Thursday, July 3, 2008

Question for Writers/Authors

Wow! Life got a little busy--let's try busier--these last few months. I am doing well--recovered from my hospital stay--although this Texas heat does get the best of me. I got my daughter graduated from high school; took a trip to visit a friend in Colorado; and am now moving. We found out yesterday that we were moving...in TWO WEEKS!!! So, yes, I should be packing, but needed a break. Plus, I have had something on my heart and thought I'd throw it out here to see what some of my writer friends think.

Let me give you a little introduction first, if I may. I am legally blind and I have a computer that reads things out loud to me. I have done some volunteer work for people I know doing what I've termed "audio editing". In fact I am the official "audio editor" for an online magazine--www.heartbeatthemagazine.com. It is amazing how many mistakes I catch by listening to articles--even though they've already been proofed by the writers and the magazine editor before they are sent to me. It's usually simple things where the eyes that proofed it read what they expected it to say, but the software doesn't know what it's supposed to say and so it reads what is written.

A couple of examples are: Once, on the cooking page, the recipe said to mix the ingredients together in a bowel...gross. Don't think I'd want to eat anything mixed in a bowel. Ha! Another example was a sentence that read "Now, I know what grandmother mean when she said..." Grandmother wasn't mean...she just "meant" what she said. Many times, it is something as simple as mixing up it, is, it, if; no and on; one and on; not and note; an vs. and. I think you get the picture. I cannot catch punctuation and capitalization errors; nor can I catch mixing up words like to, too, two or there and their. A regular proofreader is still necessary for that type of thing. But, I can catch when sentences don't make sense because a word(s) is missing; a wrong word is used; or a word used in the incorrect tense, etc.

Everybody that I've done this for has been so grateful to me, telling me how invaluable my service is to them. I've frequently caught errors in work that is already published and those writers have said they wished they had me around before they published their books.

So, my question is "would this service--audio editing--be something that writers/authors would be interested in, for a reasonable fee?" I've been praying for a way to supplement my SSDI to help pay bills and just wonder if this is something worth pursuing. Would writers/authors be willing to pay for something like that? If so, what would you consider a reasonable fee?

I would love to have some feedback on this from those of you who have published or are preparing published works.

Better get back to the packing.

Thank you all so much!!

Debbie

1 comment:

Tea with Tiffany said...

Wow, thanks for visiting my blog. I remember us emailing back and forth for a while. I remember reading your stories on the Heartbeat Magazine.

I think your service would be so important to writers because that is one thing we are always told to do. But how many people actually do it? The ear picks up on what the eye cannot.

I wish you the best as you continue to serve and use your talents.

Hope to keep in touch. Thank you so much for visiting me. I love the picture on your profile. Arms wide open in the great outdoors.

Hugs from Colorado Springs,

Tiffany