I firmly believe that creatives have some of the healthiest egos, and this video perfectly illustrates why. There's something rare and unique about an author's relentless pursuit of perfection and their simultaneous concession of flaws, insecurities, and reflection. Thank you for this honest share!
Thanks for your transparency! I’m sure there will be a couple of problems with my novel after I publish it. I’ll do my best, but it’s good to give ourselves a little grace and realize that books can be wonderful but never perfect. :)
The key is learning from your mistakes. Sounds like you have. Also, we can learn from your mistakes. I think more authors need to share their mistakes as well. Thanks for sharing.
YES! I loved this video! I need to make a video like this! Publishing a book is definitely a learning experience! So many things I would do differently!
I'm so glad you didn't put any blame on the betas or arc readers and declare all your negative reviews done by haters and trolls. I'm glad you're self aware about your mistakes and the way you addressed them. I think that's extremely good that you were honest and I believe this will help you and your brand going forward
Well, every novel has problems, some even worst than the ones you describe here. Even the best of the best, and the books millions of people love have them too. We could even make lists of the problems with books like hunger games, Harry Potter, lord of the rings, song of ice and fire, etc. And they would be quite long lists. One thing it is mandatory to learn as an author is that your novel will NEVER be perfect. It can be perfect for you, for some readers, but never fully perfect, you will always find mistakes and problems. As long as they don't affect the story or ruin the plot, you are allowed to make mistakes, but if you try to fix EVERY single thing, good luck publishing it around year 2065. That's how it works.
@@tavarnoclarke I am a Harry Potter fan. I'm just happen to be a writer too. And believe me, no author enjoys having people throwing bad comments at their hard work, but well, it happens haha
@@DanCreaMundos Its just a recent memeory, completely broke my interest in debating with fans. On second thought, I write too, if I can hook One Reader like him? I win. Good luck in your writing.
I love the phrase, "I saw too much light at the end of the tunnel." As some who is on book 6 of a nine-part novella series, I can totally relate to that.
Thank you sooo much for doing this!!! You are right, no one actually talks about this, not with their own published book. But I am so glad and happy that you did!! You are honest and I love that about you. Xx ❤❤❤
I agree. It seems like no matter how many times I re- read my book there is always something wrong with it , I finally got to the last three cheaters of my book and now starting over.
Thank you for your honesty on all these issues. It really IS inspiring, not only seeing another writer being so open and vulnerable, but also learning things in advance to keep myself from mimicking them...inadvertently.
The Pub Board loved my idea, but my first draft had mechanical problems, so, graciously they asked me to fix them. Still working on it! We are all in the same boat.
My greatest mistake with my debut was having accidentally fallen into publishing and the company not being as professional as it talked itself up to be. My new novel (under a new company) is giving me plenty of time to suffer the doubts I missed with the first one. It's a lot like starting over, which is a bit of a shame, but I am learning SO much, especially from following videos like these. Thank you.
I really like the fact that you evaluated your own novel and made this video! I'm excited for your future work! And I completely relate with you, I look at my own novel and think "Wth did i even write". And I have 101 problems with it!
Thanks for sharing this! I think all of us authors make mistakes, although I haven't published a book yet, I have published other works and yes, I too have made mistakes. However, it's a learning time in the beginning and I think even seasoned authors still make mistakes as I read books from the big publishers and find typos and editing errors quite often. I think you did an amazing job, especially taken your proofreader bailed at the last minute, you still managed to get your book out there and I for one can't wait to read it!
I really love how honest you are about the writing process. It's so helpful to hear. Your books are great by the way! The process of putting together my first real novel has been difficult and hearing your views on the process--such relief. How do you even find time to write when posting helpful videos? You're so comfortable on screen. (I ask because I wanted to chronicle my journey during my first real novel and found out I couldn't face the camera.)
You're being a little hard on yourself. I bought and read your book earlier this year. Yeah, I guessed the plot twist early on, but I didn't notice a lot of typos, certainly not enough to distract me. I thought the book was good read. It seems marketing and timing were your biggest weaknesses.
"My descriptions were poo" I read that in Gene Wilder's voice. I have *so* much respect for you, because of your humility in this video. And the fact that you admit your book's faults are in fact faults, as opposed to just trying to discredit all your critical reviews with defensive rebuttal thinly disguised as "advice." Also, I really like your background. I like that it conveys a certain tone (I assume to give a vague idea of what to expect from your writing), and has copies of your book there and visible, but it's not just a wall of merchandise. I really look forward to reading "The Elysian Prophecy" and I think I'll like it, but if I don't I will not think less of you.
I wish I could talk about all the mistakes I made post publishing my novel. Unfortunately, I realised I am not even close to finishing it yet. However, I have recently discovered this channel and it's helped guide me to perfect my novel. Guess I'll come back and write about the mistakes I made after I published it. Much appreciation for your great content 👍
I love this! I'm glad that I'm not only one who dreaded things after words. Especially the tag line! After I published, I realized how almost every book has one, and I'm like, why didn't I do this?! Thanks, girl!!
I completely understand what you are going through, because I had a similar experience with my debut novel eleven years ago. I took a break to pursue higher education and a career, during which I went through several ups and downs at my college, workplace and even with my relationships (both platonic and otherwise). These situations then inspired me to work on the second book, which came out this year. "Third time's a charm," I told myself, and I wish you all the best for your future projects.
Yes Vivien, I too ran into the same stuff with my first novel. Originally, I wrote it as more of a preteen story and later tried to publish it as a YA novel. Several friends suggested that the plot felt a little flat and predictive and that the 3-act was a bit anemic. I am currently revising that novel a bit to correct the "flatness" and to add a little more depth to the MC. Also, I am working to make the story more approachable to all ages rather than to just the younger-set. I think, had it been a stand-alone story, I would have left it be as "lessons-learned" and moved on. However, since it is part of a greater series and in fact sets up the "world" and the base family lines, it is necessary for me to correct some of these mistakes before releasing book II which is currently in progress. Thanks for releasing this video. It was a really good "punch-in-the-arm" to remind us that we all make mistakes and should not allow those to stop us in our quest to become authors.
Thanks for sharing! I know my main mistakes were not having beta readers, pre order option and marketing. I believe I started to late. It makes me feel better that Im not the only one who has made mistakes.
I love your honesty in this video. I did read your book and had a few problems with it, but I feel like I don’t care now that you have made this video. You are so amazing!!
Thank you for this video. It was a brave decision. The problem with the first book is, at every stage you don't realise how much more work there is to do. You think, 'OK, I've edited it umpteen times, it must be ready to publish,' but you don't know about the things you should have done after that and the only way you can learn is to go through the entire process. You look back afterwards and think, 'God, had I only known that'. But you didn't. Nobody does. None of us usually has a wise mentor standing behind us to say, 'Grasshopper, only an unwise man sends out unproofed editions of the story.' I have not bought it yet, but I have put your book in the queue. This video raised your stature in my mind.
I absolutely made mistakes. I'd been ignoring the little voice in the back of my head telling a werewolf witch with the ability to communicate with the dead was too much while working for the FBI. Three months after I published it a reader told me the same thing. So now I'm rewriting the story again and she isn't going to be a werewolf any time soon. My self imposed deadline is New Years Eve. I may need more time and a better editor. The last one only did proofreading. I've learned so much in the last year about publishing and marketing. I think I'll do better next time.
I did the same thing! I am so glad you released this video. I have been struggling with a feeling of unease for 3 months now and I am going to follow your plan to fix the errors. Thank you so much.
I really enjoyed how open you are in all your videos. I struggle so much with perfectionism that I get lost in the journey of creating. I think of these five things as five growth spurts you’ve had as an author, because failure is just another lesson learned on the path to success. Now if I can only believe that myself...^^ Thanks for sharing as always!
Vivien, thank you, for sharing! As writers, we all need to see and hear the ups and downs of book publishing. No, the process is not perfect! What is down for me is the process of my book cover. I have changed it a couple of times. Now, I am preparing to see the proof of the cover, one last time. I am nervous because I discovered one word missing from a sentence. That is why I am glad I will see the proof before print submission. Vivien, thank you, for sharing helpful information about the tag line for the cover.
This might be the most important video I've watched as an aspiring writer. Great job! It sounds like you gave yourself a little extra room in the process by purchasing the five isbns. The extras likely came in handy for your coordinated delay. I say well played.
Thanks a lot for a very honest video! It is great that you have such a high level of self-criticism, but to also talk about your mistakes so that others can learn from it, that's very brave and nice.
I love when other authors are honest about these things. When I published my first book years ago, I made a lot of mistakes. But since then I've gone back and fixed them. It was worth it.
Thanks for making this video! I'm editing through my first round of beta reader suggestions and really feeling the pressure for everything to be perfect. It's become overwhelming thinking about publication as it approaches. I have so many decisions to make! This video and hearing about your experience has helped calm my overactive mind. I'm sure I'll watch it several times in the near future. It's very hard to feel "prepared" at this stage and your transparency is so helpful!!
How brave of you to make such an honest video about yourself and about your baby book. I love it how you call it that: 'baby book'. That's exactly what it is for an author. But despite the mistakes you managed to have published that big baby of yours, so very well done on that! You earned yourself a new subscriber.
Fan here... Just wanted to mention to everyone that even if there are mistakes in the novel, you can correct them in the next edition. One of my favorite authors, Orson Scott Card had revised 'Ender's Game' so that the technology matched the modern world. Instead of paper postings on trees, he used the internet as the main media source.
Thank you so much for this! Although I do still feel like crap for not seeing all the mistakes I made in my debut novel, until the night before I had to pick up the 200 copies I ordered to print. Now all the missing conjuctions are jumping out at me, and I'm mortified! It's nice to know I'm not alone though. (I kinda want to hide the 200 copies under my bed and pretend that the last eight months never happened 😩)
Thank you for your insight! I'm in the process of writing my first novel and these are some very helpful tips for me! The only time I felt jarred by the video was when you said something along the liens of "if you got tired of editing and editing and skipped over something." I believe that (and typos) are the only mistakes. The Lord of the Rings took 17 years in totality. The first Harry Potter took 6 years. A story is only as good as the effort you are willing to invest. I know no novel is ever perfect, but I don't want to publish until my story and world are fully fleshed out.
I first self published in '04, trusting the editor picked up the typos. (Turns out she was a content editor.) Similar to you, the typos were a problem, so I revised the title and self-published again in '16. In both instances, I participated in the Writer's Digest Self-Publish Book Awards, just see what the feedback would be, and from the second participation, received a perfect 5 for grammar. Other areas that added up for a final score were 3s and 4s. Still, I was happy. :)
You know you’re good at what you can do when you 1. Admit your mistakes (hey, we are HUMAN) 2. You love your work! Most of us cringe when we see our mistakes, and self loathe. Please, girl no one probably even noticed. Even though you did, we are own worst critics. Blah blah blah- seriously, you are such a bright, cool, deeply interesting Vlogger. So very proud of you. You have helped is ALL so very much. Thank you for all of your contributions to writing and helping us with our own journeys. Do you know how many lived you’ve touched? Think about that!? 🤔 big hugs. All the best!-
Thank you so much for opinion about the book publishing and your own ideas about the book story and related to the book So I have changed my ideas for sometimes because of some attachment about it but my thinking is like to write something up that I am getting the experience So after long time ago I had thought that to meet you for your information how your day going well and good. Thanks again for your patience with me.
Thank you sooo much for this honest and super-helpful video! It really opened my eyes to what I need to keep in mind while editing my current novel. 🙏👍
Hey great channel! i've watched several of your videos now and man i've i learned a lot already about stuff i didn't even know i needed to know! I a also an engineer and have recently acquired a need for some sort of craetive outlet and decided to take on the challenge of writing a novel. the problem is, im an engineer and i over-analyze and restructure so much that it has to be perfect before i can do anything.. which usually overwhelms me and then i get stuck :l How did you break through that barrier?? My engineering mind wont let me be creative, it just wants me to control within very restricted boundaries of reality. I argue with myself that "this can't happen in reality!" even though i'm trying to write a fiction novel. Pls halp. and congrats on the baby! all the best!
the important thing is always to learn from teh mistakes and move forward! :D So glad you share them with us so we can look for them up when we get to publish our own stories ;)
I liked this video a lot! Maybe I'll do one too. I've definitely learned so much since writing my debut novel, and a lot of things about it make me cringe a bit. Which is extra difficult, because I'm currently working on the sequel, so it almost makes me feel like theres no point in working hard to make the sequel way better when people have to read the first one anyway. But hopefully it will be an improvement, now that I've learned more and discovered more tools to help the process.
Thank you so much for this video! Almost everything I've just experienced with my recent first Novel...I found about 6 typos after my B&N book signing 😟😫
This video must have been pretty hard to make. It's never fun to admit your mistakes. So I super respect you for doing it. This type of thing can help a ton of aspiring authors relax about any potential mistakes that might slip through the cracks since they see that already-published authors still struggle with the same thing :]
Hi Vivien. Could you do a video about how you believe would-be authors should deal with "constructive" criticisms of their work prior to completion of their work?
(I just got here so sorry if this was mentioned in the video) This was uploaded close to Shaelin Write's video about the Author/BookTube community. One of the things she mentioned was that people unfortunately think you should pretend you're perfect or deny constructive criticism. I'm glad to see more people debunking this. :)
I had already filmed this when her video came out 😂 I think the authortube community is on the same brain wave a lot of times as similar videos will go live within a week or two of each other. Big magic at work!!
Vivien Reis I knew that even if you WERE inspired by it, it wouldn’t have been a copy-thing. I just mean I think it’s cool that people are revealing their flaws more. I didn’t know if you even knew about her channel or not. (I’ve been accused of plagiarism too when working on a project before someone else’s was even released. 😅 I wouldn’t wanna do that to you)
hey Vivien, first of all thank you for all your videos, they are helpful for creating our own stories (without making too many mistakes haha). Do you have a video, or could you address in a new video, where you explain something about this: Instead of giving your readers the answers, give your readers more and more questions that they (desperately) want answered. I've heard and read something about this, but there were no clear examples for how to do this. Could you say something about it, like what do you personally do to make your readers curious, to give them more and more questions as they continue through your story? Maybe with some bad examples (a story that provides answers) and some good examples (a story that provides questions)
Hi, kind of feeling the same. Wished I would have made my pback colored instead of bw. Found typos took book down then put it up. Still moving slow. This writing life, huh.
![Write Your Life And Become A Better Storyteller - Mark W Travis [FULL INTERVIEW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xFK5Ih3CPFc/mqdefault.jpg)
Quick note: Mandi Lynn did a similar video earlier this year if y'all are interested!
Also... #5 isn't a typo 🤓
Where did you find your literary agent?
I self published, so I don't have a literary agent 😊
Thanks (I'm also Karl Waterbury).
lol
what is it then?
I firmly believe that creatives have some of the healthiest egos, and this video perfectly illustrates why. There's something rare and unique about an author's relentless pursuit of perfection and their simultaneous concession of flaws, insecurities, and reflection. Thank you for this honest share!
Nicely said!
the potted plant disclaimer was funnier to me than it should've been lol
Major respect points, self-criticism is hard
Thanks for your transparency! I’m sure there will be a couple of problems with my novel after I publish it. I’ll do my best, but it’s good to give ourselves a little grace and realize that books can be wonderful but never perfect. :)
The key is learning from your mistakes. Sounds like you have. Also, we can learn from your mistakes. I think more authors need to share their mistakes as well. Thanks for sharing.
YES! I loved this video! I need to make a video like this! Publishing a book is definitely a learning experience! So many things I would do differently!
I would LOVE to see that! Especially if there were trad publishing things you learned!
I would love to watch that.
I'm so glad you didn't put any blame on the betas or arc readers and declare all your negative reviews done by haters and trolls. I'm glad you're self aware about your mistakes and the way you addressed them. I think that's extremely good that you were honest and I believe this will help you and your brand going forward
Wow, I'm amazed at how honest you are with your own book! That is so amazing!!
This makes me so happy to hear!! 😄😄
I know, even me and it's not even my book.
Well, every novel has problems, some even worst than the ones you describe here. Even the best of the best, and the books millions of people love have them too. We could even make lists of the problems with books like hunger games, Harry Potter, lord of the rings, song of ice and fire, etc. And they would be quite long lists. One thing it is mandatory to learn as an author is that your novel will NEVER be perfect. It can be perfect for you, for some readers, but never fully perfect, you will always find mistakes and problems. As long as they don't affect the story or ruin the plot, you are allowed to make mistakes, but if you try to fix EVERY single thing, good luck publishing it around year 2065. That's how it works.
So true ! Interesting perspective on mistakes.
Try telling Harry Potter fans that and prepare for a long arguement.
@@tavarnoclarke I am a Harry Potter fan. I'm just happen to be a writer too. And believe me, no author enjoys having people throwing bad comments at their hard work, but well, it happens haha
@@DanCreaMundos Its just a recent memeory, completely broke my interest in debating with fans.
On second thought, I write too, if I can hook One Reader like him? I win.
Good luck in your writing.
@@tavarnoclarke yeah, fans are the worst for that kind of debate. Good luck in your writing too :)
This made me wanna read it even more
I love the phrase, "I saw too much light at the end of the tunnel." As some who is on book 6 of a nine-part novella series, I can totally relate to that.
I write aps. And unlike books if you flubbed something up you can easily send an update. It'd be awesome if people could do that with books.
Thanks for being so honest, its the sort of advice no1 gets 2 hear, and what its realy like having a 1st time self made book out, keep it up.
Thank you sooo much for doing this!!! You are right, no one actually talks about this, not with their own published book. But I am so glad and happy that you did!! You are honest and I love that about you. Xx ❤❤❤
I agree. It seems like no matter how many times I re- read my book there is always something wrong with it , I finally got to the last three cheaters of my book and now starting over.
Vivien, I think you're being a bit hard on yourself. I read your novel and I liked it. :)
Aww, thank you!! I'm definitely my own worst critic!
Once again, you're inspirtational to so many of us. Thanks for your transparency.
I have so much respect for you and anyone who can make a video like this.
Thank you for your honesty on all these issues. It really IS inspiring, not only seeing another writer being so open and vulnerable, but also learning things in advance to keep myself from mimicking them...inadvertently.
The Pub Board loved my idea, but my first draft had mechanical problems, so, graciously they asked me to fix them. Still working on it! We are all in the same boat.
Whenever I need motivation to write I watch one of your videos. So... Thank you!
I believe every book teaches you something. So I believe this is a good video, it's interesting to see what was your experience on writing this novel.
My greatest mistake with my debut was having accidentally fallen into publishing and the company not being as professional as it talked itself up to be. My new novel (under a new company) is giving me plenty of time to suffer the doubts I missed with the first one. It's a lot like starting over, which is a bit of a shame, but I am learning SO much, especially from following videos like these. Thank you.
I love that authortube seems to be trending so much more honest these days! I love it
Thank you for this. I haven't published yet, but it's good to know what stuff to watch out for.
I really like the fact that you evaluated your own novel and made this video! I'm excited for your future work! And I completely relate with you, I look at my own novel and think "Wth did i even write". And I have 101 problems with it!
Thanks for sharing this! I think all of us authors make mistakes, although I haven't published a book yet, I have published other works and yes, I too have made mistakes. However, it's a learning time in the beginning and I think even seasoned authors still make mistakes as I read books from the big publishers and find typos and editing errors quite often. I think you did an amazing job, especially taken your proofreader bailed at the last minute, you still managed to get your book out there and I for one can't wait to read it!
I really love how honest you are about the writing process. It's so helpful to hear. Your books are great by the way! The process of putting together my first real novel has been difficult and hearing your views on the process--such relief.
How do you even find time to write when posting helpful videos? You're so comfortable on screen. (I ask because I wanted to chronicle my journey during my first real novel and found out I couldn't face the camera.)
I’m glad you’re so honest.
Thanks for sharing this. I'm so over my book and want to rush through the last few steps.
You're being a little hard on yourself. I bought and read your book earlier this year. Yeah, I guessed the plot twist early on, but I didn't notice a lot of typos, certainly not enough to distract me. I thought the book was good read. It seems marketing and timing were your biggest weaknesses.
"My descriptions were poo" I read that in Gene Wilder's voice.
I have *so* much respect for you, because of your humility in this video. And the fact that you admit your book's faults are in fact faults, as opposed to just trying to discredit all your critical reviews with defensive rebuttal thinly disguised as "advice."
Also, I really like your background. I like that it conveys a certain tone (I assume to give a vague idea of what to expect from your writing), and has copies of your book there and visible, but it's not just a wall of merchandise.
I really look forward to reading "The Elysian Prophecy" and I think I'll like it, but if I don't I will not think less of you.
I wish I could talk about all the mistakes I made post publishing my novel. Unfortunately, I realised I am not even close to finishing it yet.
However, I have recently discovered this channel and it's helped guide me to perfect my novel. Guess I'll come back and write about the mistakes I made after I published it.
Much appreciation for your great content 👍
I love this! I'm glad that I'm not only one who dreaded things after words. Especially the tag line! After I published, I realized how almost every book has one, and I'm like, why didn't I do this?! Thanks, girl!!
“ the enemy of good is better”... thank you for being so honest with your viewers. You are amazingly talented 🙏🏼
I completely understand what you are going through, because I had a similar experience with my debut novel eleven years ago. I took a break to pursue higher education and a career, during which I went through several ups and downs at my college, workplace and even with my relationships (both platonic and otherwise). These situations then inspired me to work on the second book, which came out this year. "Third time's a charm," I told myself, and I wish you all the best for your future projects.
Yes Vivien, I too ran into the same stuff with my first novel. Originally, I wrote it as more of a preteen story and later tried to publish it as a YA novel. Several friends suggested that the plot felt a little flat and predictive and that the 3-act was a bit anemic. I am currently revising that novel a bit to correct the "flatness" and to add a little more depth to the MC. Also, I am working to make the story more approachable to all ages rather than to just the younger-set. I think, had it been a stand-alone story, I would have left it be as "lessons-learned" and moved on. However, since it is part of a greater series and in fact sets up the "world" and the base family lines, it is necessary for me to correct some of these mistakes before releasing book II which is currently in progress. Thanks for releasing this video. It was a really good "punch-in-the-arm" to remind us that we all make mistakes and should not allow those to stop us in our quest to become authors.
Thanks for sharing! I know my main mistakes were not having beta readers, pre order option and marketing. I believe I started to late. It makes me feel better that Im not the only one who has made mistakes.
I love your honesty in this video. I did read your book and had a few problems with it, but I feel like I don’t care now that you have made this video. You are so amazing!!
Thank you for this video. It was a brave decision. The problem with the first book is, at every stage you don't realise how much more work there is to do. You think, 'OK, I've edited it umpteen times, it must be ready to publish,' but you don't know about the things you should have done after that and the only way you can learn is to go through the entire process. You look back afterwards and think, 'God, had I only known that'. But you didn't. Nobody does. None of us usually has a wise mentor standing behind us to say, 'Grasshopper, only an unwise man sends out unproofed editions of the story.' I have not bought it yet, but I have put your book in the queue. This video raised your stature in my mind.
I can't wait to read it!! Everybody makes mistakes😊
I absolutely made mistakes. I'd been ignoring the little voice in the back of my head telling a werewolf witch with the ability to communicate with the dead was too much while working for the FBI. Three months after I published it a reader told me the same thing. So now I'm rewriting the story again and she isn't going to be a werewolf any time soon. My self imposed deadline is New Years Eve. I may need more time and a better editor. The last one only did proofreading. I've learned so much in the last year about publishing and marketing. I think I'll do better next time.
I absolutely love your candor. Love you Vivien. Thanks for all the tips.
I did the same thing! I am so glad you released this video. I have been struggling with a feeling of unease for 3 months now and I am going to follow your plan to fix the errors. Thank you so much.
Your honesty is just great Vivien! It makes us love and respect you more!!!!
I really enjoyed how open you are in all your videos. I struggle so much with perfectionism that I get lost in the journey of creating.
I think of these five things as five growth spurts you’ve had as an author, because failure is just another lesson learned on the path to success.
Now if I can only believe that myself...^^
Thanks for sharing as always!
Vivien, thank you, for sharing! As writers, we all need to see and hear the ups and downs of book publishing. No, the process is not perfect! What is down for me is the process of my book cover. I have changed it a couple of times. Now, I am preparing to see the proof of the cover, one last time. I am nervous because I discovered one word missing from a sentence. That is why I am glad I will see the proof before print submission. Vivien, thank you, for sharing helpful information about the tag line for the cover.
This might be the most important video I've watched as an aspiring writer. Great job! It sounds like you gave yourself a little extra room in the process by purchasing the five isbns. The extras likely came in handy for your coordinated delay. I say well played.
Thanks a lot for a very honest video! It is great that you have such a high level of self-criticism, but to also talk about your mistakes so that others can learn from it, that's very brave and nice.
I love when other authors are honest about these things. When I published my first book years ago, I made a lot of mistakes. But since then I've gone back and fixed them. It was worth it.
Thanks for making this video! I'm editing through my first round of beta reader suggestions and really feeling the pressure for everything to be perfect. It's become overwhelming thinking about publication as it approaches. I have so many decisions to make! This video and hearing about your experience has helped calm my overactive mind. I'm sure I'll watch it several times in the near future. It's very hard to feel "prepared" at this stage and your transparency is so helpful!!
Thank you for your honesty and humility, great video. The only way to grow is by accepting our mistakes and learning from them....kudos girl!
How brave of you to make such an honest video about yourself and about your baby book. I love it how you call it that: 'baby book'. That's exactly what it is for an author.
But despite the mistakes you managed to have published that big baby of yours, so very well done on that!
You earned yourself a new subscriber.
Fan here... Just wanted to mention to everyone that even if there are mistakes in the novel, you can correct them in the next edition. One of my favorite authors, Orson Scott Card had revised 'Ender's Game' so that the technology matched the modern world. Instead of paper postings on trees, he used the internet as the main media source.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this video! It makes me feel so much better about the list I have for my book.
Great video! I’m getting ready to self publish my first book and this was so helpful :)
This was one of the most “real” videos I have ever watched on TH-cam.....I appreciate the honesty.
Thank you!!
Thanks for being transparent and sharing Vivien! It was helpful to hear what you would change :)
Thank you so much for this! Although I do still feel like crap for not seeing all the mistakes I made in my debut novel, until the night before I had to pick up the 200 copies I ordered to print. Now all the missing conjuctions are jumping out at me, and I'm mortified! It's nice to know I'm not alone though. (I kinda want to hide the 200 copies under my bed and pretend that the last eight months never happened 😩)
Thank you for your insight! I'm in the process of writing my first novel and these are some very helpful tips for me!
The only time I felt jarred by the video was when you said something along the liens of "if you got tired of editing and editing and skipped over something."
I believe that (and typos) are the only mistakes. The Lord of the Rings took 17 years in totality. The first Harry Potter took 6 years.
A story is only as good as the effort you are willing to invest. I know no novel is ever perfect, but I don't want to publish until my story and world are fully fleshed out.
The courage it takes to admit your mistakes publicly 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 great video ♥️
This was so brave of you to do! Thank you
I first self published in '04, trusting the editor picked up the typos. (Turns out she was a content editor.) Similar to you, the typos were a problem, so I revised the title and self-published again in '16. In both instances, I participated in the Writer's Digest Self-Publish Book Awards, just see what the feedback would be, and from the second participation, received a perfect 5 for grammar. Other areas that added up for a final score were 3s and 4s. Still, I was happy. :)
Good tips to share. Glad you learnt lessons and became a better writer. I'm doing a draft focused soley on improved descriptions.
I'm even more excited to read your book now!! I have so much respect for you ^_^🖤
I’m working on what I’m pretty sure is gonna be my debuts novel love the characters their struggles and the story itself
You know you’re good at what you can do when you 1. Admit your mistakes (hey, we are HUMAN) 2. You love your work!
Most of us cringe when we see our mistakes, and self loathe. Please, girl no one probably even noticed. Even though you did, we are own worst critics. Blah blah blah- seriously, you are such a bright, cool, deeply interesting Vlogger. So very proud of you. You have helped is ALL so very much.
Thank you for all of your contributions to writing and helping us with our own journeys. Do you know how many lived you’ve touched? Think about that!? 🤔 big hugs. All the best!-
Thank you so much for opinion about the book publishing and your own ideas about the book story and related to the book So I have changed my ideas for sometimes because of some attachment about it but my thinking is like to write something up that I am getting the experience So after long time ago I had thought that to meet you for your information how your day going well and good.
Thanks again for your patience with me.
great video. thanks for be honest. lots of people just lie about it
Thank you sooo much for this honest and super-helpful video! It really opened my eyes to what I need to keep in mind while editing my current novel. 🙏👍
Do you have a video on how to submit your book to Barnes and noble?
Thank you for sharing this with us.
Hey great channel! i've watched several of your videos now and man i've i learned a lot already about stuff i didn't even know i needed to know! I a also an engineer and have recently acquired a need for some sort of craetive outlet and decided to take on the challenge of writing a novel. the problem is, im an engineer and i over-analyze and restructure so much that it has to be perfect before i can do anything.. which usually overwhelms me and then i get stuck :l How did you break through that barrier?? My engineering mind wont let me be creative, it just wants me to control within very restricted boundaries of reality. I argue with myself that "this can't happen in reality!" even though i'm trying to write a fiction novel. Pls halp. and congrats on the baby! all the best!
Yeah! Love this video Vivien, it really helpful for new writers to learn from your mistakes
Thanks for sharing. My novel's about to go to an editor so I'll be facing your challenges soon.
How's your daughter?
Thank you for your bravery in posting this! I think you will help a lot of writers by sharing this
the important thing is always to learn from teh mistakes and move forward! :D So glad you share them with us so we can look for them up when we get to publish our own stories ;)
i love how honest you were!
I liked this video a lot! Maybe I'll do one too. I've definitely learned so much since writing my debut novel, and a lot of things about it make me cringe a bit. Which is extra difficult, because I'm currently working on the sequel, so it almost makes me feel like theres no point in working hard to make the sequel way better when people have to read the first one anyway. But hopefully it will be an improvement, now that I've learned more and discovered more tools to help the process.
Thank you so much for this video! Almost everything I've just experienced with my recent first Novel...I found about 6 typos after my B&N book signing 😟😫
I totally agree, writing definitely requires certain rules and structures.
Thank you for your brutal honesty. It helps a lot.
Hey, thank you sharing for this. I really appreciate it
This video must have been pretty hard to make. It's never fun to admit your mistakes. So I super respect you for doing it. This type of thing can help a ton of aspiring authors relax about any potential mistakes that might slip through the cracks since they see that already-published authors still struggle with the same thing :]
Hi Vivien. Could you do a video about how you believe would-be authors should deal with "constructive" criticisms of their work prior to completion of their work?
You have been a Godsend and wealth of great Information. I am so glad that I found your channel.
This is very honest and helpful of you
+
Oooof that proofreader got some shade!
As an author, my respect for you has gone through the roof for making this video!
Why so many typos? Didn't the editor catch a large portion of them? Or were they more of the substitution variety, e.g., than vs. then.
They caught a lot, I just didn't have time to vet the proofreaders since it was so short notice and the one I ended up with could have been better 😕
@@VivienReis I meant the word processor. Oops! Thanks for replying!
@@MuttFitness Oh ok. Yeah a lot of typos slip through even with Word and Scrivener!
(I just got here so sorry if this was mentioned in the video)
This was uploaded close to Shaelin Write's video about the Author/BookTube community.
One of the things she mentioned was that people unfortunately think you should pretend you're perfect or deny constructive criticism.
I'm glad to see more people debunking this. :)
I had already filmed this when her video came out 😂 I think the authortube community is on the same brain wave a lot of times as similar videos will go live within a week or two of each other. Big magic at work!!
Vivien Reis I knew that even if you WERE inspired by it, it wouldn’t have been a copy-thing. I just mean I think it’s cool that people are revealing their flaws more. I didn’t know if you even knew about her channel or not.
(I’ve been accused of plagiarism too when working on a project before someone else’s was even released. 😅 I wouldn’t wanna do that to you)
Oh, I'm sure I'll have more than 10 things I wish I could've fixed by the time I'm done with mine lol
I was confused when my editors ADDED adverbs to my work. LOL
You and Abbie Emmons are teachers for me. I'm proud of you
Sometimes mistakes are a good add but not always.
hey Vivien, first of all thank you for all your videos, they are helpful for creating our own stories (without making too many mistakes haha).
Do you have a video, or could you address in a new video, where you explain something about this:
Instead of giving your readers the answers, give your readers more and more questions that they (desperately) want answered.
I've heard and read something about this, but there were no clear examples for how to do this.
Could you say something about it, like what do you personally do to make your readers curious, to give them more and more questions as they continue through your story?
Maybe with some bad examples (a story that provides answers) and some good examples (a story that provides questions)
I choked when you corrected unproofed but not cops 😂😂😂😂😂
Hi, kind of feeling the same. Wished I would have made my pback colored instead of bw. Found typos took book down then put it up. Still moving slow. This writing life, huh.
Thanks for the honesty x