Words by Sooz

Last month, I wrote a post titled “Should eBook editing be allowed post-game? ” At the time, I more against it than I was for it. I felt that ebooks were much like regular books – although I know there are several different printings with many books – in that the books should be held sacred. Sacred might be too harsh of a word, but books to some people are tools to escape and become part of a different reality. Many people enjoy their books in ways that others enjoy food, wine and even intense work outs. After reading several self-published books, I've changed my mind. I'm now in the camp that there should be editing allowed even after a novel or short story is published, especially through sites such as Smashwords. The books just need to be clearly labeled in the beginning that it's the second or third publishing of a work. There have been some books I read through Smashwords and thought: “This could be a good book if only ...” It doesn't ...

A little less than a year ago, Allen Schatz published his first book on Smashwords. Going the self-publishing route didn't come easy to him. He had an agent and when that didn't work out, Schatz took advantage of the growing industry. Since then he's become his own PR agent as well. In this Q&A, I talk to Schatz about marketing himself while trying to maintain his writing lifestyle and not letting his "real" job get in the way. Read the interview after the jump:

A Forbes piece written yesterday has raised some interesting points regarding editing of eBooks. We're not talking about the process before an eBook gets published, but editing after it's on the market. The article brings up a point that eBooks can be changed within days if the author wanted. As a reporter who started in print and worked her way onto the web, the idea of making changes didn't start out easy. A mistake required a correction to run next day in the paper. Mulling over sentences not really allowed much either because of strict deadlines. But now if something comes to me hours after the article is already handed in or there is mistake that needs to be changed, it can happen within minutes. Not saying changes always happen, but in essence, they could.