Self-publishing and editing of manuscripts

I recently checked out a book from the library. This book, which shall remain unnamed, seemed to have helpful information that I could use. I am planning to get back into self-publishing next year and I am trying to read EVERYTHING I can get my hands on about self-publishing, book promotion and marketing. If I'm going to do this a second time, I want to make sure it gets done right! (The first time was, obviously, a failure.)

Anyway, I did feel that this book had helpful information concerning self-publishing, yet as I started to read it, something bugged me: The copious amount of mistakes. Periods were missing and wrong words were used ("he" instead of "the," "and" instead of "an," etc.). I assumed this was just a small thing and kept reading the book. After all, there's bound to be mistakes such as this in lots of other books, too. Some kind of mistake or another gets through the cracks. But more and more, these mistakes kept cropping up, and the more I saw wrong words being used, and even sentences missing words, my feelings went from irritation to anger.

That anger mostly stemmed from the fact that this particular book was self-published. The author identifies himself as an editor but, apparently, the manuscript was NOT professionally edited, because there are so many typographical and grammatical mistakes, that surely a professional editor would have caught them by now, 50 pages into the book. (Many, many book reviewers won't review a self-published book, for the very reason that many self-published books are poorly edited.)

I even found a mistake on the back cover of the book where I found, to my surprise, a blurb from Dan Poynter. (I wonder if he suggested the author hire an editor to correct the mistakes?)

I have to wonder if the author even bothered to have his manuscript professionally edited. Now because he identifies himself as an editor and publisher, I'm suspecting he may have not. I have seen SO MANY self-published authors claim things like "I have a background in journalism so I don't need an editor" or "I was a really good speller in high school so I can edit my book myself." (True!)

But the point is, it doesn't matter what kind of background you have. It doesn't matter if you were at the top of your class at J-school, if your English teacher always praised your writing in high school, and even if you yourself are an editor.

If you are going to self-publish your book, please, please, PLEASE get it professionally edited. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. It's extremely crucial a book is professionally edited before it goes into print. Because a poorly-edited book makes the author look bad (it looks like you don't really care if your book is in the best shape it can be) and it looks bad for any other books your self-publish later.

When I discussed this irritation with my sister, she thought maybe all of those mistakes were the editor's fault, and not the author's fault. But that's not true in the case of a self-published book. At minimum, the self-publishing author is also the book's editor. The author is the first step in determining if the manuscript is in publishable shape. And as a precaution, it's a good idea to get it professionally edited and proofread BEFORE publishing the book.

The self-publishing business leads many to assume that it's one person responsible for the writing and publication of the book. Wrong. It takes a team of people to make a self-published book work -- a team that includes a typesetter, book cover designer, illustrator in some cases and, yes, even an editor. An editor who is NOT the author.

I have worn many hats as a writer, and one of those hats was as editor. But even I don't trust myself with my own writing. I know an editor should look it over first. There's just always something that can be caught and corrected. So a professional editor should be enlisted to look over the manuscript to make sure it's up to snuff.

I would like to suggest that every other self-publishing author out there should do the same.