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Publishing and Promoting
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Unsolicited Advice - to give or not to give?
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If it were my site, I would definitely want to be told but you're right, best to stay out of that. I may be a bit harsher if I found errors on an editor's site though. I wouldn't hire them .
I would also like to know about errors on my site. The only time I wouldn't appreciate comments is when there isn't anything one could do to correct it.
No professional author would put text on their site without thoroughly checking it for errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax, etc. I wouldn't point out these errors. The writers either don't know any better or they don't care. I think you're just asking for trouble. Its a good chance their site is a perfect reflection of their product.
Christine is so right! A web site full of errors should give a reader a clue as to how the writer writes and that may save disappointment later.However, having said that, I would send a private message to any good writer I know who has clearly just made a typo. I would hope that others would do the same for me.
My web site is run by an elderly friend of mine who enjoys playing on the pc. He is slightly dyslexic yet has been so kind in designing it I don't like to wrench it off him yet. And I am a hopeless designer. Between us, I think we get it to look OK.
But it is not just web sites where there are problems. I occasionally have a notebook near me when I'm reading and I'll note down what I perceive to be errors and email or message the writer if I know them.
We all know that it is often the messenger who gets shot but I am very grateful to those who have alerted me to slip ups. 80,000 words is a lot to achieve without a comma or something being out of place.
In short - please pm me if you notice anything I should know about and I will give you a virtual hug and box of choccies and no bullets.
Well, I'd definitely like to know. It's hard enough to edit your own stuff, and with all the website administering work added on, it's all to easy to miss something. Friends and readers have often pointed out howlers and sometimes I notice stuff myself, so goodness knows how many more typos are out there... yes, I'd definitely be grateful if someone pointed them out!
Any kind of criticism is fine with me, but it depends on how it's phrased. "Dude, your site sucks," would not be a welcome or helpful comment. But if someone politely told me that, as you put it, my fly was down, I'd appreciate it. My site is large because I've been writing for many years, and I take a long time proofing both old and new content over and over. But that doesn't mean I don't make mistakes. (BobbiJGWeiss.com -- if you see any problems, please lemme know! But be kind when you do...)
I struggle with this sometimes -- to provide feedback or not. When I'm reading an Indie author's work or website, I'm more inclined to raise issues because I know many of the Indies are cash-strapped and doing the best they can. Most of the time it's well-received (I do try to be polite), but I've had a least one that obviously couldn't be bothered with me (and her blurb had errors).So, I would much appreciate someone flagging anything for me. My writing skills are pretty good, but with my own writing, I sometimes "read over" errors as I know others do. Even now, just watch, I'll hit post on this and then find an error somewhere in it!
Rebecca, I've just looked at your profile and I have tried to see your book via the link to Amazon UK and the Goodreads' link does not work. I tried the first three.
I'm an avid reader and I have no intention of being a proofreader for an author who did not use an editor before publishing their book. Perhaps this is something SP authors do for each other, but it's amateur nonsense. You're not putting your book in front of a critique group, you're selling it. When I pay for a book, I expect it to be reasonably error free. I know even TP books will have a few typos but some of the errors in SP books are quite extensive.
If you are publishing without an editor, you are published too soon. If you want to be treated as a professional author and charge for your work, wait until you can afford to professionally polish your product before putting it out there. It's your reputation on the line. Just my opinion.
Anna wrote: "Rebecca, I've just looked at your profile and I have tried to see your book via the link to Amazon UK and the Goodreads' link does not work. I tried the first three."Thanks, Anna. I originally published the book in parts for family and friends (long story). Once I had the whole novel out, it caused confusion, so I unpublished them. However, Goodreads doesn't take them down. Maybe I should try, though, especially since now the parts show up at the top of my list. I'm in the process of changing my blurb, as well, but I really appreciate you giving it a try.
Rebecca wrote: "Anna wrote: "Rebecca, I've just looked at your profile and I have tried to see your book via the link to Amazon UK and the Goodreads' link does not work. I tried the first three."Thanks, Anna. I..."
Rebecca - they won't take them down, but you can request that a note be added to the parts stating that they are no longer available separately so that people will know that the complete work is the active edition.
Christa wrote: "Rebecca wrote: "Anna wrote: "Rebecca, I've just looked at your profile and I have tried to see your book via the link to Amazon UK and the Goodreads' link does not work. I tried the first three."..."
Thanks, Christa. I was afraid that was the answer. I just sent them an email, so will see what they say. Perhaps we can at least tag them as not available, good suggestion.
Christine wrote: "I'm an avid reader and I have no intention of being a proofreader for an author who did not use an editor before publishing their book. Perhaps this is something SP authors do for each other, but..."
I completely agree with you. I've published four novels and used professional editing and cover design for all of them. In my efforts to promote indie authors, I've offered them space on my website thesilentreader.com and its companion Facebook page. I tried reading everything I post, however I've hit a point where the lack of professional editing is compromising my ability to write well and am now only promoting indie writers who've published more than one book or are truly professionally edited.
Christine wrote: "I'm an avid reader and I have no intention of being a proofreader for an author who did not use an editor before publishing their book. Perhaps this is something SP authors do for each other, but..."
Thank you, Christine. I want to support my colleagues in the independent publishing arena, but I'm losing patience with the lack of professionalism and especially the lack of simple proofreading and editing. Thank you again.
Christine wrote: "I'm an avid reader and I have no intention of being a proofreader for an author who did not use an editor before publishing their book. It has been such a surprise to me to read so many comments in groups from writers receiving critiques and edits in reviews, and then changing their books. I agree with Christine that publishing is not a critique group.
As a TP author I was fortunate to have five go-rounds of well-needed editing by the best in the biz. It would never occur to me to publish a book that had not been professionally edited and proofread --more than once. My knowledge of grammar, tense and punctuation ended in third grade. I wasn't supposed to be a writer.
That said, admittedly, my once perfect website has gone wonky! For many years, via iWeb, and as a professional graphic designer, I was able to compulsively manage and tweak every line and letter. But iWeb is history and the newest program is out of my skill range. I am dependent on the kindness of my young grandson, who while tech savvy does not have his grandmother's designing eye.
I can't do it all--write, promote, read, promote, promote some more, AND learn this EverWeb program. No one ever writes to say, "Hey, Alice, your website's wonky." Are they just being polite? Maybe they never look past page two of my site. I know it's not professional, but honestly, I've kind of given up, I'd rather be dancing.
Alice wrote: "That said, admittedly, my once perfect website has gone wonky! For many years, via iWeb, and as a professional graphic designer..."Ugh, iWeb. I just found out yesterday that Apple stopped supporting it a long time ago. So not only can't I use it for my author blog which I was just starting to work on, but it turns out my advertising portfolio (which was built on it) has to be completely rebuilt through another system.
After about 24 hours of totally scrambling, including re-reading everything on the "website" thread and speaking with several friends it looks like I'm going to use GoDaddy to put the portfolio together, and spent most of today learning Blogger for my author site.
That said, I agree about the dancing, though in my case it's more swing and blues rather than ballroom.
Back on topic:
My intent was never to take on the role of proofreading for other authors, but since my day job involves a lot of writing for the Web, it just comes naturally as I read things. So far I've reached out to a few people as I've seen errors that are more than just my own personal and/or professional opinion (usually spelling errors), and anyone I have reached out to has been appreciative. That's good to know.
Morey- Perhaps the ability to correct and edit "on demand" goes onto the PRO column of self publishing. The entire process is fascinating.You are generous to reach out to authors to help them with their errors. Are you correcting a self published book or articles on the web?
My "uncorrected" book was given to pre publication reviewers by my publisher, having been edited by four or five editors, and I discovered in reading it myself-- one more time, that in one chapter two men were sitting in the drivers seat!!!!!
How did no one catch that, I wondered? Did any readers notice? It's just this sort of occurrence that leaves me amazed at the confidence one must have to believe one can write, self-edit, and publish.
Imagine an artist having received a critique, going into a museum and correcting their painting! A New Yorker cartoon?
Wishing you all speed and understanding of your new design program.
Glede wrote: "If it were my site, I would definitely want to be told but you're right, best to stay out of that. I may be a bit harsher if I found errors on an editor's site though. I wouldn't hire them ."Glede, I agree, because mistakes happen, but editors need a better eye.
Alice wrote: "Morey- Are you correcting a self published book or articles on the web? "90% of what I'm talking about is literally on the front page of their websites. Like I said previously, I would shy away from their actual work unless requested.
Likewise, I bite my tongue a lot when it comes to bad sites in general. Even with all the ease of templates from WP, Blogger, etc., a lot of people have a tendency to add too much extra stuff which makes the site too cluttered, so your eye doesn't know where to go first. Or they strip important elements out that make it look too spartan. Also, there are things like strange fonts and colors that can get in the way of readability.
Commenting on any of that is far trickier because you're getting into personal preferences where you're more likely to offend. In those cases I definitely just cringe and move on.
Btw, your site is great. And I had a similar issue with proofreading in one of my books. Edited, made changes, proofread online, got printer proofs, and finally printed 15 copies, and THEN discovered just one more typo (made after the editing, so it was my fault). Sheesh.
Recently, I found myself in this position. I was on another site when an author wrote something that interested me and I visited his website. While there, I read the featured book summary. Unfortunately, there were several errors. I gave it a moments thought, and decided to send the author a private email. First I advised that I was not being critical and was hoping that he would appreciate a peer pointing out the error privately, before a reader or reviewer had a field day. Knowing that I may be throwing myself into the fire if the author was offended or too full of himself, I waited. Within it the hour, a most thoughtful, appreciative and kind reply was received. The errors were fixed, we shared some knowledge between emails and all is right with the world.It could have just as easily went south on me, but I felt that if it was me, I would prefer a heads-up.
Pamela wrote: "Recently, I found myself in this position. I was on another site when an author wrote something that interested me and I visited his website. While there, I read the featured book summary. Unfortun..."I appreciate constructive criticism from my peers. My writing and professionalism improve.
Morey wrote: "Alice wrote: "That said, admittedly, my once perfect website has gone wonky! For many years, via iWeb, and as a professional graphic designer..."Ugh, iWeb. I just found out yesterday that Apple s..."
You mentioned GoDaddy. I tried them, and I think they're engine is horrible. It's hard to create a web page with them. I find Wix to be very easy by comparison, with a lot more features. Just FYI.
Bobbi wrote: "Morey wrote: "Alice wrote: "That said, admittedly, my once perfect website has gone wonky! For many years, via iWeb, and as a professional graphic designer..."Ugh, iWeb. I just found out yesterda..."
Bobbi, is it as inexpensive as GoDaddy? And it is compatible with PC/Windows 8.1? Thanks, Ellen
Try Weebly for Free It is quite good, I am still learning but if I can do it.... any one should be able to!!
Ellen wrote: "Bobbi, is it as inexpensive as GoDaddy? And it is compatible with PC/Windows 8.1? Thanks, Ellen "I'm not Bobbi, but I've been checking all these out the past few days. :)
The short version is Wix has a plan that's $4.08/month, but gives you less than the $5.99/month plan on GoDaddy and also forces you to include ads (for them, not you). Note those are regular prices and both have sales. The Wix $12.42 plan (which is better than the GoDaddy $5.99 plan) is only $6.21 for the first year, and the GoDaddy $5.99 plan is only $1/month for the first year or $2.99/month if you sign up for 2-3 years. A lot depends on exactly what your needs are, so here are the charts:
http://www.wix.com/upgrade/website
https://www.godaddy.com/hosting/websi...
I don't know about Windows compatibility for certain, but I can't imagine that would be an issue for anybody online builder.
Note that those are for if you're building a full website (like I need to for my portfolio). If you just want something simple like a blog, there are several good free options out there. On Tuesday I built this on Blogger. Never used it before, had it up in under an hour, and it looks great:
http://moreykuninbooks.blogspot.com
I'll still need to pay somebody when I'm ready to get a vanity url ("moreykuninbooks.com" without the ".blogspot"), but that's usually just around $10/year, and you'll need to do that with anybody.
The past few days I've been clicking on lots of other authors' websites, and sometimes noticed spelling, formatting, or other similar errors. Personally, if I had something like that on the main portal of my business I would want to be told about it – especially when that business is writing! However I know from experience that that can often backfire.
So what do you all think? Have you offered that type of advice on here? If it was your website in question would you be offended by it, or be grateful (though slightly embarrassed) like when someone tells you your fly is down?
To be clear, I'm not talking about subjective opinions on the actual work, but professionalism of their/your marketing.