But it does mean you stand high in my esteem.) At the moment I am post my own edits of my own book and just busy with Barbs's. Page 9 of 283 (my pages do not relate to book pages). It's going to a long session as this was written under worst conditions - uprooting and moving and trying to resettle, some of which had a wonderful effect on my writing and spelling ability. But it has to be done. Do not EVER kid yourself that it doesn't - or that you are the best person to do it. If there is ever a reason not to self-publish it is one's abilty to read over problems in own prose, as if they were the elephant in the room...

Which is the last e for today. The elephant in the room. The part we don't see because we don't want to. (I am an expert at not seeing elephants. I am from Africa, I am. You can tell). We all have them. Hell, publishing has them, distribution has them and authors tend to have such vast ones as to occupy just about everything but breathing space (and even that's in little short gasps). I have an entire herd, and they're drunk too. Right now a lot of mine have to do with money and the delusion I could make a living at this. Others relate to the bizarre idea that I actually can write, or that enough people might actually like what I wrote, against the evidence presented by the best seller lists and eager publishers all beating a frantic path to my door. Well, NR should help to test what readers think instead... because if I am kidding myself it's time I got over it and got what non-writers refer to as a real job :-).

Or not.

eee, bai gum.