Down Home with Durham Editing and E-books: Special Interview

Dear RWPP's,

Today, the All Authors Blog gladly presents Durham Editing and E-books. We are so happy to have them here with us to share some of their time, knowledge, current work and experiences. So brace yourselves, this is going to be some good stuff.

Durhams, thank so much for joining us today. It's great to have you. We here at All Authors enjoy nothing more than networking with other people/companies in this industry. We believe that we should all stick together.

Today you'll be interviewed by our Founder and Creator, the President of All Authors P&P, Ms. Y. Correa.

1. (Shaking hands and smiling) Welcome, Durhams! Thanks for joining me. Please sit, sit. Could you please tell us a little bit about Durham Editing and E-books, what you do and why?

Hi, Y! Thanks for having us. Durham Editing and E-books is a small, online editing company that also offers e-book and print-on-demand formatting and cover design. We also offer publishing opportunities for writers which, in turn, brings us to the why part of your question.

We do what we do for two reasons: 1) to help authors get going in the e-publishing world and expand their audiences, and 2) to be able to look our kids in the eyes and tell them that we’re proud of the work we do and that it helps others, especially helping others share their story with the world.

2. I'd love to know a little bit about how you started out. How, why and when was Durham Editing established?

We started out in the e-publishing world back in 2010 when we both released our first poetry collections. We started getting involved in the indie world, and we realized that we weren’t the only people who felt a little uncertain and even overwhelmed when faced with releasing their first indie publication. We saw a real need for quality, affordable editing, formatting, and cover design and decided to help fill it. We began freelancing, and in 2011 Durham Editing and E-book Design was born. In 2013, we decided to put together a poetry anthology in honor of National Poetry Month. It was an absolute blast, and so our publishing opportunities were born. We also shortened our name in 2013 to Durham Editing and E-books since it just felt more natural to us and our clients.

3. That's a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing. Now as a publisher, literary advocate and author, I know the importance AND difficulty of editing. I also see that that is one of your specialties. Could you tell us a little bit about your editing services and how they differ from others?

We offer different levels of editing based on each writer’s needs. We offer basic editing--you know, spelling, grammar, typos, punctuation, flow, some syntax. We also offer content editing that’s more in depth, helping with syntax, conciseness, clarity, coherence, and basic editing. We also have manuscript consultations which are a great “pre-editing” service.

We have a couple real differences from most of our competitors. The first big difference is price. We try to save our writers as much money as we can. That means that if we can offer you some suggestions that would take your needs down a bit on the cost scale, we try to offer those to clients. The reason we do this is really tied to our second difference. That second reason is our love and support of our authors. We love our writers, and there is really no other way to put it. We try to promote our writers and help them expand their audience. If that means they contact us to tell us about a promotion they are running on their book, we tell people about. We also do Featured Author blog posts that feature our authors. We even promote the authors who work on our anthologies with us. We want to help authors make it in the e-publishing world, and we do everything we can to help them.

4. I am also aware that Durham Editing has put together several anthologies. Could you please share the inspirations behind those anthologies, as well as the premise?

We do these anthologies to help authors widen their audience and even to get started in e-publishing. Our thought process is that there is power in numbers, and if indie writers pool their work into a really great collection, then every writer featured benefits. Every writer has at least one reader--even if it is just him or her. If that reader is exposed to every other author in the collection, then each author in the collection has the opportunity to win over a new reader. It’s a win-win situation. For new writers, it is also a way to get involved in e-publishing that is supportive and caring, an experience that is sometimes hard to find. We offer opportunities in short stories, poetry, memoirs, Christmas stories, and more, so there is always something going on.

5. From all of Durham Editing’s anthologies, which is your personal favorite and why?

Wow. Our favorite. That’s a really hard question. Each one is so special on its own. The poetry anthology for 2013 will probably always be our most-loved as it is what really got us going in the publishing opportunity field.

6. I realize that you regularly take submissions for upcoming anthologies. What is it that you look for in a submission? What catches your attention when reading over the vast amount of entries that you receive?

We look for good writing first and foremost. We want writing that is open and inviting to a wide variety of readers and will embrace rather than reject. Our Christian values really guide us, as well.

7. Could you tell us a little bit about what services Durham Editing offers and how they benefit the recipients?

When you hear that first impressions matter, this couldn’t be more true that in publishing. Every writer can benefit from a second set of eyes. We actually offer two sets of eyes to each piece. We also offer manuscript consultations that offer writers advice and insight into their manuscripts’ character development, plot, dialogue, pacing, and coherence, and are a really invaluable service for new writers--or seasoned writers for that matter.

8. Now, this may be a little bit of a biased conversation piece, but we here at All Authors are extremely proud of our very own Nicola (Nikki) McDonagh & Queen of Spades, who happened to make it into Words of Fire and Ice. That being said, what things were you looking for when putting together that particular poetry anthology and why?

With Words of Fire and Ice, we wanted poetry that really rocked both sides of the balance, the passionate and the pointed. We wanted poetry that truly made an impression on the reader and would invite some sort of personal introspection as well.

9. What sort of things do you envision Durham Editing doing in the future?

Our real dream is to keep doing what we are doing: helping indie authors make it in the e-publishing world. It doesn’t get much better than this.

10. Could you please share with us where our readers/followers can connect with you? Also would you please share some closing words, maybe something inspirational?

Certainly. We can always be found at http://editingandebooks.com. We can also be found on Twitter (@DurhamEditing), Pinterest (Durham Editing), Linked In (Durham Editing and E-books), Google+ , and Facebook (Durham Editing and E-book Design). You can also follow our RSS feed or join our mailing list via our website.

We owe our success to the Lord, and we hope to pass that love and success on to all the writers we work with. It is truly our honor to work with all of them. Helping writers’ publish their masterpieces is our dream come true.

As April wrote in Words of Fire and Ice, “No matter the strength of the proverbial sticks and stones, words have a power that no other thing holds. Words can build and break, create and destroy, inspire and defeat.” What will your words do?

Thank you, Y., for taking the time to talk with us and to let us share a little about our company and services. It’s been a true pleasure. Best wishes and God bless!

Well, thank you so much, once again for being here. It was a lovely time. We hope to have you again very soon. Maybe with a guest blog post about your books.

Cheers!

Y. Correa