Working with a Copy Editor

We are getting really close to launch day and I would love for you to join my LAUNCH CREW. If you are interested, I am looking for the first 50 people that want to be a part of helping make this book launch a success! Reply to this email if you want to get in! And even if that isn’t for you, thanks again for reading!

🗓️ 41 Days Until Publish

As I mentioned in my last email, I have had some life changes happen in the last month. I left my job and am currently looking for a new full time gig. However, the amount of freelance opportunities that have come in have been a little overwhelming. So that work coupled with a lot of interviews AND trying to finish this book is keeping me pretty busy. Regardless, I have some fun updates on the book to share today! So let’s get into it.

This week I got my first round of edits back from my copy editor. If you are wondering what a copy editor does, it isn’t just check punctuation or grammar. More about that later, but first I want to tell you about my copy editor, Jessica Sly.

I met Jess when she joined my team as a copy editor at my previous job. While she is a copy editor by day, she is an accomplished author by night. Last year she published her first book, The Promise of Deception, and this month she published the second in the trilogy, The Art of Misdirection. You should definitely pick these up and sign up for her newsletter. She is EXTREMELY talented. Her third book in this series is already with her publisher. She is the real deal so when she said she would copy edit my book, I was over the moon.

Now, there were definitely some nerves on my side when I sent it off to her. Any time you are sharing something you created with someone else you are always a little worried that they might think your baby is ugly. And in this case, I was literally asking her to find things that needed to change. Not just grammar and punctuation. I needed her to find the things that didn’t make sense. Find the things that I could cut. Because copy editors are not just proofreaders. They are there to help you make the story better. They put themselves in the shoes of the reader and help clarify the story. And they are able to give a perspective that an author can’t see because they are too deep into it. I believe that they are essential to creating a great story!

When she had finished we met to discuss her feedback and the call went better than I could have expected. It was so fun to talk to someone who had read my entire work and cared enough to help me make it better. She was so complimentary and had amazing suggestions to make it shorter, clearer and more fun. We even both came to the realization on the call that I needed another illustration so the BIG REVEAL would appear on a page turn. It was amazing!

So I guess that puts me in the home stretch. I feel really good about where I am. I need to buckle down, finish the cover, finalize the illustrations and upload it to the printers! It’s starting to feel like this is actually gonna happen.

Ok. That’s all for now. Next email will be all about the cover. Coming your way soon.

Thanks again for reading!
Kacy

PS. Also, a good buddy of mine just published his first Children’s book! The title is Mabel the Chameleon and it is awesome. It is such a good story with a great message. And the illustrations are so beautiful. You should pick one up!