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I’ve been cleaning up after a nightmare accident, born of negligence or fatigue or revision blindness. Some of you might have noticed my announcement on Facebook the other day, where I asked everyone with a copy of my book to contact me. Why? Well, it started quite innocently when a good buddy of mine started reading my book for review, in between several others – she reads like I breathe. Near the beginning she found a few typos which she told me about.
Naturally I cringed, how had they got through several beta readers, a professional editor, not counting the millions of re-throughs I’d done myself? I didn’t know, but I corrected them, then re-published it the Amazon.
Then she contacted me again. This time with a hellish piece of information. Two chapters had been somehow switched around? When? How? This, in a novel I published over a month ago! I almost swallowed my own tongue and scrambled to my Scrivener file. I read through to the point she had found the offending error and on my way, saw more typos. Little nagging things I never saw before. My heart sank. My temperature grew. My sweat glands pumped out their juices.
What if she hadn’t been brave enough to tell me? I’d never have known! Thank you for honest, brave friends!
I put the chapters in the right places, corrected the typos I found on my way, and quickly pulled the Smashwords file from sale (the file I’d paid to be formatted and had only just uploaded), then I republished again to Amazon. Since then I’ve had to email every reviewer, everyone who I gave the book to, everyone who I knew had purchased a copy, and try to explain my nightmare. I felt (still fell) grim. Beyond baffled and humiliated.
Then I heard from another online friend and fellow ROWer Shan Jeniah, who said she’d proofread for me. I am beyond grateful for this. She could have asked for a refund and slammed my lack of professionalism.
But how did this all happen in the first place. I did what I was supposed to – Every stage? After the edit, I corrected those issues she pointed out, and did another read-through after that. Done! Right? Wrong.
I should have waited a month or so to do my final read-through.
I clearly never saw the glaringly obvious, the ugly truths. I was perhaps revision weary, blind to issues that require my attention. Not only that, but at some point during the re-through, I must have clicked something on Scrivener switched two chapters around without even knowing? All of which meant I published what I thought to be an edited novel, when in fact, I published a novel in need of more attention.
I won’t lie, I have wept and slept very little since all of this. I’ve also worked really hard, reading through the 125k MS making corrections where necessary, while applying the suggestions of Heather and awaiting the suggestions of Shan. I hope between us, this MS will be in a much better shape.
I’m frazzled with it all now, to be honest.
So, let this be a lesson to you all: Beware of Scrivener’s unintentional ability to move stuff. It will and it can. And be aware of the final read through, you must leave a large enough gap between it and applying those final edits, otherwise you may be weary of the words on the page and well, that might leave you blind.
I wish I had the cash to hire several editors to work on it, like the larger, traditional publishers often do. But I don’t, so this is all I can do.
Shah the Writer
Future blog posts, my last ROW80 update, and this. I’ve had to give up all my time to Findng Esta again.
Shah the Marketing Wizz
All of my efforts have fallen foul. I can’t even talk about the wasted hours at this point. I have people out there about to hit me with awful reviews, I can feel it.
Shah the Publisher
I now need to pay (again) for someone to reformat the Smashwords file (once all the corrections are made) and re-upload it. Oh joy. I’m in no rush right now.
Shah the Blogger
Still reading this book.
I’m honouring my sponsor role at least, as I’ve done all my visits and then some. I’ve also shared lots and attended to all my emails.
I hope to provide a much more positive and upbeat update next week. Sorry, but crikey, I feel a bit weighed down with it all.
Have you ever made a catastrophic mistake? Any advice for this little puppy?
About Shah Wharton
My advice?
Be as kind to you, at least, as you would to someone else who goofed big.
And know you’ve got bragging rights for your eventual scar!
I’m at 66% right now…hope to be done by Monday. And it’s given me something else to focus on while I bleed my own veins, this intense writing week….
No way I want a refund – I love this book! getting to read it again so soon is a delight, and my own writing is getting sharper.
Everybody wins (except I haven’t done my sponsor visits yet!)
Count me as a sponsor visit
I’ve read through to chapter 33 (although I’ve separated a few chapters into two as they were over-long. Could have sworn I’d done this months ago. Bleh. I sometimes wonder if I’m working on the unedited version, but I see changes I made post edit and know thats not the case. It’s so much tighter now (I’m hoping your feedback overlaps mine, but that’s unlikely, sadly) 
What a week!?
Glad you’re enjoying the story at least. Imagine reading 125k words twice if you hated it? You rock Shan. XX
Shah Wharton recently posted..#ROW80 Updates – CRISIS: Learn from my mistake!
Hi Shah, go easy on yourself girl, it happens to us all sooner or later. I eventually went back to using MS Word, it has limited abilities and therefore fewer chances for me to mess things up. I’m also having all my older books re-edited this year.
Oh yeah, if you want to see a pro with typos, read the Harry Potter series. OMG The point is, dear lady, To err is human, you are human, and we are all blessed by that fact. Just fix the stuff and soldier on. You now have battle scars and bragging rights.
prudencemacleod recently posted..Old Author
Oh thanks Prudence, you are of course correct. I’ve found loads of issues in trads as well as indie novels, and I’m afraid trads have no excuse – they have a team of editors on their teams. Especially the Big Six. I have limited finds and did what I could with them. Doesn’t make it any easier when I so wanted it to be much closer to perfect. (I accept perfect is unattainable, also subjective, but still).
The scars are bright pink right now, but they will heal. I just hope they don’t heal Keloid !
XX
Shah Wharton recently posted..#ROW80 Updates – CRISIS: Learn from my mistake!
Ugh I’m so sorry to hear you’ve had such trouble
Don’t get too worried, most people should understand that everyone has hiccups like this occasionally, and if they’re the sort who’d throw an utter hissy fit about it, they’re probably not worth knowing. I once had to do a video tutorial for a uni assignment where I explained how I’d made some special effects in our group film project, and since it was a long video, I decided to just to several takes and then cut the best bits from each take and put them together. I was already close to deadline and starting to stress because I kept mucking up, and then during one of the takes that was turning out well, Rex started barking at something in the background, so in the middle of my speech about colour filters I yelled “Shut up, Rex, you bastard dog!” Somehow, that part of that take made it into the final video I submitted, and while I was lucky and only got a smart comment from the teacher as well as a few marks taken off (I think he found it funny more than anything), I spent ages worrying that I was going to fail the assignment or, worse, the subject. Of course, I can laugh about it now, though. Give Bobby a cuddle and try to relax, I’m sure everyone will be happy to just get the revised version of the book when it’s ready 
Rebecca J Fleming recently posted..Art Supply Testing: Watercolour Paints
Shah,
I agree with the comments above and the spirit of your post. One of the most beautiful things about the new digital world is our ability to fix things on the fly. I doubt anyone ever publishes a book without a snafu or two despite best efforts. When you find something wrong, you fix it, learn from it and keep on trucking.
Regards, SW
Oh Shah. That had to be mortifying. I’m so sorry you went through that. But sounds like a huge lessoned learned. Always try to give your MS at least a week (two is better) to rest before you do that final read through. Will you catch everything 100% of the time? Probably not. No one is perfect. But you’ll end up catching more that way. I also recommend printing a copy, in a different font and spacing than what you write in, and then reading that out loud. It takes a bit more time but if you missed anything, you’re bound to find it. Hang in there. At least your readers cared enough to point them out. Forget the reviews. Just move forward. We all make mistakes but as long as we learn from them, it was worth it. Good luck.
Wow. I truly feel bad for you. This is a huge fear that I have. My sister told me that she found one typo in my book, but when I looked at – well, I don’t know what she was talking about.
Hang in there. This too shall pass. Both you and your book will be better for it.
Been there. My father read my book and started pointed out errors that cps – betas etc hadn’t noticed. So I understand your horror and embarrassment. But like you said – we indies can’t afford the fees of an editor let alone more than one. You did the bbest your could and you corrected the error. That’s a professional.
Wow. It does seem that stepping back and letting it sit, despite the eagerness that would come by being ready is the way to go. I will keep that in mind. And I know that this situation is a bit more extreme, particularly with the chapter switch, but even the big publishing houses pushing out big names have errors that their professional editors miss…I have often seen typos, homonym issues and punctuation fails in books by Nora Roberts and other big names – those are bound to be missed here and there. I hope your readers appreciate the correction efforts and it doesn’t hurt in the end.
I have bought a trad pub book with a whole 50 pages missing !- fret not little one – your friend told you – you withdrew the product – you are working on putting it right – whoever carps and complains about you is a waste of space frankly – you have done all the right things. I feel desperatly for you because I know how you feel and you were so, and justifably, pleased with the book. But as the others say, with enough distance you will be able to dine out on the story:) honest you will.
As to smashwords if you download the free book it explains how to format for smashwords, if you follow each step it is possible to do it yourself without paying anyone else. When it goes through, you can then download it to check it’s correct.
Be kind to yourself things go wrong sometimes your honesty and speed in apologiesing to everyone, to rectifying everything shows you are not only a good person but a professional as well; all the best:)
alberta ross recently posted..Bring on the memories:alberta’s week
Ouch! I’ve found little typos in my books after publishing them, and each one makes me cringe! (Especially when they’re in my LightningSource POD books, which cost $40 to correct – those typos stay.) But I can’t imagine something as big as chapters being out of order – so sorry it happened to you! I’m blessed to have two wonderful editors, but even they miss the occasional little mistake. I’m also blessed to have a graphic design background, so I format for print first, and proofread that. I catch a lot more that way! Whatever you do, good luck – and looking forward to seeing you back here once you get it sorted out.
Jennette Marie Powell recently posted..Cleaning Up Our Act, and ROW80
Wow! Sorry to hear about your disaster! But once’s it’s fixed you can laugh about (well maybe in ten years time!) Have been thinking about using Scrivener myself because I still use Microsoft Word. Scrivener does look complicated though and I’m such a twit with technology. Think I’ll stick with Word for the foreseeable future.
mrsbongle recently posted..ROW80 Check-In 27/01/2013
I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened to me! I’ve learned–the hard way, mind–that the trick to perspective is to put it away for awhile and come back to it fresh, even before it goes to BETA readers. Don’t worry–you’ll get it!
Thanks for all your wonderful advice everyone. I’ve finished my read-through and feel better with it now, although I await Shan’s kind submissions. I’m hoping that hers match with mine, which will mean no more changes. But we’ll see. I really do hope that I’ll laugh about this one day, but I think that will entirely depend on the longer term success of the book. *Groan* X
Shah Wharton recently posted..#ROW80 Updates – CRISIS: Learn from my mistake!
I’m so sorry this happened to you. But as long as we are all human, things are going to happen. I know this was devastating to you, but you have to move on and not beat yourself up over it. I hope everything goes well for you here on out. How nice of Shan to proof for you.
Lauralynn Elliott recently posted..Sunday Update 1/27/13
Shah-
My dear, dear friend. I know I broke this news to you and I felt rotten doing it to you, but I’m glad I did so you could fix it. Your book is really good, I’m into it and I was so confused when I got to that part I knew something was wrong. That’s why I said something. That being said, it felt like sh** telling you. But you’ve got a brilliant book and typos aren’t going to make a difference. I can understand you wanting to get your book out as soon as it was ready, I’d have probably done the same thing.
Just don’t beat yourself up. I’m sure this has happened before and will happen again to other authors. So what, you had a little snafu. You fixed it, you let everyone know so you could fix their copy and that’s a lot more than some authors would do. Now, stop bleeding and get to work on the second book! You owned up to the mistake and that’s all that matters. Shake it off, hold your head up high and say, “I’m an author!”
You did it!
Heather
Heather @ Buried in Books recently posted..Shades of Earth by Beth Revis Review
Wow, superb weblog layout! How long have you ever been running a blog for? you made blogging look easy. The overall glance of your web site is wonderful, as neatly as the content material!
Sorry to hear about all your trials, Shah! I totally agree with you that you have to *wait* before giving a manuscript a final read-through. I’m actually a lot more radical than you — I try to let it sit for close to six months rather than just one.
You might also want to wait on paying someone to format for Smashwords again. There’s a new aggregating site which I mention in my own most recent blog post, Draft2Digital, and it allows you to upload an epub file. It doesn’t distribute to quite as many places as Smashwords, but it’s only in beta now, and they’re working on it. They already distribute to the most important, B&N, Kobo and iTunes. Check them out before you pay for Smashwords formatting.
Consider yourself hugged. Here’s hoping things start looking better for you soon!
Ruth Nestvold recently posted..Marketing demands muscle out the writing — yet again. Oh, and Iceland too.
I don’t have any grand advice, but when I love a story, I’ll forgive the author most anything. And it sounds like this is a very engaging story. I must check it out!
I don’t have any grand advice, but when I love a story, I’ll forgive the author most anything. And it sounds like this is a very engaging story. I must check it out!
Give yourself a break, Shah. It happens. Lots of writers end up having to revise their ebooks and upload and upload again until they’re happy. Sure Amanda Hocking says she got yelled at time and time again from fans over errors in her ebooks. Even the trad publishers seem to have trouble with formatting ebooks.
I know how stressful it can be, but the beauty of ebooks particularly when you have 100% control as a self publisher means you can sort it out promptly once a problem occurs. And you have. You’ve worked damn hard!!
I was in a nightmare situation myself last year with my novel. The ebooks weren’t formatted correctly when they came from the publisher and I was going back and forth to my publisher on a daily basis trying to get the correct version up on Amazon, as well as re-emailing bloggers with the correct copy and praying I didn’t see any more glaring errors. I lost countless hours sleep over it and was a physical wreck.
I think it’s important to just take a deep breath and like Shan Jeniah, said, treat yourself as you would anyone else! I’m sure you’d be understanding had this happened to another genuine author so give yourself the same kindness.
Emma Meade recently posted..7-7-7 Game
Oh thanks Emma. And everyone else. I’m thrilled by your understanding and love your comments. It’s been a truly awful week after a stressful holiday and three weeks of the flu. Timing is everything! Bleh. It’s now much better and after Shan hits with her recommendations I hope between us we’ll have caught all those bad-boys. Deadlines got me to publish on time. But instead of stressing over the deadlines, I should have reduced some steam and taken a breath before the final read-through and I will never forget that now. Although it still doesn’t completely explain why there were so many issues after a edit. Anyhoo.
Oh Ruth – I’ve signed up to receive an invite to the place you recommended. They take 15% but the service sounds great and very author-focussed and hey, otherwise FREE! Excellent. Still have to sort my pesky tax code though. *Groan*
Huge thanks everyone.
Shah Wharton recently posted..Write or Promote: The Inevitable Quandary of an Indie Author
You poor thing. I can see you have been beating yoruself up but it was not your fault. I have only used Scrivener once during a NaNo but stopped because a few thousand words disappeared and then reappeared after I had cried, sworn and gone generally frantic. Like you said, hooray for brave honest friends.
Thank you for your comment over at my place. I have decided to enter a short story competition that a friend told me about so I feel I have direction, even if it is a completely different direction from what I expected!
Have a great week and again thank you for your advice.
Em recently posted..ROW80 Check-in 27th January 2013
Excellent news. Glad I could help and hey, best of luck in that competition. That’s certainly one way o shake things up
Shah Wharton recently posted..Lesson’s Learned About #Editing & #Publishing #ROW80 Updates