Pat Gaudette


AuthorWeb DeveloperPublisher

Publisher

People often ask me what is it that I do for a living. I actually do many things but they all have a common link: words. I put words on paper and on the Web, for myself and for others.

As a publisher my skills are in:

Bookmaking: No gambling involved, other than the gamble all authors take when they write a book. In this context, the type of bookmaking I do for authors includes:

  • Proofreading: My best asset is being able to catch even the most minute of errors that virtually every other proofreader misses. The flip side of this, I don’t expect to make errors so I don’t catch my own errors until months after publication date.
  • Book Editing: An author loses credibility when their book doesn’t have a consistent ‘voice’ or theme and is full of errors in spelling and punctuation. I can catch virtually all of the spelling and punctuation errors while proofreading. If you want editing, proofreading is included. Light editing is to review for grammar and suggest revisions. Heavy editing is doing a major rewrite of the author’s words.
  • Ghostwriting is writing books for authors who have a story to tell but who don’t have the time, or don’t have the skill, to write it themselves. We do extensive sessions by phone, email, or in person and then I put it together in the author’s “voice.”
  • Book Design: A good story needs to be matched with the right page layout, typography, cover design, and interior graphics. Should it be paperback or hardcover; a small page size, 5×8 or 6×9, or larger?
  • Book Production: Typesetting, incorporating design elements and front matter, and making the book press-ready for the printer or for distribution as an e-book.

Self-Publishing: My first book, How to Survive Your Husband’s Midlife Crisis, was published in 2003 by Perigee, a division of Penguin Putnam. In 2011 publishing rights reverted back to me and my co-author, Gay Courter. My company has republished the book in print and ebook versions, changing the cover design, interior typography, and page size.

I have self-published more than ten books in print and ebook versions as well as helped other authors self-publish their books. Self-publishing eliminates the need for an agent (to present the author’s book to publishing houses, negotiate terms, and act as intermediary between author and publisher), a book proposal for non-fiction books (sometimes harder to write than the actual book), and the lengthy process through editors, copy editors, marketing reps, graphic artists, and typesetters.

I particularly enjoy being able to publish shorter books for the Kindle at a much lower price to the reader. These Kindle ‘shorts’ focus on relationship issues such as midlife divorce, cyber cheating, and dating after divorce.