I should have hired a copy editor (or "I can't believe how many typos there are in my book")

I asked the AI Blog Post Image Generator to give me something related to the prompt "book editor." On its own, the app apparently decided this fake editor must have fat fingers.

If there's a lesson in today's post, it's that when you're doing something that's important to you, be willing to put in the time and spend the resources (dollars included) needed to ensure it's done right.

I know this now. I wish I would have known it a year ago when I started working on my book.

"5 Kids, 1 Wife" is my little contribution to the publishing world. Yet again, I will mention that it's available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and a variety of obscure online bookstores of which you and I have never heard.

It is likely the only book I will ever write, so you would think I would have done everything I could to make it perfect. Or as close to perfect as can be reasonably expected.

I did hire both an interior book designer and a separate designer to create the cover. No way I was going to try either of those things on my own.

My mistake was not hiring someone else to edit the actual text.

I have enough experience in editorial matters to know that no matter how many times you read your own copy, you're not going to catch all of the mistakes. You need a second (and sometimes a third) set of eyes to polish the sentences over which you have labored and agonized.

But what did I do? I read through the book myself a total of six times, figuring that would be sufficient and that surely there couldn't be any typos left.

This was an unwise decision.

I always assumed one or two boo-boos would get through in the finished book, but I've come to realize it's more than one or two.

As I type this sentence in early March, I'm a little more than halfway through recording the audio version of the book, and it seems like I'm discovering some painful little slip-up or another in every other post.

Missing words, double words, wrong usage, comma splices. You name it, I think I've found it.

I have no idea how I could have screwed up so many times.

And even less idea why I was so cheap that I didn't bite the bullet and allow a professional editor to correct my errors.

If you've not yet read the book, please don't let this deter you from purchasing a copy.

Please also understand that the author is a bit of a moron. A penny-pinching moron who is now paying the price for this own tight-fistedness.

Again, expend the resources to make your passion project as good as it can be, that's my advice to you.