Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘typos’

There, Their, They’re…Oops

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on March 29, 2012| 16 Comments »

I did it. I used the wrong word. It wasn’t that I didn’t KNOW which word to use…my fingers just typed it wrong. When I was copying the synopsis of each Libby Fox novella into the synopsis of the compilation of the three, I saw these words and cringed. She learns that their are things out there more dangerous than vampires as she searches for the Secrets of the Wolf. Yes, I used “their” instead of “there”! My face is so red! I’ve noticed when writing that my fingers sometimes just type a familiar word even when it’s not the word I meant to type. Sometimes it’s really a weird mistake and the word makes NO sense in the sentence. That’s why proofreading is SO important. I fixed the word in the synopsis this morning and I hope Amazon makes the change quickly. I wonder how many people noticed….

How about you? Do you ever find yourself typing the wrong word? Have you ever let it slip through in a book or a synopsis? Were you embarrassed?

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

What Do People Expect From Indie Books?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on April 7, 2011| 17 Comments »

I usually don’t show my book reviews in my posts. But I found this review on Goodreads for Guardian Vampire and I think it points out what’s wrong with a lot of indie published books. Here is an excerpt (the review was much longer, but I just wanted to show the pertinent parts).

“Whenever I buy a PubIt! ebook, the quality is going to be hit or miss. Guardian Vampire surprised me in a way no other PubIt! ebook has ever done before: it was well edited both in grammar and content. This is rarer than you might imagine.

I read this little 192 page novella in one night of insomnia. It was quick, action packed, and enjoyable. So I’m surprised it doesn’t have higher rating especially when compared to othe PubIt! ebooks like ****** which made me want to rip my hair out with the lack of content editing and flat characters.”

I blanked out the name of the book the reader mentioned out of respect for a fellow author. But this just shows what people are expecting out of indie authors. That’s why it’s so important to have good editing. I know that people have found a typo or two in some of my books, but I agree with the author of this review. There are very few indie books I’ve read that had good editing. A lot of them have so many typos that I can’t believe more of them weren’t caught. Professional indies like Zoe Winters, Susan Bischoff, and Kait Nolan (I know I’m leaving some awesome authors out, but I’m just giving three examples of authors with well edited books) always make sure their books are as good as they can be before putting them out there. But I’ve found that this is a rare exception. I know not everyone can afford a good editor at the beginning, but if you have several sets of eyes on your book, the chances of bad grammar, typos, and incorrect punctuation get slimmer and slimmer. So let other people read your books before you publish them. Have both beta readers and proofreaders. That will help you put out a better product. If there’s a typo or two, it’s not the end of the world. But when there’s 20 (or about 50, like a couple I’ve read), that’s just not good.

I know the reviewer mentioned editing for “grammar and content”, but I know she probably also has experience with typos and bad punctuation in indie books (I have). So this post really encompasses all of it.

Read Full Post »

Typos

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on March 4, 2011| 6 Comments »

I want to talk about one of my pet peeves. Typographical errors. I’ve read a lot of indie books lately, and that’s been one of my biggest problems with them. Do my books have them? Yep. My mother was reading one of my books the other day and caught two. She’s the best “typo catcher” I know. I have no idea why I haven’t used her as one of my proofreaders. That book that she caught the errors in had already had three different sets of eyes on it and still had at least two errors. I can live with two without freaking out, but I need to fix them and reload the books. (The beauty of ebooks!)

When I read a book published the indie way or the trad way, I expect to see errors. Today’s books have them, regardless of how they’re published. I don’t know if paid editors are getting sloppier or if this world is getting so rushed that everything sufferers. But I don’t mind if I see three or four errors in a book. Not a big deal. But I just finished a book last week that really disappointed me in the amount of typos I found. This book was long and I lost count of the typos. I would guess 50 or more. Seriously. I have only read one other book that had that many. I’m not going to mention the name of the book or author, because…well, you understand why. I wouldn’t want to embarrass an author that I like so well. This book was absolutely wonderful. Well written, interesting, great action, great interaction of the character. It was imaginative and well thought out. An outstanding novel. But the typos….wow….

Whether you pay someone to proofread or have people that will do it for free, I would suggest having more than one person look at it. I saw a review on a book by a really well known indie author that said that the book was full of typos (this is true because I read it and saw them, too), and the author’s response was that she paid an editor. So even paid editors aren’t perfect, although whoever it was shouldn’t have let THAT many errors go through. That’s why more than one person should look at it.

I really, really want to tell this author about all the typos. But I’m sure he already knows it by now. And I don’t want to alienate anyone, especially someone I seriously like and whose books I love. Sometimes, I guess it’s just best to keep your mouth shut.

Read Full Post »