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[battlepunk]

Hey romance readers! I have a couple work-inspired questions for you:

Do you think self-publishing romance writers would benefit from sending their manuscripts through a professional proofreading company? Is this a fairly large market to tap (from the proofreaders' perspective)? Do you think self-publishing writers actually will turn to

Comments

[x_los]

I think you'd have to figure out what percentage of their overhead that would be? What are the women involved earning (if anything), and what percentage of that is $500?

[battlepunk]

I have no idea what their sales are like, but there seem to be enough people in the readership that they came out on top of some reading/sales lists this year!

[daffodelias]

Hey romance readers!

Translation: Hey Delia! y/y? ;)

Do you think self-publishing romance writers would benefit from sending their manuscripts through a professional proofreading company?

YES. OH MY GOD, YES THEY WOULD. THE READERS WOULD ALSO BENEFIT. Even the women who don't self-publish, who publish with primarily ebook publishers like Ellora's Cave and Dreamspinner, need proofreaders like you would not believe. I can't tell you the number of books I've stopped reading that might have had great stories, but had obvious typos in the first five pages.

Is this a fairly large market to tap (from the proofreaders' perspective)?

Ostensibly, yes. There are many writers who need proofreaders, both self- and e-published. But...

Do you think self-publishing writers actually will turn to proofreaders, since it can cost around $500 or more to have a 44,000-word manuscript proofread*?No

[battlepunk]

Haha, no, I know at least two other romance readers :P

Nyagh, I've suggested doing a sweepstakes/promo thing to my boss to hook potential po' writerly folks. We'll see how that goes.

[draegonhawke]

You should join Codex, if you haven't already. There's a sizable thread on self-publishing and self-pub resources, and one of the topics of discussion that crops up from time to time is professional editing. You could query a bunch of authors who are actively working on indie projects, across a variety of genres.

I know cover design can cost in the $100-$300 range (or more?), so I know people are willing to dish out money for services. I don't know how much, but, again, no harm in joining up and testing the waters.

[battlepunk]

Thanks to your pokings, I've now made joining Codex a NY resolution! ;P