Your Complete Publisher Specializing in Unabridged Works

Proper search is not only a key factor in publishing but a legal necessity. We at The Pyrateheart Press love research . Well, not really, but we do it to the nth degree to ensure we don’t hit any legal snags. Not what you were thinking when I said research? Yep, I know.

However, I thought I would throw it out there that research is a publisher’s best friend. It keeps us from getting sued because we used someone’s name we shouldn’t have or used an image improperly , etc. Well, you get the idea. It is especially important since we don’t censor our authors. We edit and proofread and check their facts and inferences. Inferences? Yep. What you infer can be as damaging legally as what you actually say so we make sure it is legal.

Research plays so much in a story’s development. Even if you are making it all up. Say you create a world for a fantasy series . You go all Tolkien on me. Created a world with its own languages and characters and rules. Well, where did you get those rules? How did you develop them? And how will you use them in your series? This too is research. Fact checking against your own rules is research.

The story doesn’t work if you don’t keep it all in tune. So many writers who write large works have to keep a series of notes near them to keep things like birthdays , dates for major events , etc. to ensure their stories follow their own timelines. When they are done, I have to research and check to make sure they did.

 Also research out the facts inferred in so many stories. We don’t censor an author for what they want to say. We do however check for accurate facts. If you mention Covid-19 in a story we research everything about the disease to ensure the facts in evidence are accurate. We also make sure they fit the story. If a fact has no place in the story, we get rid of it.

Censorship ? Nope, good editing. To publish something unabridged means you have made sure it is correct, accurate and follows the path the author laid out from beginning to end.

I can’t tell you how important research is in publishing. I have seen an entire work get rewritten because the author based a story on a single fact. Built an entire series on this fact only to discover it was wrong. They’d read the fact and quote it wrong. Not to worry. We salvaged the story by making the discovery of the incorrect fact a later part of the story. Made the character realize everything he’d ever believed was based on a lie. A nice twist if I might say so. Only it wouldn’t have been necessary if the writer had done their research.

We check everything. EVERYTHNG! Then we check it again and then we hand it off to someone else to check to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

When you publish works without limits you find you need limits. I don’t mean about subject matter or content. Ronnie’s Revenge is a perfect example of this. Ronnie is a harsh book centered around a woman’s need for revenge. It is based upon Biblical principles. Principals the lead character (Ronnie) hates. She hates God. It is a violent story. A story of abuse and rape and revenge. It would be a horror story if it wasn’t a Christian thriller .

However, such stories require proper research. You quote the Bible you better damn well get it right or there will always be hell to pay from those who carry Bibles. You talk about the Vatican or a church or any such things you better have your facts in a row. You discuss horrible details about rape and abuse you once again better have your facts right. You write about fictional men in powerful positions others may currently hold and yes, you better have your facts straight.

The story is the same. It stayed the same throughout the entire process of bringing it from concept to completion. However, we check the facts . The facts which apply to the real world and the ones which only apply to the books characters. When you research you do both. Check for real world applications and the ones created in the book. Then you check those against each other to ensure accuracy. Especially with books like Ronnie’s Revenge. People will scrutinize such works. Argue and fuss and scream and hassle. The only defense against such things is to make sure your work is accurate. Period.

So, a key word of warning to all who write. Make sure you do your research because I will.

I’m Ross, The Editor at The Pyrateheart Press and I’m out.