Going it Mostly Alone: the Publishing Path of A Perfect Blindness
On October 20th, seven days after submitting the mansucript, I got an email, containing these paragraphs:
Congratulations! You’ve earned the Editor’s Choice designation for your book, A Perfect Blindness, although there are a few issues to clear up, as detailed in the attached document. The Editor’s Choice icon that will appear on the back cover of your book will improve your book’s marketability by designating it as a high-quality title. Your book will also carry the Editor’s Choice icon next to the book title in the iUniverse online bookstore.
[…]
We will not move the project until we hear from you in order to make sure we have the correct version. Thank you!
So, the manuscript is still not, quite, out of the woods. I looked at the attached document, which was from the reader, with the actual recommendation to the Editorial Review Board.
After a paragraph with boilerplate text reminding me of the quality standards for the Editor’s Choice designation, I got the words telling me I’d not wasted a moment reworking Scott and Jonathan. The reviewer said that characters make or break a book, because a great plot without anyone to care about is pointless, and that “I love the characters” in the book. They are realistic, with strengths and flaws, and are written so that a reader cares about them.
Hands raised high in a victory cheer here.
I still had to handle the few mechanical issues the reviewer pointed out in order to move on, and for the promised good things to happen.