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Know any good author who has good grammar/ good editing skills?
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Mod
I have been looking for a source for the "best self-published" books
Kernos wrote: "By m/m do you mean romance and erotica? IME, self published, eBook only books are largely poorly edited and proofed, if at all. I avoid. There are some exceptions. I read for review what could have..."eeep yeah, that's a shame. i just read a book that was missing a lot of helping verbs and had many misspellings. A shame. Now I'm sort of leaning towards published books.
hmm, but I haven't thought of the best self-published books yet XD; sure wish someone had made a list of it on GR :D
@lil: oh, nancy drew is on my "childhood reads" shelf; meaning i read it when i was a kid :D i saw some Josh Lanyon and JSP stuff, but I balk at paying a certain price for books with only 100-180 pages. One of my pet peeves are authors who charge quite a bit for stories that aren't even a hundred pages long.
Ann Somerville writes amazing m/m and she runs all her stuff through numerous people before pubbing.http://www.smashwords.com/profile/vie...
(Note: I can't say you won't find error, but I know that Ann works very hard at catching all of them and her stuff is probably the cleanest I've ever seen, better than many "mainstreaam" publishing houses even).
She also notes poor grammar/typos when she reviews books over at Outlaw reviews
http://reviews.logophilos.net/
thanks for the links :Doh too bad not all of ann's works are available in amazon. i only buy my ebooks from there as i have a gc balance
Mod
yes, that's true. as of the moment, i'm relying on the free samples.
As a reviewer who accepts all genres, whether traditionally or independently published, I have observed there are errors in books from traditional publishers in a similar way from self-pubs also. Considering the trads standard have editors, I really think that's especially unacceptable though mistakes happen. I don't think self-published authors should receive discrimination wholesale simply because they choose to produce independently. Doing so doesn't necessarily mean they were not acceptable. It is very difficult to get a review for indie writing, especially in the gay fiction genre which I write in(I differentiate from m/m fiction), because so many people are automatically biased against self-pubs. That is one reason I began my review/interview group, Flying With Red Haircrow: to provide more opportunities for these authors to receive objective consideration.
There are some self-published writers who so need to retake (if they ever did) English Composition and actually apply it in their work. One's writing is reflective of oneself, the attention to detail, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Places like Smashwords, Createspace etc. all suggest writers to secure an editor if they are having problems or poor feedback regarding editing. They suggest cost effective means to do so, and on some writer's forums you can find free offers for service.
I have six works published, half traditionally, half indie, and I consider it a reflection upon myself if they are poorly edited. I do my own editing, but I also have betas who give me feedback and I revise as necessary before publishing. If my work isn't liked, I want it to be because it wasn't to the reader's tastes. I don't wish them badly reviewed because there were so many errors.
Mod
Red, I'm not quite sure what a beta is. Is that a reader who looks just for spelling and grammar areas, or do they look at content too? Kernos, I read several of Red's stories and find them to be on par with traditionally published works. It's a shame to miss out on quality writers just because they publish independently.
Nancy wrote: "Red, I'm not quite sure what a beta is. Is that a reader who looks just for spelling and grammar areas, or do they look at content too? Kernos, I read several of Red's stories and find them t..."
i volunteered as a beta for some authors on adultfanfiction.net. i just normally looked at spelling and grammar errors. i'm not sure if other betas do the same or more, though.
Mod
My problem with indies is there are so many and I have not found a good source to triage the authors in areas I'm interested in for e-books (SFF, erotica). A number of indies I have read have had major problems an editor could have helped with.
I read Red's short piece about the hat check boy and found it very well written. I wanted more and wish it would be fleshed out into a novel.
I was reading a sample of a book I was extremely interested in. There were two double negatives in one short paragraph in the first few pages. I wonder if that's a bad omen :P
Before I self-published my novel, I had an editor friend read through it for mistakes.He went on to tell me he missed some after it was published. I found them when I re-read my own novel. I republished a new version which was available for a short time before I had to discontinue it as I now have a legitimate book contract for the book.
My concern is that anyone with the now 'limited release' version can enjoy all those original mistakes.
Kevin wrote: "Before I self-published my novel, I had an editor friend read through it for mistakes.He went on to tell me he missed some after it was published. I found them when I re-read my own novel. I re..."
I think it's almost impossible to get all the mistakes at once; but it's obvious who takes the effort to get their work edited and who doesn't by the product itself. Some are just so riddled with errors it's ridiculous. But I think the great thing with ebooks is that authors can upload an edited version of their book, although I'm not sure yet how this works. I think Amazon then asks a customer who bought the book before if they want to download the update or something.
Some betas look for spelling and grammar. It depends on what you request from them, and the kind of betas they choose to be. The ones I usually have look mostly for inaccuracies, tense issues and readability. I have others who just give me feedback on characters and ideas. As my first language is not English, though it's the one I primarily write in these days, I have a special two who know my idiosyncratic "English" :-) and who keep my "accent" from bleeding over into my written work when it is not applicable.In the case with "The Coat", as with the majority of my available work save one, it is directly based on an occurence in my life. That's what happened, so that's all the story contains, at that point...but it did go further, which is why there is a sequel to come. It's not a sore point for me, but it's been observed before where people marked one of my stories low only because they thought it should have been longer. I find that deeply ironic as they suggest I should have written my story to meet their tastes, when I don't even do that for myself. I write what the situation and characters themselves require to be effective. But when someone gives me novel length vacations, better health and extra time, one looks to complete several longer works already in progress :-)
At Smashwords you can upload a revision of your work if you have reedited it. However, the original version remains available to those who've already purchased it. When you make a revision, it goes back into queue and has to be reapproved, so there is a delay. In the Kindle format, you can also go back and upload a revised copy, and a delay again applies before the "new" copy is available to buyers. Writers use the same template/format upload application to resubmit their ebook.
I recently reviewed an ebook from an indie, that was beyond ridiculous where they seemed to have forgotten caplocks were randomly on throughout the book. I found myself thinking a joke of some sort had been played, as they couldn't be serious. Just the same, last night I finished reading one of my favorite authors, C.J. Cherryh's latest in the Foreigner Series. I was simply agonized it had some outstanding errors. With that level of publishing, editing, etc. it's unfortunate, BUT how many readers will attribute that to the author? I believe none. Were it an indie, I think the percentage would be far greater.
@red: that's true but I've yet to encounter errors in the books i've read that have been published by the known publishers. of course, it's entirely plausible that some, even with that level of attention, still escape notice or the editors have just been lazy :P in that case, the reason why few would attribute it to the author is probably because they entrusted their work to the publisher and trusted that it would be edited, since the publisher has a reputation to uphold.that said, i still enjoy indie authors, but it's just so frustrating when the story is marred by too many errors. i've been more cautious though, and have found many gems :)
Most of the authors I read for tend to worry first about the story first. After that is settled we generally focus on the basics. I have tons of old grammer text books that I pass out to each new author i pick up. What hate most is if they have problems with descriptions I always suggest using actions figures or dolls to get the right imagery.
Wyndslash, it was rather a rhetorical question, but I'm an avid reader and book store owner (where I sell my surplus, that's how many I have), and I guess it's my "editor's eyes", but in roughly 70% there have been some errors of some kind, even if it's only one or two. I read everything from history to children's to old style gothic romance but primarily sci-fi/fantasy, and I've found certain genres are more likely to have errors, indie or traditionally published. Without exception, it's always been erotic romance.
Red wrote: "Wyndslash, it was rather a rhetorical question, but I'm an avid reader and book store owner (where I sell my surplus, that's how many I have), and I guess it's my "editor's eyes", but in roughly 70..."ah, i see what you mean.
Red, I have to say if English is not your first language, your mastery of it in these posts is incredible :-)It's the worst that the errors are mainly in erotica, because that is where it is a real involvement killer...
I would kid myself I could do my own editing because I have a high regard for my proofreading skills, having done that in various jobs. But there is no doubt that a fresh pair of eyes is invaluable.
So this time I'm seeking help :D Anyone know good m/m authors (indie, self-published, published, etc) whose works have been well-edited and polished? :)