T-10 Days: In The Abyss Of Editing

And the editing of "Focused Fandom: Cosplay, Costuming, and Careers" is done.   We have ten days until launch of the ebooks.

I want to note I hate editing.

Oh I don't mind the act.  It's very important.  In some cases it's quite insightful.  In all cases it makes the book easier to read.

The reason I hate it is that it is hard to stop.

If you have ever published anything, from fanfic to a public book, you know that you are never satisfied, ever, with the results.  You can look at that book or document or whatever and keep finding mistakes until the apocalypse.  You will never be 100% happy with it.

I of course try to make it perfect, and know I can't.

So what I actually do for my editing is set boundaries.  I edit "X" amount of times, I take my editor's comments, etc.  At a certain point after enough actions or iterations I declare it done and move on.

Why not try to make it perfect?  Because I won't.  A book that looked perfect to me today will look flawed tomorrow.

So what I do is set that deadline and bloody well make it worth it.

Not only does it keep me from obsessing forever, it also forces me to make the time editing worth it.  Knowing I set limits in place keeps me from wasting my time.

I'm especially curious about how knowing I'm doing this as an ebook has affected my mindset.  Was I less cautious because it's easy to correct, or more cautious because I expect greater sales and a more diverse audience?  Was the nature of the book (driven by interviews) making it easier or harder to edit as I'm using a different voice?

I don't know, but it's going to be fun to watch and learn.

Next up, time to format . . .we're nearly done!

Steven Savage