On That A-Minus

BookLife gave Religion Unburdened by Belief an A- in editing. I appreciate the A, but the - stings. As a first-time author, I thought I did everything you’re supposed to do: 19 beta readers and professional editor Nicholas Carter. That’s enough, right? Then I recorded the audiobook.

Reading your own prose aloud reveals what silent editing misses—awkward phrasings and redundant clauses. I caught dozens of glitches that had survived every earlier pass. The real revelation came afterward, listening back to the recording with a print copy in front of me—more fixes, more edits. Damn, I was still finding things right up to the offset printer’s deadline.

I wish I’d done both before submitting to BookLife.

Silver lining: the version available today incorporates all those fixes—more polished than what BookLife and Kirkus reviewed. ✨