Here are a few FACTS or truths that took Erin years to know.

• FACT: Your book will never be perfect. Even the best authors, the best writers, and publishing companies miss things.
  • So if you see a typo or grammatical error, please copy and paste then send it to our office@narrowroadpublishinghouse.com so we can look into it and fix it.
  • If you keep showing us our mistakes, you may just find we offer you an opportunity to proofread for us as one of our independent contractors—training to expand your new workers@home business and we will probably provide you with a raving review!
• FACT: If the content is worth consuming it doesn’t matter how messy it is. 
  • My first "book" was horrendous. Seriously. Misspelled words, the worst punctuation you could even imagine, nevertheless, because it came from my shattered, stomped-on heart, there were women coming from every direction saying how it changed their lives.
  • We can help you with grammar, punctuation, a great cover, title, etc. What we can't do is put the meat in your book and I'm not talking plant-based content either figurately speaking that is.
• FACT: The more places you can use the built-in spell check, the better. HOWEVER, if you really are ignorant to that punctuation mark, like my proofreader changing all my long dashes— for a colon:  then you might think that the long dash was wrong when it was just the proofreader's “preference.” I wouldn’t have known that had God not sent me incredible editors, like Vivian from Singapore who is brilliant and successful and who later told me “Erin you really don’t need an editor, your writing is so good” that later another brilliant friend told me when I shared something I wrote, not asking her to edit or proofread but since she said errors just “jump out” I was hoping she’d find something so I could fix it.
• FACT: Overusing adjectives or using a thesaurus is hard for your readers to consume—it's like a burger that is layered so high you can't bite into it and eventually all the ingredients end up falling out from the bun. The only time I use the thesaurus is when I keep using the same word or I simply can't think of the word I am trying to say. 
  • If you don't use the word when you are talking to someone, don't use it.
• FACT: Some of the people closest to you can be your first proofreaders and/or editors.
  • "One of the first times I helped someone with a book they've written, this Aspiring Author had written her book, dozens of pages, over a couple of days. There were no paragraphs, no chapters, no sentences really, and no punctuation nor capital letters. She'd had it for years and it's only when her relative married into our family that I was asked to maybe help.
  • "At the time I was so busy I really couldn't help but that was part of God's plan so I could see how what I've said for years "just write and let it flow, don't worry about punctuation" was confirmed. So I explained how to tackle this project. Two of this woman's daughters worked on the book and got it to different phases when I'd look at it again and pass on more of how to do it."
• FACT: Choose who you ask to read what you’ve written. I choose wisely. By the time my mother began proofreading for me, I’d spoken just about everything in my heart to her—so she knew what I was trying to say. Women listen from their hearts so the closer the woman is to you, the more she can help you express your thoughts and feelings for readers who don’t know you.    
• FACT: built-in grammar and spell-checkers are not foolproof, I know, because “I am a fool God enjoys using to confound the wise.”