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[personal profile] rowyn
"But these are vital aspects of marriage. If one cannot discuss them, what's the use in meeting at all? This is like trying to decide what you'll have for dinner without mentioning food. "

Wisteria Vasilver does wish to marry. Truly. She just doesn't understand why society has to make arranging a match so unnecessarily difficult.

Nikola Striker, Lord of Fireholt, expects he'll wed ... someday. But not now, and never to a rich icicle-woman like Miss Vasilver. No matter how much his parents might want the match, or his house might need her dowry. Besides, he has his own problems -- most of them people who need his help as a mind-healer.

Lord Justin Comfrey, Viscount of Comfrey, would be more than happy to help Striker with his financial troubles, and not just to ensure that Miss Vasilver's dowry doesn't tempt Striker into marriage. If only he could find some way to make his proud, stubborn friend accept the money!

There must be some way they can come to A Rational Arrangement.
*

So I am ... done? Editing A Rational Arrangement. I even wrote a blurb!

I have the "I finished" feeling all over again, including the "crap, what do I do now?" sense.

There were changes that I wanted to make that I didn't do, most because I couldn't figure out how to work something in or because I ran out of energy to keep picking at it. Even now, I am thinking "I should go back and do that! IT'S NOT TOO LATE."

I am trying to resist. I have gotten to the point where I am sick of the book (this didn't happen until the last few weeks, to my utter amazement). Editing, as with painting, is not a task you finish. It is a task you abandon, because you cannot keep fiddling at the same thing forever. At some point, I have to say "Good enough. I will do better in the next book."

Good enough.

*

I'd like to have some people read the manuscript now, mostly for the following:
  • Proofreading: I am sure there are grammar mistakes that I missed, not to mention editing artifacts that I created (this happens when one starts to rearrange a section during editing and fails to make ALL the necessary changes). Most of what I expect from readers at this stage is just this. If the characters/plot/etc. needs fixing, it's too late.

  • Continuity errors: If you happen to notice that I changed a character's eye color halfway through the book, or if the setting for a scene mysteriously alters partway through, or inconsistencies of this sort, I'd like to know.

  • Confusing text: If you find yourself confused about what's going on, or what this word the characters keep using means in the context of the story, or things of that nature, I want to know.
If you read it and have a suggestion or comment that doesn't fall into the above categories, that's fine too, but the above list is the kind of feedback I'm specifically looking for.

The book is in three parts on Google Drive. In order to read it, you'll need to have a Google login (if you don't have one, Google will be happy to give you one on request, but you'll have to get one and be willing to login. You can use a non-Gmail account to log into Google, but it's easiest if you have a Gmail account). I'll give all betareaders view-and-comment access, and you can leave comments with your observations. (You don't have to explain the necessary correction for a proofreading error -- you can just highlight the problem part and put a comment with an abbreviation for the error type, or just "err" by it.)

If you'd like to be a beta-reader, please leave a comment! If I don't already have your email/Google account login information, you can email it to my Gmail account, LadyRowyn, or message me through LJ.

I'd like to have comments on the manuscript back within the next month or so. If you want to be a beta-reader but don't think you'll be able to do it in that time frame, please leave a note with about how long you think it'd take you.

A Rational Arrangement is a polyamorous fantasy romance. It includes bisexual characters and a few sex scenes. It's about 215,000 words long; I'd guesstimate it would be 550 pages as a mass market paperback.

Date: 2014-10-26 06:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] haikujaguar.livejournal.com
215,000 words is more like 1000+ pages. >.>

Date: 2014-10-26 09:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] haikujaguar.livejournal.com
*peers at that page and lifts a brow*

Here's the metric I was taught: 250 words (less if dialogue-heavy) is one paperback page, mass market-sized. You can fit more words onto a page with a smaller font, smaller margins, and smaller leading, but that was the average used by publishers to estimate word count when they were buying manuscripts back in the day when I was embarking on my pro career, and a lot of people still use it as shorthand now.

I, in particular, still use it as shorthand because it's true for me: Earthrise, which is a little over 100K, came out to 410 paperback pages, for instance, and if I guesstimate most of my 100K novels to fit into around four hundred paperback pages, I'm almost always right.

Now, Godkin was 400K, and when I sold it to Sofawolf they refused to print it in one volume because of its size. They split it into two volumes, and each one of those is 240 pages, something they accomplished by making the text almost unreadable (to my eyes). The page margins (on all four sides) are 1/3rd the size of the ones I usually use, the font is at least 4 points smaller, and the leading is tight. While the small font and tight leading aren't uncommon in mass market books, the small margins are, and it looks unprofessional; worse, it's hard to read.

I did quite a bit of research when deciding on the 'house design' for my print editions. One of my observations was that in modern books, the smaller the font got, the larger the whitespace--the leading and margins both get roomier so that the text doesn't look cramped. Older books have less whitespace. Mass markets also have less, but they are full of similar cost-cutting trends you don't necessarily want to imitate unless absolutely necessary. The trend over time appears to be toward 'hardcover specs' because they're more luxurious and easier to read, and they look more professional... indie books in particular have to be careful not to look cheap.

Anyway, just rambling. :)

Date: 2014-10-27 01:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] haikujaguar.livejournal.com
It was not the choice I would have made, but they saved me the cost of paying a layout person, and since they footed the bill it would be churlish to kvetch about it.

I prefer to read the e-book copy, but my eyes are old and don't like small text anymore. :)

Date: 2014-10-27 03:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alinsa.livejournal.com
So... the original (as-posted) version, when done in Warnock 11pt and relatively mundane spacing and margins, works out to... ~750 pages. That's for trade paperback.

I did a quick pass with Garamond, which I'm much less fond of for this book (but is narrower), and it ended up ~670 pages.

That's without any attempt at compressing for space, mind you.

(random note: CreateSpace will print books of that size with no problem...)

Date: 2014-10-26 08:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tuftears.livejournal.com
Needs more greatcats. *nods* ;)

Anthser needs a somekitty special!

Date: 2014-10-27 02:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] terrycloth.livejournal.com
I guess I can give it another read-through.

The main point of hesitation is having it be in huge chunks. Does google docs save your place or anything? The spreadsheet doesn't seem to. }:/

Date: 2014-10-28 01:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alltoseek.livejournal.com
Hey, I can be up for beta-reading. I have fresh eyes, since I didn't follow it much the first go round. And I have gmail! :-)

I do find Gdocs to be useful for betaing fics.

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