It is not over until the fat lady sings

Just when you thought that your Independently-published book was ready to go public. You order several copies for distribution, and do another read through the manuscript and find an error in the manuscript that has been missed, even though two sets of people have reviewed it.

Sometimes it seems like there can never be enough proofreading to make sure everything is correct.

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, reinforces the importance of ticking off each step of a process. Particularly, when you are completing repetitive tasks, checklists help to minimise the mistakes that are made in the writing process. At the end of the day, we are only human, and what may seem simple actually becomes complex when it is repeated and the same steps are not followed on a regular basis.

The other issue is that habit will tend to see us forget the basic steps that we need to follow in order to have items completed on time. We can also begin to assume that all steps have been taken even though, they have not.

This was a good reminder when I saw an error in a book that I recently ordered.

In independent publishing, this is why it is again particularly important to find the right people to support you. It is also essential to minimise the errors in these sorts of tasks. There is not enough spare time, or money for avoidable mistakes like this.

These are the sorts of mistakes that I have commenced writing about in a manuscript that I am working on at the moment. It provides a high level overview of the trials and tribulations, and the processes that I have utilised over the last four years while publishing almost 40 books.It will be helpful for anyone working on their own manuscripts and wanting to independently publish.

My book is still a little while away. I keep at it for one hour each day. I discussed the rise of the independent publishing industry with Ocean Reeve from In-House Publishing in the interview I did with him recently. Particularly the need to set the habit of one hour a day. The audio and transcript of this interview will be available shortly via my monthly newsletter.

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