Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
Bulletin Board
>
Errors in Ebook Grammar- help.
date
newest »
newest »
Boy...that's up to you. I've been on loops where this discussion has gone on all week. People who say they've had four edits by professionals will complain about the typos etcHave you gotten a lot of these kind of reviews? No? Then take it with a grain of salt. Some people really and truly have nothing better to do. I read voraciously. I have read books in hardback from NY publishers which have errors...
Was the story good? Were the characters engaging? Did I want to read more?
If these questions are answered in the negative....then you start looking for reasons to dis the book.
Hence the grammar nit pickers.
HOWEVER...learn from your mistakes...Pay attention the possibilities of their/they're. Reign/rein/rain...whatever. Too much and people will think you're being lazy....
I'm in the same boat. My book had, and still does have, some formatting issues. I don't think they're heinous, but I'm in the process of correcting them a bit at a time. Though I did have one reviewer say it was an unreadable disaster (he also told me that "militaries" is not a word, so I ignored him for the most part) most who have read it pointed to the mistakes while praising the content, so I'm using my shoddy mechanics as a growing experience. It is my very first book after all. I know how much doing an umpteenth edit can suck, but its got to be done. Good luck with your writing!
To begin with, I recommend you try not to get too upset when a Moody McCrankypants goes off on a few grammatical errors. I do think you should correct errors when they come to your attention, but there will always be those few people who will find something to complain about. With regards to someone expecting a HEA ending, that's very much their problem. They may be looking to fiction to compensate for the fact that their lives have not had the HEA and get pissed off when the book they've chosen to read doesn't do it for them. But just like it's not realistic to expect that real life will always go HEA, it's not realistic to expect that all fiction will go that direction either.
I have ordered a printed proof...an advanced reading copy if you will and read that...I' ve not only found grammar errors...but continuity errors...so give that a try: just order a proof from Createspace before uploading the POD copy of your novel. That's a big help
I don't understand how anyone can knowing have errors and not want to correct. It reflects poorly on the author. Still, I don't ever reading a book, even one from a tradtional publisher, that was error free. As to a HEA, my opinion is that every book, even those in a series should function as a standalone.
There's no excuse for not correcting errors you know and proofreading the hell out of a book. Bad SPaG is the one thing guaranteed to irk readers who fork over money.As to HEAs--romance readers expect them. Or at least a solid HFN. The HEA is why the majority read the genre. So you definitely will alienate people who expect to get their fix so to speak. They will spew their dislike into negative reviews, so more people will know your books are without HEAs.
I'd own up to that before people buy. State that the book has no HEA in your blurb, and if it's a serial then state that as well. You will lose readers, but at least no one will get angry.
S.K. Logsdon wrote: "So I had somebody review my Novel complaining there are tons of errors in my novel. No one has complained other than this person. They also complained that the book didn't have a HAPPY EVER AFTER...."
Hell no. Anyone who will stop paying attention to the story because of a few typos is depriving themselves of all the fun. Especially if they're reading erotica! I haven't read a book from a big publishing house in decades that doesn't have at least a couple of mistakes. Spend your time writing more books instead.
Lou wrote: "That is beyond strange, and I've never heard anything like that happening. What software were you using?"I agree. I use both Macs and PCs and never come across this. I've had cases where MS-Word mixes up US and UK English, but I don't think that's what you're getting at.
Some people are unable to review something objectively. I think they believed their displeasure with the ending have them the right to blast if to pieces. Take it as the reviewer demonstrating their ignorance. If you want to edit & republish go ahead, but only if you feel it's right.
If you can fix the problem, do it. Some readers might not be bothered by a couple of grammatical issues, but many will. I personally start gritting my teeth after the first couple of typos/errors. If it's bad enough, it will affect my review. If it's really bad, no matter how good the story is, I'll just stop reading altogether.
Sherri wrote: "Some people are unable to review something objectively. I think they believed their displeasure with the ending have them the right to blast if to pieces. Take it as the reviewer demonstrating thei..."There's little more objective than SPaG. Pick the BE or the AE system, stick with it, check and re-check. That's what a proof/line editor is for with a normal publisher, that's what buyers quite rightfully expect from a self-pubbed author as well. Authors shouldn't be arrogant. A self-publishing author's SPaG has to be as much tippy-top as that of authors published by the big six. That is why you get a bigger cut! No one will freak out over 1 or 2 errors, but if there are so many that readers notice... O.o
Once more--HEAs. It is a genre convention. Romance or romance-anything (except bittersweet romance) expect it. You will only anger readers if you don't announce there is none.
As to serials (a series of books which have no self-contained story-arc and end more or less in cliffhangers), they are getting a rising backlash currently. Especially when sprung on readers without advance notice. A few extraordinary authors may still pull it off, but I've by now seen dozens of readers openly refusing to buy the instalments and state so in their usually rather low-rating reviews. I dislike this business model myself as a reader, so I can readily understand where the dislike originates from. Again, warn people before they buy and invest money and reading time. It again doesn't pay to behave in an asshattish manner.
Not sure about the whole issue of readers not liking serials, or do you mean when the serials aren't clearly marked as such? A lot of what I read are serial type mystery fiction, where I get involved with the characters and want to revisit them for their next adventure. But I do get that the reader should know what they are getting.
K.T. wrote: "Not sure about the whole issue of readers not liking serials, or do you mean when the serials aren't clearly marked as such? A lot of what I read are serial type mystery fiction, where I get involv..."There are series of books and serial books. Both are different animals.
A series of books usually has a common or several common protagonists, but each book has an own story arc and can be read as a standalone. Prominent examples are the Harry Potter books or for instance Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot series.
Serial books are long (or sometimes even not so long) books chopped up into 3-4 chapter-chunks and then sold in these chunks. The story arc stretches from the first to the last instalment, none of these instalments, even though sold as books, can stand alone or come to any satisfying conclusion. The conclusion takes place after the reader bought the last chop-chop. Examples are common currently among erotica or erotic romances. The Flesh Cartel #1: Capture for instance, with each instalment having 60-70 pages and costing in the region of £2.00 That lifts the price at 14 chunks to around £28 for what amounts to one or two longish books all put together.
People definitely are starting to resent the latter business model.
Hi, S.K.,I edit for a living. Because it’s part of who I am, I discuss the editorial aspect of every book I review, if the writing merits criticism. I’m not being irascible when I do that; I’m simply commenting on something that’s a major portion of my life. Errors jump off the page at me, and when they’re numerous enough they yank me out of the story. That’s irritating. I’m far from the only one who feels that way too. You’ll probably have many kinds of readers, from those who don’t notice grammatical errors to those who see everything that’s wrong. You can’t please everyone, but it’s only common courtesy to ensure that your book is as polished as possible before publication.
I know nothing about your editor, of course, but many, many people who call themselves editors have no business doing so. There’s a site called Elance.com on which you can post a job, add a description, and offer a budget. Editors can then send you offers and samples. It has built-in skill tests they can take, and the results are posted directly on their profile page so that you can rate their talent up front. You should look into it.
As far as your trying to self-edit goes, it’s impossible. The best writers and editors in the world can’t do it. You can’t distance yourself sufficiently from your own writing to see every mistake, and you’ll miss everything from continuity gaffes to typos. Our brains fool us into seeing what isn’t there (as in missing words and letters) and skipping things that are (as in repeated words and typos). At the very least, get people who have never seen your book to read it and ask them to look for problems. They don’t have to be editors, either.
Also, consider this: for every person who complains about a problem with your book, there are probably a few who said nothing about it, so it doesn’t matter that only one person commented on the lack of good editing. Try to learn from every valid criticism. And don’t be discouraged!
Lou wrote: "You don't have to have a HEA at the end of your romance, but there should be least some sort of HFN. When the reader picks up a book she rightfully expects a complete story with beginning, middle, ..."I have yet to read an indie book that doesn't need editing. Most that I've read weren't even ready for that stage; they needed to be rewritten first.
My point in my earlier post was that if you can't afford an editor but really want to publish, you should at least have someone else look at your manuscript beforehand.
Lou wrote: "C.M.J. wrote: "My point in my earlier post was that if you can't afford an editor but really want to publish, you should at least have someone else look at your manuscript beforehand. "There are ..."
Yes, there are many types of editors/editing, and yes, mistakes do make it through!
Do it for you if not for the readers. You know there are errors, even if only a few, and if you published through Amazon or Smashwords, it is easy to do, so why keep them there?
I don't think I would have complained for a few words myself but I do admit that 'their' instead of 'there' or 'you're' instead of 'your' would bug me because (to me at least) they are more noticeable than any other common misused words, yet they are still misused.
You don't need to have Amazon send a notification to people who already purchased it, but at least the ones who will buy your book in the future won't be able to complain.