Dear Readers,
Posted
As you may have read on the Holly Bell Facebook page, the manuscript for, Book 8, the new sequel in the Amanda Cadabra series has now gone to our glorious professional editor Kim Brockway. So what next for you, precious readers? Well, it all depends.
The Twain
If you are in the VIP beta readers group, and I’ll tell you how you can become a member in a moment, then you will be receiving a personal email from me regarding the book. If you are an equally esteemed non-member, then this is what you can expect over the coming weeks.
The Line-up
First, there will be the Title Reveal (momentous orchestral music). Then there will follow a partial cover reveal. Hot on its heels comes the full cover reveal. But that’s not all. The trailer video will be placed here for your delectation, the first chapter, and there may even be (can’t promise) a YouTube with pretty pictures and me reading the aforementioned chapter. There will also be the release date and then … the Launch Day post and video. The paperback may come out at the same time as the ebook or a bit later. I’ll let you know, when I know.
VIPs?
‘So what’s this VIP group all about then?’ I hear you ask. Well, it is a group of readers who beta-read the manuscript once it’s gone off to the editor. Just to be clear, it is not an Advance Readers Copy. No, because it isn’t ready for publication. The VIPs help with the polishing stage. They are, in a sense, volunteer sub-editors who read the book in order to give me feedback. That’s the important bit: giving feedback.
Quantity and Quality
How much feedback do you have to give? It can be one line, a sentence like (and this is my personal favourite) ‘Loved it!’ (‘Brilliant’ and equivalents are also joyfully welcomed, but be honest, please), or it can be a paragraph of comments. Many of the VIPs contribute a list of typos, spelling and grammar issues that have cunningly slipped under the radar of my five editing passes; some do all of the above (much love here for you-know-who-you-are).
If you are considering a VIP role, there is one other factor to consider. I will need the feedback as soon as possible. It will be about 10-14 days, most likely, before I need to put in the final amendments, but I’ll let you know nearer the time. And there’s that word again: ‘time’, as in ‘sensitive’.
The Hows
The manuscript will be delivered to you in various formats: .mobi, .epub, Word document, and .PDF. You can give the feedback in the body of an email, as a text or Word doc, as a screenshot, a photo, or … or …. well, please feel free to suggest it, if you need to send it by some other means.
If you’re keen to enter the VIP Lounge (not that much lounging involved, alas), then you can either sign up here or drop me a line. You know how much I love that. Better still, both would be splendid.
My To-Do List
First, before I can ship to the VIPs, I need to create the front and back matter. What’s that? Those are the extra pages before and after the story. For example, the copyright notice (easy bit: I don’t even have to change the date, as the last book came out this spring), the maps and plans, dedication and the table of contents. That lot goes at the front, and at the back, I get the chance to say my thankyous to everyone who has contributed, as well as to you, dear readers. There are also the Questions for Bookclubs and the British English to American English glossary. Among other things. All of this, as you can imagine, takes a few days, so you have time to decide, in case you would like to join the VIPs.
That’s all for now. As you can see, I have my fun cut out for me, but I wanted to give you the latest news first, so that you’re in the loop. Above all, I am confident that you will have a brand new cozy mystery to cuddle up with in the cooler autumn (or spring, depending) months. Back soon.
Happy reading,
Holly
PS If you want to start the series now:
Available on Amazon
Paperback, Kindle
and Large Print
Dear Readers,
A Choice of Four Reactions
What is your reaction when you see a misspelling or an correct use of grammar? I did a poll on Twitter. Half said they were mildly annoyed, a quarter were extremely irritated, a quarter felt disturbed. No one picked the ‘It doesn’t bother me’ option.
What sort of bugbears are we talking about here? Common culprits are: ‘They’re is’ ‘Me, two’, ‘Come over hear’. Words that evade spell-checkers. How does it feel, just reading those? The chances are that if you a keen reader, it does not improve your mood. Why?
Order! Order!
Here’s my theory. Chaos. Not ‘chaos theory’ but simply that we enjoy order. It’s calming. Agreed spelling and
grammar is order: this is what we do, this is how we do it.
We are creatures who have relied on the recognition of patterns for our survival. When something deviates, it could indicate danger. The apple that is brown instead of green, the cheese that has blue fur on it, the smell that is too pungent, too sweet, the snap of the twig that breaks the silence. We recognise the thing that doesn’t fit, and it raises the alarm.
In the case of correct usage of language, it should raise a red flag in certain circumstances. If you’re reading the website or an email from someone that you’re thinking of employing, for example, the standard of communication can indicate that they are competent and attend to detail. (However, I must admit that I have tapped out emails in haste and after hitting the send button have spotted a mistake.)
Indignation
Mistakes may be pardonable in emails. However, if one of these spelling transgressions appears in a novel or a work of non-fiction, it disturbs the flow of our concentration, our engagement with the narrative. The more we have paid for the book, the more we feel entitled to receive text that is expertly edited. That is a reasonable expectation.
Who?
Here’s the thing: it doesn’t consistently annoy you, or not always to the same degree. ‘Yes, it does,’ you insist. Let’s do an experiment. Don’t you love those?
You get a letter from the Tax Office. It tells you have supplied incomplete information. The writer tells you:
‘Fill in and return in the next too days or you may face prosecution.’
Now you’re annoyed, right? If these people are going to make demands and induce stress, the very least they can do is spell correctly!
Now let’s try this.
You are in your garden. The family living next door are delightful people, and you have become good friends with
them all. Suddenly their little girl pops her head over the fence, calls ‘hello’, and waves a piece of paper.
‘I wrote this for you!’ she says with glee.
She passes it to you, and there is a page of her 6-year-old handwriting, at all angles and surrounded by colourful doodles. You begin to read. It is entitled …
My First Storey
It jumps out at you, doesn’t it? But are you annoyed? No. She’s 6 years old, and this is her present to you.Not so sure that misspelling should be a capital crime now? Let’s do one more experiment.
Try This
Your current favourite author has just published her 9th book in the series that has you riveted. She seems, from interviews and social media, to be a charming lady too. You snuggle up, get cozy, coffee steaming on the table beside you, to take advantage of two solid hours of bliss.
However, for one reason or another, she brought this book out in a hurry. There in chapter three, is …(gasp) ‘She could not here what he said’. Oh dear. In chapter 5 is another, and throughout the book, there are a dozen such errors. Do you stop reading at any point? Unlikely.
Later you take up a novel that has been recommended by someone you actually don’t like all that much. Nevertheless, it sounds vaguely interesting. Hm. You begin to read … chapter 2 … typo … chapter 3 …. misuse of grammar and a missing word. By the mistake in chapter 5 …? Yes, you probably throw in the towel, thinking, I didn’t really want to read it in the first place.
Who’s In The Driving Seat?
Now we’ve established that our reaction depends on the circumstances. Good. Or is it? Isn’t the problem that we are allowing ourselves to be controlled emotionally by circumstances that we have chosen to engage 
with? What are the alternative reactions that could leave us less ruffled?
How about this: congratulate yourself on knowing how to spell and use grammar correctly, that the error has been spotted by your informed eagle eye, even allow the flash on indignation that you can’t get a refund and maybe … let it go. Does it really matter? Is it worth dwelling on?
Reading any book for the first time is to some extent a gamble: if we lose, we get minutes or hours wasted and disappointment. However, most of the time, we win; win entertainment, a roller coaster ride, the joy of the characters’ journey, the elation of the ending. It’s worth the throw of the dice, isn’t it?
If you find a favourite author who has let something slip in their book, there is one more thing you can do that will definitely make you feel good: drop them a line and tell them. I have a team of beta readers who do just this for me, and they are gold! And please, if you see me using ‘here’ it should say ‘hear’ or a trespass of that nature in something I have written, do, please tell me. I will feel nothing but appreciation.
But …
However, what about when we don’t agree on the rules? What then? More about that next week …
Book 5 of the Amanda Cadabra British humorous cozy mystery series continues to grow. Back soon with more thoughts to entertain you.
Happy Valentine’s Month,
Holly
PS If you want to start the series:
Available
on
Amazon
