I am pleased to announce the e-publishing of my new
book Operation Payback, Drugs, Guns and Poli-tricks. Rather than go the
conventional route of hard copy publishing as I did with Smuggler’s Blues I
have decided to go with the electronic medium this time. It will be an
interesting experiment however it turns out. I designed the cover myself with
the help of a professional artist. I edited the book myself with the help of my
wife who is a professional teacher. I wrote the book over several years having
had to put it aside from time to time while I earned a real living. (Except for
a few lucky and talented authors most do not make enough royalties from their
writing to pay the rent on a dog house.) I foresee a possible problem in
e-publishing as the market is opened up to more and more authors. The problem
lies in the lack of professional support for these new authors - such as
editing. It is almost impossible for an author to perfectly edit and correct
his own works. A second set of eyes is needed to see every flaw. After writing
two hundred and fifty thousand words and repeating the process over and over
again an author’s mind tends to fill in the gaps when words are missing or
misspelled. This interesting phenomenon is explained by deliberately removing
certain letters from a sentence. The readers mind merely fills them in. Try
reading this line for example.
“I wsh I ws abl to fnd my slppers.”
Even though most of the vowels are missing in that sentence the
average mind will be able to read it quite easily. The internet and I-phones
are creating new grammar rules with acronyms and deliberately misspelled words
that shorten the exercise of communicating electronically. Most young people
accept the new word spellings on their I-phones although I am certain that a
great many readers will be put off by spelling and grammar errors in their
e-published books and novels. Apart from
that one negative most other comparisons between conventional and e-publishing
are very positive for the electronic format. Many fresh stories will be available to the public through
e-publishing. A vast number of those stories would never see the light of day
if trusted to the opinion on a conventional book publisher. I encourage you to
download and read Operation Payback which provides an escapist portal to
several hours of excitement and adventure. When you have finished the book add your
comments to the editor’s columns so that other people might benefit from your
experience.
Jay Carter Brown
