Errors in writing, the disclaimer.

I had an interesting  argument  conversation on twitter a couple days back that has left me thinking.
The general gist of it was, would you buy an Indie book if it wasn't edited by a professional editor.

I said yes.

I was told that I was wrong, sorta. The person I was having the conversation with originally was open enough to listen to my side. And we ended up agreeing to disagree on our opinions.
A listener however, decided to join the conversation, and they told me in no short terms would they ever buy an Indie book without an editor listed on the front page.
The funny thing about all this is, I do have some works that have been professionally edited. Not all mind you, but some.
So this person continues down the path of...If the work hasn't been through an editors hands, there is no way that it can be up to the standards they set for all books. No matter the cost. Free was even debatable.
I couldn't agree less on that one. It just so happens, I know some brilliant writers. Their skills at twisting words into excellent prose leave me weeping at times. (Okay, not really, but it sounded good right?)
I am the first to admit that I do need an editor.
English hates me.
However, I still do my BEST to put out work that is of good quality, and if/when someone points out an error that I missed, I am very quick to change it. I understand that this might lose me a reader here and there. That is a chance I have decided to take. I didn't just throw caution to the wind and toss my work out there for fun. I honestly spent a ton of time thinking about wiether to go Indie or not with some of my works.
Most of my readers come away with an appreciation for the story. Some have helped me improve my work. And one in particular just didn't like it at all.
The thing is, that is just how it goes.
My own personal library of books has errors in it. Some of those works have passed through countless hands before they saw the light of a book store, and they still have errors.
Now of course it is usually a single letter in a single word over hundreds of pages, while mine might be one error every couple pages. I don't know, I don't see my words, because I already know what I meant to say. It is a weird disease us writers get, Cantseewhatsinfrontofusitis I think it's called.
Where was I...
Oh yeah, I am not perfect, but I do my best, and as I continue to write I am getting better, and better.
However to be fair to those who don't know me, and who are grabbing my works with no prior knowledge of who I am, or how I write. I have added a disclaimer to all my non-edited works.
I hope that most look past the small errors (should there be any left) and see the story for what it is.
A good, entertaining, and enjoyable tale.

Late to the party

So I have been sending out the queries, hitting up the agents. Doing the grunt work that is always necessary to get ones work published, and it dawned on me. What if I am already late for the party? When I started writing my 2nd book I really didn't have any ideas in mind as to what it should be about. I just wrote a story and let the characters tell me what they were going to do next. Mix in a few disasters and some really bad luck and viola! A story! But now that it is finished I have found myself stewing with a few thousand (or even more than that) other people who have all written stories like mine. (Yes mine is original, in more ways than one, but they still use a lot of characters overpopulating books these days, werewolves for instance, and yes one vampire...sorta.) So the question has once again come up. Do I sit on this story for years waiting for the market to flush itself out and allow a story like this to come around again, or do I self publish it, in the hopes of sales now on the tale end of the parade. The more I think about it the more I think it is time to put it up for self publishing. I have two short stories up for sale now and the third is over half done. The forth is itching at me to get moving since I have it already planned out. It won't be hard to finish it and get it up there. The fifth and final of the series will take a little longer.
After all, this isn't the last book I am going to write, in fact the more I think about it the more I really want to pick up that first book I stared on, fix it, finish it, and send it off for publication attempts. The story I had started (50k in) and outlined almost to the end, is unlike anything I have read (yet) and it has memorable, lovable and relate-able characters. The odds of it doing better in a field of books where people are looking for something fresh and new are much higher.
So that being said, it is time to get back to the editing work. Regardless of the end decision, I need to finish cleaning up my grammar and punctuation. If I don't do that, no one will want to read these stories no matter how interesting they are.
As a completely different side note, I have a friend helping me work on a "trademark" for my writing. A button that others can have on their sites that will link back to me and my writing. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them. Right now I am thinking a different twist on the old phrase the pen is mightier than the sword. Suggestions? Let me know in the comments.