Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
III. Goodreads Readers
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Why don't more people read Self-published authors?
Bonnie wrote: "A lot of editors are part time and paid ridiculously low fees per book. I imagine that makes a difference as to quality."Bonnie, I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Meaning that such editors are less experienced and therefore get less pay & are not as good? Or that low fees = lack of incentive to do a good job?
In any event, I would hesitate to equate, in any way, the amount of fee to quality. Furthermore, if someone is known to be an experienced and/or high-quality editor, then I imagine that s/he would have better leverage re: fees.
etc: darn typos!
Karma♥Bites ^.~ wrote: "Regardless, the more accurate wording should be 'hire a competent editor' if one's grasp of the written language is weak. The problem? Many don't know (or deny) that such applies to them. "And my point, Karma, is how is an indie author preparing their debut novel to find a competent editor when The Random Penguin cannot find one for an established author? I have seen the low levels of English language abilities first-hand as a university lecturer and the worst examples where students training to teach English to five year olds. It is a downward spiral with educators like that and to my mind it also affects the workplace inhabited by editors.
No, I did not get it the wrong way round. There are posts on this lengthy thread where someone complains of not being able to justify the costs of editors and they have received replies of "just hire an editor if you value your readers." The real problem is that a lot of us do not value the skills of editors on a cost-benefit basis.
Mercia wrote: "And my point, Karma, is how is an indie author preparing their debut novel to find a competent editor when The Random Penguin cannot find one for an established author?..."Mercia, that's non-responsive--almost similar to the argument re: trad books have errors so why complain about the SP ones? To say X doesn't mean Y. Nor does it mean that X obviates Y. Furthermore, more than a few authors have noted finding on GR some beta readers who perform editing functions. As to the quality of such? Again, it all boils down to the person doing the work--something on which you and I appear to agree.
Mercia wrote: "...There are posts on this lengthy thread where someone complains of not being able to justify the costs of editors and they have received replies of "just hire an editor if you value your readers." ..."
Unless you can point to specific posts for overall context, this doesn't mean much to me.
Karma♥Bites ^.~ wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "A lot of editors are part time and paid ridiculously low fees per book. I imagine that makes a difference as to quality."Bonnie, I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Meaning th..."
I've known a few that were overwhelmed having to take on too many projects to make decent money. Don't you think that would make it harder for them to do as thorough a job?
It's also probably different in the States as there are far more publishing houses.
There is also another enormous advantage a traditional publisher has over the single author. And that is that they are many, not one. A fresh pair of eyes is all you need, much of the time, to spot errors. Simply by having someone entirely new go through the ms is fantastically useful.And another advantage they have is that they have a reputation to maintain. They are a business. It can't get too egregious, or the stockholders will squall and the megacorporation that owns them will fire everybody. Whereas clearly many of the lone authors have no expectation whatever of a repeat customer.
Bonnie wrote: "I've known a few that were overwhelmed having to take on too many projects to make decent money. Don't you think that would make it harder for them to do as thorough a job?It's also probably different in the States as there are far more publishing houses."
Bonnie, I'm not sure that geography means much in this instance. More importantly, work is work, no matter the industry or profession or level of expertise. Being paid too little, being overworked, being under the gun re: deadlines whilst RL issues pop up--most every working person faces these types of issues.
But this didn't really answer my query re: your post. *shrug*
Sarah (Warning: Potentially Off-Topic) wrote: "But the people who should really be upset are the self-published authors who can actually write. Their books get buried in all the crap."Plus their work is 'suspect' because it is self-published. There's not much you can do about it.
Karma♥Bites ^.~ wrote: "Yes, and why is that? B/c more and more, expectations and minimum requirements keep getting lowered. The most damaging is what has been occurring w/in the educational system. If educators themselves don't know proper English and/or don't expect (or demand) that students learn the basics, then is it any wonder that there are people who instinctively don't know the difference between 'its' and 'it's'? Or singular possessive vs. plain plural? Or even worse, proclaim that it doesn't matter?"
My editor friend told me she was taken aback when it turned out that one of her clients, whose work is riddled with errors, is actually an educator. I quote:
"One of the worst samples I have ever gotten came this week, and the writer has a BA in English and teaches high school writing. OMG! Would that be like a math teacher who doesn't know how to do multiplication or division? :o"
Martyn: in defence of teachers, having to wade all year long through tons of mistakes, crappy papers and bad grammar does destroy our own skills. I've taught English for a living, and I had to actively compensate for the shitty accent and other defects I was starting to develop, just because I was surrounded with those all the time. Fortunately I was aware this might happen, and could fight it... But the truth is, if you don't expect it, it can really creep on you without your noticing, and then it's too late. :-\
Yzabel: I don't understand how wading through bad writing would destroy your own writing/editing skills. I'd think that the constant exposure to errors would make you feel all the more confident in your own abilities.
I can understand someone whose second language is English doubting because of others' errors that maybe they have misunderstood a point of grammar. There is nothing an educator hates more than the thought that you are giving the wrong information to students The problem with first language English teachers is that universities can only do so much to correct the poor teaching of grammar in schools, so students write English the way that they speak it (incorrectly).
Martyn V. wrote: "Yzabel: I don't understand how wading through bad writing would destroy your own writing/editing skills. I'd think that the constant exposure to errors would make you feel all the more confident in..."I thought so, too, but it's not so easy.
Sorry, I posted my comment from my phone, so I didn't really develop. Rather than exposure to bad writing, as far as English goes, the real culprit is perhaps more "having to make use of simple vocabulary and grammar only, on a daily basis." I taught ESL at middle-school level, so I was limited in that regard—you can't really talk about the LHC, genetics, or 19th American authors to 11-year old kids who can barely talk about their own family and pets. Hadn't I gone on reading books and magazines dealing with science, literature, history, and so on, I'd probably have lost more of my skills than I did. Since I've noticed the same problem with other teachers (not only languages: math and history were involved, too), I know I'm not the only one.
Skills can easily deteriorate when you don't use them to their full extent. Maybe university teachers don't have this problem, or to a lesser degree only. (I bet other people do as well. I'm just pointing out that being an educator doesn't necessarily make you the best candidate at writing, and that it can even be the contrary.)
Yzabel wrote: "Skills can easily deteriorate when you don't use them to their full extent."I can understand that, especially with languages. I use my French sparingly, but when I'm in France, it takes me about two days to rapid-fire again. :)
Same with German and to a lesser extent in Spanish (never was fluent in Spanish).
Still, you can keep up, like you said, by reading more 'high-brow' material that forces you to extend your vocabulary.
Exactly. The problem is, do people realise they have to keep up? Or do they get lulled by a false sense of security ("I'm already an expert in my field")?Again, I suppose it depends on one's job; some demand that people keep up on a very regular basis, while others allow them more leeway.
On the bright side, making a decision to write in English as well as French, years ago, helped me a lot. (I still remember going back to dear old uni to get a License degree, thinking "oh my God, all the other students will be so much better than I". Most stupid fear ever.)
Karma♥Bites ^.~ wrote: "Mercia, that's non-responsive--almost similar to the argument re: trad books have errors so why complain about the SP ones?"My comment is responding to your insertion of competent into hire an editor. Knowing if an editor is competent prior to committing to pay them is the problem. Especially as editors themselves complain about the declining standards and charlatans in their industry.
Elsewhere on Goodreads there is a thread "How Bad Is Your Editing Experience?" The answers there can be summed up as "Very bad." A debut author with brilliant grammar skills would find it hard to find a competent editor because those who come highly recommended come with high price tags. Samples do not help much as the editor might put as much extra effort into that, as a dodgy SP author puts into their First Look sample.
You will not find me saying do not criticise SP authors with poor editing (read my blog). Just as you will never find me saying do not to criticize a book that hired a professional editor (again read my blog). Nor will you find me staying silent on poor editing in trade published books (yes, you guessed it, read my blog). What you will find me saying is that nearly all novels have an acceptable level of errors that do not ruin your reading enjoyment. The difference with SP authors is that a minority publish very poor work that does ruin the experience. What I criticise most, though, is assertions that you can achieve a perfectly clean text at first publication simply by hiring an editor.
What you will also find out on my blog is that it was only a couple of weeks ago that I read my first ever SPA novel. I signed up to Scribd and Amazon Prime to allow me to read more SPA novels with a reduced risk. You can avoid the worst of reading experiences by avoiding SPA. It will not, however, protect you from the poor style, plotting and research as that is also evident in trade published books, including bestsellers. Although the chances of those problems are less in trade published books, which is the ultimate answer to the topic of this thread.
Sorry, fellow SP authors, but it is true, as it is a matter of simple probabilities. While there are people willing to push the publish button on garbage, there will always be a statistically higher risk in not keeping to trade published books, as the garbage contains books that no mainstream publisher would touch with a bargepole. The garbage might only relate to 5%, but that is still a higher risk factor.
Mercia wrote: "What you will also find out on my blog is that it was only a couple of weeks ago that I read my first ever SPA novel."I read the review. This sentence: "At 124 pages it does not seem too short a novella until you realise that 40% of those pages are a 15 chapter sample of The Rock Star" is missing the word 'page' after 15.
BTW, a 124 page novel is a novella. And this seems to be a badly-wrought teaser for a series.
Martyn V. wrote: "" is missing the word 'page' after 15"No Martyn, do the maths. 40% of 124 pages is not 15 pages. It really is a 15 chapter preview. What counts as a novella varies by the type of book. Colm Toibin's Testament of Mary is only 114 pages, but if that made it a novella it would not have qualified for the Man Booker Prize, for which it was shortlisted.
Mercia wrote: "Karma♥Bites ^.~ wrote: "Mercia, that's non-responsive--almost similar to the argument re: trad books have errors so why complain about the SP ones?"My comment is responding to your insertion of competent into hire an editor. ..."
Yes, that's why it was non-responsive. Instead of answering why you essentially equated apples to oranges, you focused on a throwaway comment (that hiring any so-called editor is not enough) and reiterated what I already noted.
Again, to repeat: My post #1737 was NOT in any way a 'defence' that readers cannot tell SPAs to hire an editor. Just b/c there seems to be more errors in trad pub'd books these days does NOT mean that even semi-competent editors (hell, even just proofers) won't be of substantial benefit to some (most?) SPAs. Nor does it obviate the dire need of some SPAs for outside assistance.
etc: clarification/typos
ETA: C&P of my reply excluded this:
Mercia wrote: "...You can avoid the worst of reading experiences by avoiding SPA. It will not, however, protect your from the poor style, plotting and research as that is also evident in trade published books, including bestsellers. ..."
Yes but I see those examples as purely subjective. As for research, you presume that every reader will have the same level of knowledge for any given subject. Not so.
OTOH, grammar is determined via objective measure. 99% of the time, either it's correct or it's not. Furthermore, it's something which people should've learned in grammar school (or grade or middle or whatever the term applies) and perhaps cemented during secondary education. Which is why I nearly cried when I heard that some unis now offer remedial English. -__-
And, you know, it makes no difference. I don't care who published the work or who wrote it. If it is riddled with errors, this is BAD. And you have lost me. It is the minimum I demand of writing that I pay for.
Karma♥Bites ^.~ wrote: "Yes but I see those examples as purely subjective. As for research, you presume that every reader will have the same level of knowledge for any given subject. Not so."Karma, I make no such assumptions, but was trying to avoid writing an entire article for a BTW point. I have since written the article, it's called An Acceptable Level of Error and appears on my Goodreads blog, which is a feed from my author website. The relevant quotation from that article is:
The reader engages in a question of balances, just like a publisher discovering post-publication errors. In the reader’s case, the question is whether the level of errors is sufficient to detract from the reading experience. That will vary from reader to reader, dependent on, for example, their own knowledge of the grammar, location or subject-matter that the author is getting wrong. Even with that knowledge, different readers will have difference levels of tolerance for error. Therefore, the point at which the level of error ruins the reading experience is a subjective matter.
I agree that the onus is on the writer. I published my first two too quickly - although reviews have been good, I've conducted another round of edits and rewrites and vastly improved the works. I've learned my lesson about taking time, and I hope that will soon be reflected in an increased readership.It can be tempting to blame others, but I think a lot of that comes from guilt. One KNOWS if they rushed to print. Having others point it out can be jarring, like a spouse reminding you about that thing you keep putting off :) The writer should be able to look at the criticisms objectively: Are they criticizing my editing? That can be proven and fixed. Are they criticizing the theme? That's subjective.
I guess, for me, it comes down to owning the work. If there is a real mistake, I shouldn't get defensive - I should nod, say "Thanks," and fix it. This is the wonder of SP - if I find I forgot a chapter heading or had a sentence repetition, that can be fixed within a day.
Linda says it all, so well! This should be the FIRST post on every thread of this board.
Bwhaha! That is inexcusable. If you can't even get your PR materials perfect (and yes, editors offering your services, this means YOU) then you are hopeless. Wouldn't touch your stuff with a ten foot pole.I used, instinctively, to copy-edit menus, mailings, and all that commercial stuff. I have deliberately quit. No point in shoveling against the tide, and who is paying me for this?
Linda wrote: "@Mercia -- I think, because you're dealing with two variables here, the question is not just one of balance.I get the distinct impression, Linda, that you have written a lengthy response to a short quotation from my article, without reading the article. My quotation is directly in response to Karma, who will probably continue to assume that anyone with the temerity to suggest that there might be imperfection in any trade published book must be excusing all SPAs from criticism (so will tar you with that brush too, Linda). My article is the exact opposite. The quotation about balances refers to the balance between the difficulties of getting readers and stores a corrected copy post-publication and leaving an error in place.
Linda, you talk of garbage being published, funnily enough, so does my article. As a writer of literary fiction I love nothing more than to confuse people with titles (SPOLIER ALERT: there is no forgiveness in Forgiveness) and my article argues that there is no acceptable level of error (which is a pun on an acceptable level of terror). For those not wanting to read the whole (short) article, here is the concluding paragraph:
In general, neither traditional nor indie publishers have a policy of an acceptable level of error. What they do have is an acceptance that once they are ready to publish, it is with the knowledge that there will still be a few errors that readers will complain about. That, however, belongs in the realm of accepting that errors, like terrorists, cannot all be found before they do their damage. So rather than an acceptable level of error, there is acceptance that there will always be a level of error.
Linda wrote: "@Richard -- THE AD -- has a huge typo in it."Richard wrote: "LOL. I love it. Around where I live there used to be a big delivery truck parked, for a dozen years or more, with huge professionally done signage across both sides that said (in part) hambugers..."
There's a sign on one of the bars in my town—a nice, professionally done, lights-up-from-the-inside kind of sign—that says, "You're Number One Night Spot."
I laugh (and cringe) every time I see it, and I've always wondered what my husband would think to know that I'm the number one night spot in Erie.
Linda wrote: "@Richard -- THE AD -- has a huge typo in it."I'm a manuscript editor for one of the top 3 medical journals in the world, and competition between them is fierce. Imagine the atmosphere of unholy glee in our office when one of our rivals published an article with a table whose title was..."Title to Come." We copied the page and hung it in a place of honor. :)
Lynda wrote: "There's a sign on one of the bars in my town—a nice, professionally done, lights-up-from-the-inside kind of sign—that says, "You're Number One Night Spot.""There was a sign in Reading, near my house then, advertising lawyer's services with the exact same confusion, I think the other way: your, when should have been you're, and besides that it irked me when I went past I did wonder who will hire a lawyer who does not know grammar? Sure, a drink in you're number one spot probably will not cause much damage, but a semiliterate lawyer would.
Linda wrote: "AND THEN WE HAVE BULLSHIT LIKE THIS:http://loverofbooks.booklikes.com/pos...
Where an author, apparently someone "well known," is soliciting 5-star reviews, tainting the whole reviewin..."
Yes, that's some premium BS right there. I'd like to know who this author is. I don't understand the reasoning behind not calling the author out on this.
Mercia wrote: "...My quotation is directly in response to Karma, who will probably continue to assume that anyone with the temerity to suggest that there might be imperfection in any trade published book must be excusing all SPAs from criticism..."FTR (and last time), I started the back-and-forth w/ you in the first instance and continued only b/c you took one of my posts & put your own spin on it (namely, that my post was somehow a 'defence' to a certain claim/rebuttal).
Elaborate or expound how and as you wish, but I personally don't appreciate--nor will I stay silent--when someone takes my words (and therefore, my meaning and intent) and converts them into something else or shifts them into an entirely different context. (As you seem to have done again.) Later readers to this thread can too easily miss the original meaning/intent.
etc: typos
Linda wrote: "@Mercia -- I'm still going to disagree with you.
Traditional publishers do have an "acceptable" level of error, that level is -zero-. They don't always achieve it, in fact they rarely do, but i..."
Ironically Linda, you have said that you still disagree with me and then basically summed up the argument of my article. Namely that traditional publishers seek to get the errors down to zero, but do not succeed and self-published works have plenty of errors in them. The latter do not have a policy of an acceptable level of error, they lack the ability (or their hired help does) to spot the errors, as you state.
I can add to your list of errors of fact from my current read: Elizabeth George's Just One Evil Act. She describes a dance studio as being at the midway point between Leicester Square and Chinatown, when the two back on to each other. She keeps mistaking the Metropolitan Police as a synonym for New Scotland Yard e.g., Chalk Farm constables are apparently happy to hand a matter over to the Metropolitan Police, despite the fact that Chalk Farm is in London and those constables would have been employees of the Metropolitan Police. Amazingly, this is the 18th novel that George has written about the Metropolitan Police detectives Lynley and Havers and does not know this very basic fact. She also has private detectives think Havers could not just be passing the Roman Road as no-one is just in the area of the Roman Road, which actually terminates at Bethnal Green tube station in EC1 from where it is a short ride to Liverpool Street on the border of the world's richest piece of commercial real estate, the City of London. These are matters that most non-Londoners would be unaware are errors, hence my comment that a reader's enjoyment is in part determined by their knowledge of the location.
I have a suspicion as to who this author could be.A friend on goodreads told me today that there was some hubbub going on on facebook over an author.
Since I am not on facebook I cannot tell what went on.
Sorry, I will edit my post! I just found it on the internet, because the link you provided earlier rang a bell with me.
Linda wrote: "@Richard --sorry. The original poster flounced, but I've got the info reblogged on mine here:
http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post...
And a follow up here:
http://lindahilton.bookli..."
Wow. It looks like the author was setting up a positive review army to crank 'em out for all forthcoming books, not just the next one to be released.
Linda wrote: The original poster flounced, but I've got the info reblogged on mine here:http://lindahilton.booklikes.com/post...
It looks like the original poster deleted her booklikes account too. So strange. I wonder if she's been threatened in some way. Like everyone else, I wish I knew who it was as well because I'm fairly certain it won't be the last time something like this happens.
Linda wrote: "There is at least one other person who has claimed to know who the author is. That other person also deleted the comment in which she made her admission. I have a screen shot."Well that's interesting. Sounds like there is definitely something going on there behind the scenes. This is why I distrust so many five star reviews and mainly trust only my reviewing friends whose tastes I share.
I agree that five star reviews can be shifty...but I don't discount them entirely. I just try to look and see - are they talking about the content of the book, or are they gushing praise? I have written a few five-stars myself (mostly 4.5, 4.25, but I round up in the select-a-star-system) and I greatly hope that they haven't been discounted, since I go in depth about what I enjoyed or did not about the book. For example, find my review of Soul Reunion to see what I mean. I'm curious - would you (anyone/everyone please feel free to input) discount this review because it's high praise?
Jason wrote: "I agree that five star reviews can be shifty...but I don't discount them entirely. I just try to look and see - are they talking about the content of the book, or are they gushing praise? I have wr..."I wouldn't discount it as a paid-for review. But I always take a review written by an author of another author's work with a grain of salt, especially if the author being reviewed has recently reviewed the reviewing author's work.
I don't immediately jump to a review-swap conclusion in cases like this and tend to give folks the benefit of the doubt. Authors are allowed to have friends who also happen to be authors, after all.
ETA: Oh, and authors can mutually admire each other's work without being friends, too. After all, writers tend to be (hopefully) readers, too.
/nod. I don't trade reviews for reviews, but if someone asks me if they can review my book after I've offered to review theirs I don't see a problem with it. I like reading other's works and giving them honest feedback, and I look for the same. Does that make sense?
I don't discount all five star reviews (heck I just wrote one 5 minutes ago) but I cast a wary eye on brand new releases that only have all 5 stars on their few days of release and I've seen too much crap go down online to trust many of them. I can almost always sniff out a shill review because they don't tell you anything important about what's inside the book. Usually because they haven't even read it!
Barks & Bites wrote: "I don't discount all five star reviews (heck I just wrote one 5 minutes ago) but I cast a wary eye on brand new releases that only have all 5 stars on their few days of release and I've seen too mu..."Those I have seen...and then there are the ones where they're offering free review copies, so I take it, and I'm like...um...this needs help. Then I go to leave my review and it has an average of 4.8 on Amazon.
:/
Jason wrote: "/nod. I don't trade reviews for reviews, but if someone asks me if they can review my book after I've offered to review theirs I don't see a problem with it. I like reading other's works and giving..."Yes, there are all sorts of scenarios where authors are reviewing the works of other authors that are perfectly legit.
Jason wrote: "Barks & Bites wrote: "I don't discount all five star reviews (heck I just wrote one 5 minutes ago) but I cast a wary eye on brand new releases that only have all 5 stars on their few days of releas..."4.5 seems to be the minimum on anything. It is totally unhelpful - I always read the lowest star reviews first and skip 5 stars altogether, but anyhow now the ratings do not help to find any books, or whatever they were meant to do.
As a self-published author myself, I think I understand why some people hate reading books that haven't gone through a publishing house. I hate buying/downloading free books only to find them full of mistakes or the plot line is terrible, etc, etc. Publishing houses (usually) get everything under control, so (usually) you pay for quality material. But to hate against all indie writers is just unfair. I've read a few really good indie books over the past year, and I've read a few really bad traditionally published books in that same time frame. I'm not even going to get started on 50 Shades of Grey...But, to the point, if I find out a good book is written by an indie author, I more or less feel impressed that they managed to climb high enough in the ranks to be rated so highly. It's hard for indie authors to rise up, so finding a good indie book is awesome. Of course, regardless of self-published or traditionally published, I'd still have to enjoy the genre. :P
I prefer to review indie or small-press publications, just in general, because I'm in that business too and always interested in seeing how others are doing. <.< >.>Seriously, though, I have certainly come across some really, really bad indie writing. I've had to tell a couple of authors that I couldn't finish their book (since I only review paranormal/urban fantasy and crossovers from that, it's never been because the subject matter was not to my taste, not yet). I've also, as mentioned, come across a lot of gems that I would never have seen if people weren't begging for reviews.
Sandra wrote: But to hate against all indie writers is just unfair...."Commerce isn't fair. There are fifty thousand books published every month. No one is entitled to success, to readers, or to a dime of anyone else's money.
If an author wants my money, they need put out an engaging product and convince me that it's worth my money to buy it, and my time to read it. Exceed expectations. Don't fall back on platitudes about things being unfair to excuse failure.
Moonlight Reader wrote: "Sandra wrote: But to hate against all indie writers is just unfair...."Commerce isn't fair. There are fifty thousand books published every month. No one is entitled to success, to readers, or to ..."
X1000 to everything you said. Business is brutual. Most businesses will shut down within the first year. Most self published authors will not sell very well. These are just facts. Life is not fair. You are not promised results in life, just the opportunity to pursue results.
My money and my time are valuable and a limited resource. I can't just spend time and money on books and authors that do not deserve it because it's more fair. If an author wants my business (any author, trad pubbed or SP alike!) then you need to earn it, prove to me why you deserve my time or my money. And if you don't want to earn my business, well it's probably for the best for both of us.
*All "you" statements are meant as a general you, not directed at anyone in particular.
Richard wrote: "Gregor wrote: "...I always take a review written by an author of another author's work with a grain of salt"Sigh... Yesterday I just wrote a 5-star review of a wonderful book I waited months for,..."
Richard, send an e-mail to Goodreads/Amazon and tell them to shut this site down! (I want to see the response.)
When you read my reviews you can tell, immediately, that I have read the book and thought about it. I don't post reviews otherwise. The people who just grind out standardized 5-star reviews can be spotted, with careful examination.
Linda wrote: "You see, my motives for continuing this unrewarding game are far more selfish: I love writing. I love sharing my writing with others. If I make a little money off it, that's well and good, but I..."You're not asking too much at all. This is exactly how I feel. I won't tear someone down (as in, call them names, say "what the hell were you thinking," or anything like that) but I will be very clear if there were things about the book I did not like. If people read my books, I expect the same courtesy and would be dismayed to find that someone gave a good review rather than their true opinions simply because I liked their book.
Linda wrote: "...admit that you're not going to give bad reviews or ratings even on unadulterated manure because you don't want to get bad reviews in return or because you hope other authors will return the kindness by not posting an honest report on your own unadulterated manure..."I think that's the gist of it. Many are more afraid of retaliation than hurting someone's feelings by leaving a "bad" review.
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Just as clarification, my post was pointed more towards the continuing decline in educational standards and expectations, thereby resulting in folks w/ less-than-firm grasp on basic, proper English. Which inevitably seeps into the workplace. (Trust me, I can personally attest to this.)
Also, I believe that your sentence is somewhat backwards. Wouldn't it first be someone saying 'hire an editor' = someone's reply citing lack of funds?
Regardless, the more accurate wording should be 'hire a competent editor' if one's grasp of the written language is weak. The problem? Many don't know (or deny) that such applies to them.