So, I’ve been talking for the last MONTH about my preorder of Know Me Well, which releases THIS FRIDAY. Yay, rah rah and all that.
Except I discovered day before yesterday an egregious formatting disaster.
A Find and Replace horror of epic proportions that had somehow made half my periods disappear (not all, just some, which is why I didn’t catch it on the last skim). I’ve spent the last 2 days painstakingly correcting this mistake (and dear God, if I ever do this again, just shoot me and get it over with). But because it’s a preorder, I can’t upload the corrected file to Amazon until the book actually releases for sale. I’ve emailed Amazon to beg for some alternative, but I don’t expect to actually be given any quarter. It was my mistake. I should’ve checked and noticed before I uploaded the final version.
Given I have a reputation for well-edited, perfectly formatted books, this is AWFUL. With any luck, everyone who was a preorder can be reached because they read my blog, are part of the Wishful group on Facebook, or on my mailing list, so that I can notify them to delete the file automatically delivered to their Kindle and download it again. But, of course, I live in fear of those people that may not be, who will blast me with a horrible review because of a freaktastic and careless error. UGH.
So that disaster has overtaken any actual progress on the novella for the last several days. Bleh. I am hoping to get back to that tonight. I’m traveling for work this week, too, so I’m sure that will throw me off. The Evil Day job has been hideously busy this week, and my brain in general just feels fried. Is August over yet?
5 thoughts on “Midweek #ROW80 Progress Report and A Formatting Disaster”
Kait, I’m so sorry that you were waylaid by human (or find and replace) error.
But you are human, after all, and we humans are a fallible lot.
It seems like you’ve gone to considerable effort to rectify the mistake If you’ve made every reasonable attempt to let the pre-ordering folk know what to do to get a clean copy, and you’ve got that file ready for them – that seems to me to be a professional approach to a goof you can’t immediately undo…
On the plus side – new release! I hope you can get the new file up and ready before anyone can write a nasty review! I’ll cross everything I can for you!
Sorry to hear about the massive speed bump!
I had a nice comment, but my internet ate it (soon Here I go recreating it).
At least you found it and was able to fix it. And it’s better to be open and honest with your readers. Those who are dedicated will understand. There will always be some people you can’t please.
Here’s hoping for a better week. And Congrats on Know Me Well’s forthcoming release!! 🙂
Oh boo. I hate when that happens.
Upside, it looks like Amazon is willing to email the folks who preordered to let them know about the updated edition when it goes live, so that should mitigate problems. Plus, as the third book in the series, HOPEFULLY most of the readers will have read other stuff of mine before and realize that something is horribly wrong and this isn’t usual.
I’ve always been terrified to use Find/Replace. I’ve used it very rarely.
I think people who’ve read your other books will know this is not usual. Also, since it’s missing a lot of periods, they should realize something is wrong with formatting. Only those nasty people who love to find things wrong will be a problem.
I got my copy today!
That’s the weird thing. I use it often and I’ve NEVER had a problem before. In any event, I got the corrected copy uploaded at midnight last night and it went live at 4:30 this morning, so at least people who are buying now will be okay. Plus, Amazon has agreed (thank GOD) to send an email to those who preordered.