Revisions More Important than Editing

There is a difference between revising and editing. Editing is when you're making sure all your punctuation is correct, your grammar is correct, your story makes sense, and all loose ends are tied up. Revisions, however, make sure your writing is as good as it can possibly be, and that means anything and everything is up for grabs. You can add new scenes, or delete them, you can put in new subplots, or delete them, or you can rewrite entire scenes, paragraphs or sentences. It can be as simple as changing a single word. Revisions are like the "topping it off" or the "grand finale" stage of writing a book. The point in the creation of a book that makes it what it's going to be.

Make no mistake, editing is a necessary stage, too. It was the editing stage, not the revision stage where the first edition of Killer of Killers was lacking. KOK had undergone all the necessary revisions to make it the story it became, but the editing, as noted before, was lacking, and that's why it had to be re-edited and released as a second edition.

But why was it called a second edition? Because anytime you make changes to a book to the degree that I had to make with KOK, even with just the editing, then it's called a second edition. If it were just a few things here and there, maybe it wouldn't be necessary to call it a second edition, but no, the editing was far more extensive than just here or there. It covered nearly the entire book--cover to cover. Thus, the second edition.

And so what? If anything, the first editions may accumulate more value in the future, as first editions do sometimes, but the second edition is better written and more accurate as far as POV is concerned. And literary connoisseurs will know the difference. So I am glad that Melange made it happen, and I invite anyone who's read the book to write a review. (If you liked it, that is.) Let me know how you felt. If you do, I'll send you a free copy of the sequel, Killer Eyes, which should be ready to be published by this summer. Until then.