Years of struggling with a way to present the narrative. Years of starts and stops and rewrites. Months of editing and proofing. Enfolding the fully designed text inside a stunning cover. Then the final decision, like that moment of stepping off the high dive board, pressing “publish!
Then a flurry of amateur marketing. Books begin to arrive in the hands of generous and excited buyers. Meanwhile, the shipment of 20 books to the author drags on. It takes much longer to print and ship one book than it does to print and ship 20 books. The excitement is overwhelming.
At last, the shipment arrives. Eagerly yanking out a book to peruse . . . ack! An error. Another error! OMG, two errors on one page!! Twenty errors on the first 10 pages!! How does this happen? (I know very well how this happens and I should have known enough to set everything aside for a month and do one more read through before hitting the publish button. But anticipation and a self-made deadline over rode my better judgement.) 
This is an apology to all of you who so faithfully and kindly purchased an early version of My Life With and Enigma. I’m red-faced, horrified, embarrassed, and ashamed that you ended up with such a flawed piece of crap. The errors have been fixed. A new, improved product is available.
Rangewriter 
omg, that photo …. I thought you had a copy editor, or are these some other kind of error? It’s good, though, that in the modern era you can actually correct it before more copies go out the door. In the old days, you’d have to eat the cost of all 20,000 or more copies and reprint (“pulp it” is the term). BTW, I enjoy this ride on the writer rollercoaster.
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I did have a copy editor and she did catch a lot of errors that had slipped past my weary eyes. She missed these. Actually, the first 20 were the worst. There weren’t very many after I got through that section. However, there were a lot of sans serif apostrophes and quotation marks in serif text. I think this is a MS Word software glitch. I’ve encountered it before, but in my own text, I failed to notice it–till I saw it in print.
In the old days, I’d never publish a book. I wouldn’t even consider it. I am in awe of the old masters who wrote out their ms in long hand with a fountain pen! And there’s no way I could ever have afforded to order a print run of over 1,000 books. I was scraping the barrel to pay for the ISBN, copyright, and order my 20 copies. I have no illusions about ever recouping those costs, let alone the costs of the editor, proofreader, and cover designer. But I’m not in it for the money.
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Bah humbug! Not to fret. We ♥️ the book (and the overly concerned author).
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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Ah, yes. And here I thought you were ALWAYS PERFECT, Rangewriter! Welcome to the club.
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Moi? Perfect? I’ve never belonged to that club!
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Linda – You are much forgiven!
And in my case, on those 10 pages you mentioned, I only found a couple minor things, and they didn’t for half a second interrupt or detract from my reading or from the story itself. I recall finding “errors” in other books and thinking “well, s/he’s human after all.”
Luv and hugs, Bob
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You are too kind, Robert. Thank you. And it was your sage words regarding the error ratio, btw, in case you may have forgotten. ;-}
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We will survive
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Thank you Jane, but will I? 😉
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Linda, I fully understand Did you provide a link as to how to buy a copy? Thanks, Keith
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Keith, the title of the book in the text is a link. That should take you to Amazon & B&N. Currently, Amazon is the only option available for the paperback version.
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It’s a great book, honest and authentic, and I just couldn’t put it down even though I’d read so many excerpts already. Glad you caught the typos, and have swept them all away! They really didn’t bother me – it’s so rare nowadays to read anything that doesn’t have typos in! Well done!
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I ordered the Nook version yesterday!! Can’t wait to start reading it!!
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Oh good! I don’t have a Nook so I’m concerned about how it looks on the device. Let me know if there are issues, weird typography or distracting chapter heads, pictures not loading, or anything, okay?
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Even the Lone Ranger wasn’t perfect. He required lots of behind the scenes assists to keep his clothes spotless, and to fight without his hat ever coming off. You’ll be a ranger of that ilk, I’m sure, with the best behind the scenes assists. 🙂
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Well, I need all the assistance I can get.
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Oh a few errors don’t overshadow your excellent writing in the least. When I ordered Amazon noted ‘only 1 left’ … so I’m hoping I got the first printing and counting on it being worth a lot of money when it becomes a classic! 😀 I started it yesterday and am really enjoying it. I am a slow reader and have a big show coming up so you need to be patient with me!
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There are several places to consider presenting your book for review; this one looks interesting. In the past few days I was looking at a link about art ops and think there were some about literature. Will try to see if they’re anywhere in the ‘history’ queue and find them. For now, start here – what can it hurt and it might help!
https://bookmunch.wordpress.com
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Thank you, thank you, Lisa! I just contacted bookmunch to see what it would take to get them fired up about reviewing Enigma. Hugs, kisses, and loves from the north country!
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I know that feeling very well. It’s almost impossible to avoid. But yes, leaving a project like a book for a time for a last read through, best done by somebody else, does make a difference. That said, I agree with Denise. Most people are lenient for a personal and strong project like this. Your honest and authentic investment in the book, as catterel states, more than make up for those mistakes.
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Those are kind words, Otto. I appreciate you.
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Dear Linda,
I just finished reading your book and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. I am so impressed with your writing and ability to piece this wonderful story together! What interesting lives you and your mother have lived. My slow reading allowed me to savor every page. What a wonderful tribute to your very unique mother!
Most Sincerely,
Denise
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Sorry for not responding to your kind note sooner. I’ve been on the run…in a good way. No complaints. Thank you so much for your kind, positive feedback! 💐
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