So, here I am writing about how I loved using Grammarly for the editing of my book, and I do, but when I just now asked it to rewrite what I had written for the blog it all but completely changed what I said. Yeah, you really have to watch the program to make sure it is writing what you want it to. You could end up with someone else's words other than your own.
I am 99% finished with "1211". I have to go through it one more time and put all the indentions that Grammarly took out. They want the book to be more "traditional," and I still want my indentions. I've looked it up, and both are acceptable. If it's good enough for James Patterson, it's good enough for me.
The heavy hitters tend to use only 3 spaces for an indention, they publish their books in size 11 font, and they have different preferences for their numbers. To each their own. I still can't figure out how to start the numbers in the first chapter, but if that's my biggest problem, I think I'll survive. I like size 12 points. I'm not saying it's a deal breaker, but it is sort of a deal breaker for me. I like my Kindle because I can change the font. I can't hardly read books these days, even with my readers. I know I'm getting older, but I pay for a book, so I want to be able to read it.
I went through the book chapter by chapter today and uploaded it through Grammarly to do the editing. I really had to watch the program, like I said, because the AI wants to write in a much more "white paper" style even when you set the settings to casual speech and general wording for an informal audience. I really am trying (purposely) to be relaxed. It's a novel, not a journal article.
Then, after I did that, I had to put it down for the day. I'll go through it tomorrow to do the spacing. Because I took out the spaces between dialogue, I lost about 11-14 pages. I reduced the book from 390 to about 365 because I pulled the margins out to the same degree that the professionals (heavy hitters) do as well. I am trying to mimic them as closely as possible so my books won't be made fun of on the literary school yards.
I am glad I redid the cover because there was a HUGE mistake on the back cover. I had two words reversed; instead of saying "his own neighborhood" it read, "own his neighborhood". Yeah, I'm the dork who didn't see it for three weeks. I have been staring at that cover for that long. Geez!! So the new cover is much like the other, but I did add the words "A Nick Posh Thriller" on the front of it. I didn't do that on the first cover, and I forgot it on "Pinball" as well. I may redo it, but I don't think I will. I can live with it.
My book should be out on Tuesday, 2/20/24, at Amazon, and anyone can order them online at Barnes & Noble as soon as I fill out the forms to have that a reality. I'm doing that tomorrow, as a matter of fact. Fun times. So, when you get my books, and you love them, please, please give me a good review on Amazon, EVEN if you find errors, please. Even the Perry Mason books I'm reading have errors, so yeah, I'm in GREAT company!
Have fun reading!
Photo Credit: Me
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