Finishing Touches!

I've just finished editing this little gem from a wonderful lady, Tessa Mauro.

Tessa Mauro is the founder of her team, The Paranormal Prowlers, which is based in Colorado. While out of her home state, she conducts solo investigations. Tessa has been a fan and a believer of the Paranormal since childhood and has been investigating it for the past several years.

Aside from being a paranormal investigator, Tessa has her own paranormal talk show Friday nights on worldwide radio, under the radio personality, DJ Prowla. Tessa spends her time between her two homes, in Colorado with her family and in North Carolina with her boyfriend and their two pets, Midnight the dog and Buttercup the cat.

Amazon Book link

If you love tales of the paranormal, this book is for you.

Join paranormal investigator Tessa Mauro on this odd and spooky ghost tour as she shares and talks about some of her investigations. Read the results her team, The Paranormal Prowlers, have collected throughout several years of conducting investigations at paranormal hotspots scattered around the United States.

The Paranormal Prowlers conduct investigations with respect and do not use provocation such as you often see on TV shows.

Almost never … the one time that Tessa provoked at her favorite location—Tombstone—she ended up with an horrific attachment that stayed with her for over a month, changing her life forever.

Sit down, leave a light on and prepare to enjoy the delicious thrills that this book delivers.

Editing for Indies

When you start out writing you have the world at your fingertips. You, and you alone, decide what happens in your world and then you finish your book.

What comes next?

Your masterpiece is ready to face the world. Where do you begin? You do a little research and the whole process starts to snowball.

• Do I need an editor?
• What's a beta-reader?
• Who will proofread my book?
• How do I layout the book?
• Are the digital and paperback formats the same?
• Where can I find artwork or photographs for my book cover?
• Who will do my book cover for me?
• Where do I sell my book?
• What's a blurb?
• How do I even begin to market my book?

Answers

The answers to all these (and many more!) questions are to be found online. All the major online booksellers have excellent help pages and if you are prepared to wade through these, you will be able to get your masterpiece into your hands without having to spend a lot of money.

Marketing

After you have uploaded your masterpiece, you will most likely sit and watch the sales graphs - or as many new indie authors call them, the no-sales graphs - hoping that your book will suddenly take off and hit the bestseller lists.

What do you have to do to get the money to start rolling in?

• Increase your book's visibility - social media, blogs, advertising
• Tweak your book description - identify your readers and make sure your description fulfils their needs
• Make sure your book cover is the best it can be
• Research your tags to gain maximum exposure
• Ensure that your book is in an appropriate category and sub-category
• Ask for reviews

There are many other ways to help kick-start your book sales. Research - and lots of it - will help you get your marketing campaign up and running.

Keep up the marketing! There is so much competition out there that it is essential to keep coming up with fresh ideas.

It is possible to go it alone and if you are willing to put in the effort it can prove rewarding.

However,

If you find the process overwhelming and would like some help and advice drop me an email and I will be happy to talk to you about ways I can help - without breaking the bank!

Kim O'Shea

info@kimoshea.com

Don't murder your prose!

As authors we aim to write great content that is easy to understand, clear, and grabs and holds attention. Sometimes our language lets us down and instead of exciting, attention-grabbing words, we use plain, boring and uninteresting ones - simply because we are used to using them.

Bad language

The main language killers are those modifying words: adverbs and adjectives. Instead of improving our writing, they can deaden it and make it boring and dull.

He ran quickly down the hill.

Ok, so he ran quickly down the hill. Right.
But, what if:

He raced down the hill.
or
He sped down the hill.

Now, we can feel the action.

How about . . . ?

Peter looked at her lovingly.

Sounds ok? He looked at her lovingly. Boring!

What if:

Peter gazed into her eyes.
or
Peter reached for her hand as he looked at her.

Now we can see his love for her without being told. Much more romantic!

The little word very can cause problems too.

Mary was very tired.
But, what if, Mary was exhausted? Or Mary was weary.

The elephant was very big.
Or, was the elephant huge, enormous, massive?

Always check your writing for words such as these. A simple change is all it takes. It can make your readers want to turn the pages, want to find out what's coming next and want to read your next book.

A trifling change can make an enormous difference!

For a free quote for editing or proofreading contact me info@kimoshea.com

Common Errors

There are many common errors to watch out for when editing or proofreading. The following list covers four of them;

• Transposition
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Wrong meaning

Transposition

This happens when letters are transposed or swapped around in a word;

• from / form
• cat / act
• Wedensday / Wednesday
• public / pulbic

The first two errors can only be found through careful reading of the document as the incorrect versions are still words and will pass the spell checker.

The last two mistakes are easier to find as any good spell checker will immediately pick them up.

Grammar

These are too numerous to mention here in detail, however, four of the most common problems are;

• their, there, they're
• its, it's
• plurals of nouns (apostrophes are for the possessive case NOT plurals)
• passive voice.

For the correct use of the first two sets of items, consult a grammar book or online resource.

Plurals of most nouns are formed by adding s NOT 's.

The passive voice should be used sparingly - it does have its uses.

Passive - 'The boy was bitten by the dog, Active - ' 'The dog bit the boy.'

The active voice can

• remove doubt
• move the action along
• create tension
• keep the reader engaged.

Spelling

There are always words that catch us out. Make a list of the words you find you have trouble with, time and again.

• separate / seperate
• millennium / milennium
• licence / license
• current / currant

The spell checker will catch the first two but the second two are spelled correctly but may not be what is meant - a current bun means a bun that is fresh or up to date, while a currant report means a report on a currant!

Wrong meaning

If you are in doubt, check the definition!

• illusion / allusion
• effect / affect
• ingenuous / ingenious
• uninterested / disinterested

There are many words similar to these. Make lists of the ones that give you trouble.

Editing and proofreading are skills that can be learned but if you don't have the time, give me an email for a free quote info@kimoshea.com

Indie Authors - Do you want to sell more books?

For as long as I can remember I have been a voracious reader. I love reading and have been known to read the back of a packet of cereal.

As an author myself, I know the work that goes into your 'baby'. Unfortunately, there is one thing that will ruin my enjoyment and that is a badly edited book.

Poor grammar, misspelled words, bad formatting and incorrect facts will guarantee that I will not leave a favourable review. That doesn't mean that I will leave a bad review, just that I would prefer not to bother at all just like the author didn't bother to make sure that the book was the best it could be.

If I come across a poorly edited book, I never read anything else by that author.

I have read many books with wonderful storylines and great characters but because of the errors and formatting issues, I have been very disappointed and would certainly never recommend them to my friends.

We all make mistakes. Typos and small errors slip through. These are forgivable and, while jarring, do not ruin the whole book. What I am talking about are the books that are obviously labours of love but, at the last hurdle, are consigned to the 'do not read' file.

Why?

Nobody wants to struggle through a badly written book - no matter how great the idea - books like these will never gain a following for their authors and will never reach their full potential or achieve solid sales.

How to write books that sell

• Decide on your genre
• Research
• Write
• Rewrite
• Edit
• Rewrite
• Proofread
• Publish

Simple!

While in reality nothing is ever that simple, it is true that skipping the editing and proofreading stages will have a detrimental effect on your sales.

Become a bestselling author

Write the best book you can.

Polish the book until it is perfect.

Put your marketing in place.

Publish and watch your five-star reviews come in and your sales start to rise.

Kick-start your sales! contact me info@kimoshea.com for a free quote.

The Biggest Turn-Off

With companies and businesses turning away from traditional advertising and turning towards social media advertising, the risk of errors and mistakes being published increases each day.

Scan through your social media feeds. There is a high chance of you noticing at least one (and sometimes far more than one) mistake in an otherwise excellent advertising campaign.

Poor spelling, wrong punctuation and incorrectly worded copy all serve to damage the image of the brand in question.

Does it matter?

Yes! Potential clients need to trust businesses before they will commit to an order. Even small errors can make a client wonder just how professional the people behind the business actually are.

Competition means that there is always another company or business waiting in the wings to swoop in and grab that potential client.

Don't lose clients through something as simple as a spelling error!

Contact me today for a free quote. Email info@kimoshea.com

Helping Businesses One Word at a Time

Whe Needs Proofreading?

I've heard people say that only serious writers need proofreaders. Even if that were true, what makes a serious writer?

In the media, the word writer often conjures an image of a solitary figure bent over a laptop in a lonely upstairs room, looking out over the countryside as they wrestle with the next word.

In reality, writing has come a long way and a lot of writers do not consider themselves to be writers!

There are so many types of writing!

• books
• magazines
• journals
• reports
• letters
• emails
• proposals
• presentations
• blog posts
• advertisements
• signage
• social media posts

This list goes on.

For any business to be professional, all of these communications need to be checked carefully. A simple error in a report can drastically change the whole focus of it or an incorrectly spelled word in a sign can be a source of embarrassment.

While it is not always essential for every piece of writing to be checked, good business practice dictates that care should be taken over every communication and this is where proofreading can be so important.

So if you think you don't need a proofreader, think again! It's your business, so always put your best foot forward!

For a quote, contact me: info@kimoshea.com