If I had not made such monumental mistakes in the book before I sent it off, and only discovered them afterwards, I would not have had the opportunity to do what I just did. I changed a small part of the book upon making the corrections; and now, when I resubmit it, the first book will become a collector's item for sure. Let me explain.
The book "Of Kilted Pleasure" is a Highlander Romance novel. Being so, it had a sort of guideline set by other authors, so that my book, so as to keep up with said genre, would be romantic and even sexual at times. That being said, I think I may have gone a bit overboard with one particular scene at the beginning of the book. I wanted to catch the attention of the reader and keep their attention. I have to admit, I've always been able to write erotic passages, but that doesn't mean I need to. I guess I sort of got caught up in it, and I wrote it, then I published it. Once the book actually came out and I read it for the first time in print, I have to admit again, that it may have been stepping over the proverbial line...just a touch. (pun intended)
Basically, what happened was, I was given 20 free copies of the book, and while reading through it I was reading for my own personal pleasure, but realized I was actually not that happy that I had said what I said. Yes, people have sex all the time. Yes, what the characters were doing wasn't gross, or unnecessary. They were engaged with their passion, they were sharing it amongst themselves, but the problem is, I let the audience in on a moment that may have been better received as a fantasy and not as a fully detailed description of what exactly was taking place. There's something to be said about innuendo. I blew that concept out of the water.
So, and this is good. I realized upon reading the entire book, that there were 12 undeniable mistakes. Some I had made, some that were made by the publisher when I did not pay for their editing process. I don't want to get into that right now, but it actually worked in my favor, because I was able to correct a HUGE and unforgivable mistake that I had made; I had given the wrong name of a historical person who I said performed a duty when he had been dead about 98 years. My bad!! I was absolutely thrilled that I could make that correction for sure. I was also able to make the other corrections, and then today, before writing to the publisher to see what I need to do to resubmit the book, I decided to correct one of the more graphic sex passages.
The book has about three sexual passages I think, all within the context of being a fantasy of the heroin Aria. There are other sexual mentions, but they are not fantasies. Two are things that the bad guy says, and they are graphic, crude, and rude intentionally so that the reader realizes who they are reading about. They will not be pleased with his callous and disrespectful demeanor. Another deals with the natural order of things, and just is what it is. There was no need to change it in any way. We all come to that point in our lives about the same time the protagonist comes to that moment in the book. All is good. Still, there was the first encounter that needed a bit of taming. So I tamed it. It's still good. Don't get me wrong, it's just not in-your-face sexual.
To be honest, I do feel better about it. I can't stop the sales of the books right now, but when I am able to resubmit it I will. For now, the books with the mistakes and the more sexual wording will be collector's items, and believe me when I tell you I already get emails telling me I have random "ww" in places. Yeah, I know. I can't fix it, I can't help it. I am doing what I can, it is what it is, and no, I'm not an idiot. I just don't have a magic wand I can wave to change things. It doesn't work that way. You have to ask to resubmit, then stop the press on one book before you can submit the other. I'm doing that. I can't stop the global presses as easily, that will have to take place at the publisher level. I wish I had reread the book before submitting it, but then again, the first publisher I hired did that for me, and they intentionally left the mistakes in it. Yea!
Well, life is interesting, and we learn as we go. I'll read and re-read and then triple-read every book I submit from this point. I'm happy to learn, and happy to be a part of the changes and challenges of the business. If a misspelled word is the worst thing that happens to me in this life, I'm good.
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