TARGET MARKET -- NEW RELEASE FROM BEWRITE BOOKS (freebies)

[neilmarr]

TARGET MARKET -- SERIAL SLAUGHTER ON LINE

(*Bibliophila members can win free books -- see below)

Released today by BeWrite Books is Mark Moehlman's Target Market.

Ever wondered what data is being collected and carefully distributed when you casually swipe your card at the supermarket or down at the gym ... and how it's used?

The hunt for an online serial killer in the market for targets reveals the chilling answer. Could you be on someone's computer-generated death list?

Visit the front page of the bookstore section at www.bewrite.net to read more about the book and its author and for an extract from the brand new BB novel.

For those interested: the edit was by Hugh McCracken and the cover art and design was by Tony Szmuk and -- as usual -- everyone on the team was involved in the proof reading. Print is by Lightning Source International in the US and UK and distribution by Ingrams.

The ebook version is avaliable for immediate download in PDF, ePub and Mobi fomats. Ebooks prepared in house by Tony Szmuk.

*The first Bibliophila member to email ntmarr@bewrite.net with the answer to the question below will be sent a free paperback. The first two ebook readers to email the answer will have free downloads in the digital format of their choice.

Question: What is the name of the sinister database in Mark Moehlman's Target Market?

Best wishes and happy reading. Neil Marr
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www.bewrite.net - ntmarrATbewrite.net (use the @ sign, natch)

[admin]

[neilmarr]

Woops -- and corrected. Sorry. The original idea went to Steve Upham for roughs, but I remember now that he suffered a heart attack soon afterwards and the cover passed to you, Tony. Cheers. Neil
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[bintarab]

.
Aha! And amended on the front page too as of right now.

I have a question: about how serious are publishing houses about completing the proofreading before an "uncorrected proof" copy gets printed? So far, I've only gotten nine advance reader copies of books, and five of those were riddled with errors. Incidentally, three of the four perfect ones were from BeWrite! I would have thought that by the time a publisher is ready to print a sample copy of a book, they'd have ensured it's as good as they can make it in proofs. Maybe they just don't have enough proofreaders working on each project?

I am not kidding: I've seen some egregious mistakes. "Colombia" the country spelled as "Columbia" (like the university) all throughout a book set in South America. "Door jam" instead of "door jamb". These things jump off the page, and no matter how good the other production aspects are (e.g. paper quality and cover design), it makes the whole book look cheap. Surely a publishing house won't go through the expense of printing sample copies without first making the proofreading part as complete as possible? That said, I understand that it's easy to miss things when you're working from a computer screen, but one book I read averaged two mistakes a page! From a small independent too. Strikes me as an awful waste of time and money.

</rant>

~bint
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أطلب العلم ولو في الصين

[neilmarr]

Certainly at BeWrite Books, Bint, it's a thorough and painstaking process.

After a manuscript has been through main edit -- usually dozens of updated drafts change hands between editor and author over a period of many months before we decide on a 'final' master edit -- Tony prepares a first PDF.

This PDF goes to author, editor and sometimes several other readers for careful checking. We're all (quite literally) reading from the same page because the document is closed and errors are entered by each reader into a special separate proof grid rather than in text to be checked and compiled into a single corrections list by the editor (the author is consulted if there's any contradiction or doubt at this stage).

Tony then corrects the PDF according to the editor's list and that is set for print.

Then comes the ARC or bound proof (the Advance Reader Copies, which are the first printed samples of the book). The ARC is our parachute. I usually proof read these myself and send Tony a list of any remaining error for the print-ready PDF to be adjusted.

At that point, Tony creates PDF, ePub and Mobi ebook editions for simulataneous release with the paperback.

Any remaining errors are spotted and reported by early readers (some practiced volunteers, others general bookworms) before actual 'hard launch', and everything is then adjusted accordingly, ready to go and to be added to our current long-term catalogue and sent to retail, libraries, etc.

Proofing is -- and should be -- a long, nit-picking and tedious process, and we think the system we've developed over the years is as near to fool-proof as it gets. Of course, it isn't. We're only human and the odd blooper can still be overlooked over and again even by a half-dozen pairs of experienced hawk-eyes.

Cheers. Neil
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www.bewrite.net - ntmarrATbewrite.net (use the @ sign, natch)

[omega1300]

And now I just learned something today - thanks Bint and Neil! Interesting stuff :)

[GeoffNelder]

Correcting a proofread error can lead to other contextual mistakes too. That's one reason every Bloomsbury book has at least two bloops according to one of their editors giving a talk the Winchester Writers' Con.

I review a lot of SF / F books. Most are ARCs but some are the final product and usually contain errors. I agree BeWrite books are the least error prone of any publisher I read. That includes the latest BeWrite Book I read - Bottom of the List by Steve Attridge. I might have missed a typo because my eyes watered with so much laughing and the opening sex scene in a garden shed on the first page was terrific.

Geoff
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[neilmarr]

Glad you liked *Bottom of the List*, Geoff. Steve Attridge is one heck of a writer. He came over to visit us for a long weekend with his girldfriend, Hedda (she's artistic director at the Watermill Theatre) to help me polish the edit, and he's as hilarious over a dinner table as he is in his book. And what a nice bloke he is. Just had a call from him in Rome ... apparently he's decided to 'research' the sequel there. With Hedda assisting, of course. Cheers. Neil

PS: Did you like the cover image? It's a yard-high sculpture, specially modelled in clay for the book by a well-known French artist (who is also a good pal, so he works on royalties). N
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www.bewrite.net - ntmarrATbewrite.net (use the @ sign, natch)

[GeoffNelder]

[bintarab]

.
Hey Neil, don't forget to announce the lucky winners!

~bint
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أطلب العلم ولو في الصين

[neilmarr]

Before we have winners, Bint, we must have entries. Cheers. Neil
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