Better late than never, it dawned on me that I could export my Open Office manuscript as a PDF and view it on my Kindle app, where it feels much more like a real book.
Scanning it in this way has let me uncover so many glitches and blemishes (technical AND creative) that I completely missed looking at the little window in my word processor.
I'll be doing a lot of touch ups over the weekend. I'm hopeful that the stuff I upload after the touch-up process will be much easier to read. At least formatically. I can't comment on the artistic merit of the tale. :-)
I also broke things up into chapters and added chapter titles. OK, more like brief, snarky chapter comments.
I'll post more of the slightly more polished story over the weekend. And hold my breath.
K
Comments
I've found...
what works for me in order to proofread, is to change the medium. Do whatever I can to make the work seem somewhat less familiar.
Sounds like that worked really well for you! I'll have to try it. Normally, I print out my work, curl up in a chair with the red pen and start slashing.
~And so it goes...
I've had the same experience.
Changing the medium, from word processor to something - anything - different makes it easier to spot those pesky mistakes.
Unfortunately I haven't found an easy way to easily find the matching sentence in the word processor document. Going back and forth, hunting and searching, seems so tedious. Do you have any tips on managing the revision process using two formats?
One can highlight corrections, even rewrite as a note, on Kindle
...then search for a few words of the text, which can be exported as a highlight.
http://www.norbauer.com/bookcision/
which makes it almost trivial to cut and paste both search phrases and corrections.
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
My usual method ...
... is to proofread using my old Word 97 with a .rtf file. I use the 'highlight changes' facility so the writer can see what I've done in bright read and either accept or reject them. I do it all on my desk top PC because I like having a full-size keyboard and a 19" screen.
It works for me and my 'clients' so far :) In any case I have no other devices to use. My mobile just makes and receives calls and texts, though there is an FM radio too :)
Robi
Calibre
Another good tool, for eBook publishers is Calibre. It's a free eBook reader for Windows based machines. It also converts files. By saving your file as a web page, it can be loaded into Calibre and converted to several different eBook formats, including Mobi and ePub. You can use Calibre to read it or side load it onto your device.
You're right, it does give a really different aspect to proofing a story. That and it's quite a kick to see what it'll look like as the finished product. You can even add the book cover as well.
I did this for a friend of mine and the result was impressive in both what the process taught us about the errors in the book, and the look and feel of the finished process. We found not only typos, but errors in formatting.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Calibre is available on multiple platforms...
...just so we know.
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
The easiest way to proofread....
Is to guilt someone else into doing it.
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If you appreciate my tales, please consider supporting me on Patreon so that I may continue:
https://www.patreon.com/Nagrij
But...
It doesn't help you improve your skills any... :)
~And so it goes...
Scrivener
I usually use Scrivener on my major writing projects these days.
Scrivener (and probably most other major writing tools) can export to ebook format. So, you can actually go one better than a PDF, and actually have a real "ebook" to look at if you like.
Also, Scrivener is quite affordable (at least in my opinion). The demo version is free, and offers a 30 day trial period. And ... that's 30 days of actual use, not 30 calendar days from the day you first launch the demo, so it's worth giving it a look (again, in my opinion).
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
Woo-Hoo!
Yay for more Scrivener fans!!!
I love my Scrivener!
~And so it goes...
Thanks for the tip.
I will have to try Scrivener. I also downloaded Calibre, which was mentioned earlier.
Something tells me I won't be seeing too much sunshine this weekend. ;-)
Thanks to all for the helpful advice.
K.
Text to Speech
Another thing you might use to help you proof a document is the operating system's Text to Speech function. If you convert to PDF and load it on a Kindle, you can try the Text to Speech on the reader to help catch run-on or oddly worded sentences.
Unexpected results
Your idea struck me as brilliant. Until I tried it on my Kindle.
I couldn't shake the feeling that Stephen Hawking was reading me a somewhat randy bedtime story.
...sigh...
Next time I'll ask Siri to read to me.
;-) K
Just how I proof - -Skip if you don't need to know
I write in Word; I've lived in it so long that I don't have to think about it. After I finish a story or book, I let it lie fallow for at least a few weeks while I go on to other things. When I proof, I want the story to be in that middle ground between 'It's All So New And Fresh', and 'I Know What Was Supposed To Happen Here'. I'm not talking about proofing for grammar, tense, etc.--those goofs can be fixed anytime. I'm talking about flow of narrative, truth in character, and essential plot points. Right after finishing, I'm too close to the story.
It's rather like buttoning a blouse; it's only stepping back and seeing the whole in the mirror that I see the missed buttonhole, even though while I was buttoning I'd thought I'd gotten them all done right!
I use a free EPUB converter by Aspose, but there are many to use, some mentioned above. I have Calibre as well, but for proofing I export the EPUB to my iPad (basically mail it to myself) and I've got the book-sized screen, with crisp black and bright white (I have a Kindle Paperwhite and want to sue them for misrepresentation--Kindle PaperGray is more like it). I try to match my formatting to the commercial books I've downloaded, Stephen King, Jodi Picoult, whoever; I want mine to display just like a major New York publisher's would.
Ideally, I do my proofing by reading until something needs fixing, and have my laptop there to do it instantly (on a copy of the file, of course; I keep multiple safeties along the way). When I'm away from my laptop, I continue to read and make my notes in the iPad, then get home with the laptop, go to Notes on the iPad and revise what's needed.
I also export a MOBI to see how things are on my Kindle, but I dislike the environment so much that it's only a look-see. I have Kindle for iPad and actually read on that because of the true white and sharper black.
By the way: To all authors publishing on KDP ...
I can't stress enough that if you have any kind of odd formatting, like narrowing the line width to reproduce a mailed letter's contents, or any character change beyond italic or bold, make a note of where that formatting is and when you're Previewing your uploaded book on KDP, go to that section and make sure it looks like what you want. Don't just check your front matter, TOC, and that the overall look is right. Some might go page-by-page, but I don't have the patience. Oh, and if you have links in your file, they're active in Previewer so you should double-check all links.
Laptop, iPad, solar battery charger, deserted island ... bliss!
Karin
More really useful advice. Thanks.
I'm encouraged that so many folks have such different ways of proofing their work.
I intend to try them all and find the best fit for myself. Likely, it will be a mashup of some of these great approaches.
The iPad export is a really great idea. I will have to try viewing on my 7" tablet and, if I'm feeling really masochistic, taking a peek on my smartphone.