Beyond Publishing

  I have been a professional editor for over seven years, and during that time, I have learned a lot about what to charge and what other editors charge. I did my research on Google, and I talked to fellow editors. But I always went a little low on my rates because I am a published author and I know how important it is to get your book published. In the first few years of my editing business, I was also working full-time. However, when I lost my job due to COVID, I was able to do editing full-time. And after a few years of helping writers become published authors by also offering formatting and self-publishing services, I decided to transition my editing company into a publishing company, Get It Write Publishing . I also still offer editing services on the side for those who want to self-publish and not use a publishing company. Needless to say, after a couple of years of starting my editing business, I raised my rates, but it wasn’t until recently that I didn’t realize that indus...

  Surprisingly, many people don’t know how to properly write dialogue. What I mean is quotation marks and punctuation . The main rule is that the end quotation mark is always placed after the punctuation. Example: “I love pizza,” she said. Now let’s talk about the punctuation. If you are saying he said/she said/they said or using a name (Melanie said), use a comma before the end quotation mark. And he/she/they is lowercase. Here are some examples: INCORRECT: “I love pizza . ” she said. INCORRECT: “I love pizza,” S he said. CORRECT: “I love pizza,” he said. CORRECT: “We love pizza,” they said. The same goes for question marks. If he/she/they are asking, he/she/they is lowercase. CORRECT: “Do you like pizza?” he asked. INCORRECT: “Do you like pizza?” H e asked. If you are introducing dialogue, use a comma. Example: She said, “I love pizza.” For more on punctuation with dialogue with examples, check out this article from the Author Learning Center . Happy...

  Colleen R. Williams is the author of The Quest for Truth: A Journey of Forgiveness , a recently released nonfiction book telling her story—a story of her journey through abandonment, abuse, awareness, courage, the search for truth, discovery, and forgiveness. Book Synopsis: Colleen Williams was abandoned by her mother at the age of nine. She spent many years in and out of foster homes, enduring all sorts of unspeakable abuse. Forty years later, Colleen makes the difficult decision to return to her native country of Trinidad, determined to find unanswered questions and uncover the truth behind her mother’s abandonment. Over the duration of an exhaustive search, Colleen visits one destination after another in search of answers that hopefully give her peace. Sadly, each stop along her journey leaves her even more lost than the one before. Still, Colleen is determined to discover the truth behind the events that happened so long ago. Her book takes you on this journey of fo...

  You have heard the saying that nobody is perfect. And I believe that to be true. I also don’t think there is one perfect book out there. Even if everything is spelled correctly and there are no grammatical errors, there might be a few spacing errors or sentences that should be a different paragraph, and so on. I’m not saying this to be discouraging; I am saying it to be encouraging. As an editor and a publisher, some of my clients have expressed concern over things like it looking like an extra space between words or they don’t believe a comma should be in a certain place. I want my clients to trust me, and I understand they want perfection or as close to perfection as they can get. Even books that are “best sellers,” you may find mistakes in them, whether it’s in editing or formatting. I am not saying mistakes are a good thing, but I am saying there’s nothing to fret over. You definitely don’t want to put a book out there that has not been properly edited and proofread, but ...

  The first draft of your book is finished. . . Now what? I highly suggest that before you send the book to an editor, you find a beta reader. Most beta readers don’t charge; you can find one through Instagram, Twitter (X), or Facebook. Or you can ask a trusted friend who is an avid reader and knows their stuff. It’s also okay to have more than one beta reader. What is a beta reader? A beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of writing who gives feedback to the author from the point of view of an average reader. This feedback can be used by the writer to fix remaining issues with  plot ,  pacing , and consistency. Normally, they understand that you’re not asking them to proofread the document. It is recommended that proofreading be done after beta reading and before the manuscript is sent to the editor. * Proofreading   involves finding and correcting errors and inconsistencies in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and formatting in the...

Our featured author is Jamie S. Farrington of upstate New York,  a lifelong resident of the beautiful Mohawk Valley. Jamie became a police officer at the age of 23, and, after serving ten years as a uniformed patrolman with several agencies, a chance encounter at a local watering hole led to his joining the world-famous United States Marshals Service. For over 24 years, Jamie helped track down and arrest the nation’s most violent fugitives, with many of his cases taking him all over the world. He began a new chapter in his life when he retired on New Year’s Eve 2022. Jamie currently lives in the foothills of the spectacular Adirondack Mountains with his wife, Sherry, and their two rescued fur babies, Brando, the lovable mixed-breed dog, and Skid Row, the high-energy Calico kitty, rescued from the abandoned home of an arrested crack dealer.  His first book is A Different Life: An Adirondack Justice Story, Book 1  (first edition by  Island Holiday Publishing ; second ...