Meet Kristen Walls Kearney!If you've read either "The Bruja" or "Dread Harvester" you'll recognize Kristen's name in the acknowledgments. She served on both books as Copy Editor, slaving away to hide my typos from your judging gaze!
As an independent author pressing aggressively into the world of self-publishing, copy editing is the most difficult wall I have to climb. Professional editors can charge as much as $8,000 to work on a book like "The Bruja," and can be back-logged by as much as 1 year. Good amateur editors, like Kristen, are hard to find. I've worked with several others in the past who tried and failed to be as thorough as Kristen has been. Yes, there are several typos in "The Bruja," but out of 300+ pages they're almost irrelevant, and do not detract from the story. Kristen did her copy work in her spare time. Her spare time away from her day job and her two sons! As far as I'm concerned, she's basically a damned hero.
Authors don't always write perfectly. Professionals like Stephen King or Neil Gaiman have multiple Copy Editors employed by their publishers to make sure the final product you read is free of sin and error. We (authors,) can't do what we do without the Kristens of the world to help us. Just like a race car driver is nothing without a mechanic or pit crew, I am nothing without my Copy Editor.Thanks, Kristen!
Don't forget to take a moment to purchase "The Bruja" for $2.40 on Amazon, or "Dread Harvester," for $0.99 this weekend!
