A Reviewer’s Blues…new blues…

I’m going to have another little moan. Oh for goodness sake, I hear you say, what’s the grouchy old moaning minny’s problem now? (Er, less of the ‘old’ please). Yes, I can see you over there, rolling your eyes…

Well, yes, it is a moan. A real moan.

At the risk of sounding like a frog, here goes. Edit, edit, edit.

One gets to the point when one has had enough, one does. I’ve tried to extol the virtues of the indie author to many sceptical people. I’ve eulogised their talents, their insights, their skills. I’ve told shedloads of people not to miss out on some really jolly good books. But these unadventurous sceptics may just have a point about the quality of the indie books out there. I’m talking about good editing.

So why is it happening? I can’t make up my mind whether it’s the authors’ genuine belief that their work is just fine, or if it’s arrogance, a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. I hope it’s the former. I personally believe that a poorly edited book doesn’t necessarily make it a bad book in terms of content. An author can have a good turn of phrase, a cracking good story, may be able to evoke emotions, portray a scene to perfection. A good writer may not necessarily be topnotch at the minutiae, that’s all. But, but, but—a good writer has a good editor.

I’m not picky or pedantic (well, not excessively), but I do like quality. And I don’t like shabby goods, especially if I’ve exchanged them for my hard-earned cash. If I’m in a restaurant and my meal is below par, I’m going to complain. If I buy a blouse to find there’s a button missing, or a pair of jeans with a faulty zip, I’m going to take them back. If I buy a piece of furniture and find there’s a scratch on it, I’m going to get it exchanged. If I buy a book that’s a sea of words with shoddy editing, there’s not much I can do. I can’t exchange it—another copy isn’t going to be any different. If I’ve read it, what’s the point?

I’ve had quite a few donations of ‘replacement’ copies with a confident little note saying, “This is the new, revised, newly edited version”. And? If I’ve read the old one, I’m not going to read the new one, thank you all the same. Please, please, please, just try and get it right the first time.

It’s true that bad editing does get by some readers. Some are skilful skimmers. It’s not the way I can or even like to read (I think the author deserves more), but if it works for them, fine. Skimmers skim words, not semicolons. Some readers simply may just be unaware of the ‘rules’. Nonetheless, a book, fiction or not, is still a medium for learning: learning new words, new phrases, new facts—and well edited, it can provide subliminal education in presentation. However, the fact that readers may not notice errors is not an excuse for the author to overlook them.

Although I am primarily complaining about the lack of attention paid to spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc., let’s not forget the other side of editing, i.e., paying attention to content detail. I’ve read a short story set in medieval Scotland, where the author tried to give her characters dialogue of the time. Emphasis on ‘tried’.  She failed.  I’ve read a book by an American author whose main character was English. She seemed to think that a few short stays in London had given her enough knowledge about how an Englishman speaks. Sadly, not enough knowledge. I’ve read a book written by an English teacher, set in the 1950s, that was not only badly written, it was badly researched; she brought medical advances into the story that just hadn’t been made at the time. Research, good research, is crucial. However, I’m more irritated by standards of the technical editing, primarily.

A good editor isn’t necessarily an expensive one. A good editor is one who takes time and patience and one who cares about your creation. A good writer is one who listens to their good editor—and, dare I say, his/her readers.

Most authors I’ve approached with a “I loved your book, but alas and alack, didn’t love your editing” have been more than just a little receptive and appreciative, especially if I’ve detailed the errors. I always aim to help constructively, not criticise. But I have had one author come back with “I’ll leave well alone now, thanks all the same”. Not only could I not understand why any writer wouldn’t want anything that was as near as damn perfect as he/she could make it in circulation, but I’m never going to read anything by that author again. Bad move.

Not even the best ever editor will find all your errors—it’s just not possible. My benchmark is one A4 page of listed errors. Any more than that means the book should have gone through a more stringent editing process—once, twice, three times more, whatever it takes. With regret, of the 150 or so books I have read in the last 18 months, less than a handful actually pass muster, and of those, two were traditionally published books.  With even greater regret, some authors lament that they paid an editor quite a lot to edit their book—badly. This is an unfortunate situation; some poor author puts their faith in an editor, thinking, he’s dear, he must be good, only to find that his/her reader is going to say otherwise.  I’m not especially impressed by editors who say they’ve been editing since the year dot either and boast 20 years’ experience.  They could well have been making the same mistakes for 20 years. But selecting a good editor is a completely different kettle of fish. That’s a topic for another day.

I don’t think it’s too much to ask, do you? Authors write because it’s their passion, their life, their fulfilment; but they write to be read and the reader is, ultimately, who moulds their future. Unsold books won’t buy that sexy little Bugatti.

Sorry, for the onslaught. Do I need to get lost and incommunicado in Outer Mongolia or the depths of Siberia for a bit now, or will you be gentle with me?…oh no, that frog in my throat’s coming back…

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Cathy Speight is an accomplished book reviewer and Chief Consulting Reviewer at Indies Unlimited. For more information, please see the IU Bio page and her blog.

Author: Cathy Speight

Reviewer Cathy Speight is British and lives in England. The Kindle revived her passion for reading and after stumbling on a Facebook group of independent authors, she now does her best to encourage and assist indies as much as possible. Books by indie author form the majority of her collection. Cathy shares her views on the books she has read on her blog.

33 thoughts on “A Reviewer’s Blues…new blues…”

  2. Cathy I'm both a reader and a writer and every last thing you wrote was true.

    As a reader I was very fortunate in finding some extraordinary indie authors soon after my first unhappy experience and that kept me searching for more. Sadly tracking them down requires some serious sleuthing abilities as the ranking system on Amazon is deceptive to say the least. In time the goldrush mentality will wear off, leaving the true gold behind but until then I say a small prayer with every book I buy.

  3. Thank you for this post. You are spot on. As an avid reader I loathe reading poorly edited content. As a writer I realize that I am one of the "skimmers" and it was genuinely hard for me to find all the errors in my book, no matter how many times I read it. A good editor is worth every penny and, in my estimation, necessary!

  4. Cathy,

    I thank you for this post and think the last thing you should be doing is apologising for saying what is, after all, common sense if writers want to be taken seriously in the professional environment.

    All these little (and not so little) mistakes can easily take the reader out of the story, and it's important in the Indie community that more of the readers who give so much support say out loud what needs to be said – well done!

  5. Cathy, may I join you on your lily pad?

    Pulleeze -do not apologise for telling it like it is. I, too, am one of those unfortunates who paid a LOT of money to have my first book go through three editorial reviews, a full copy edit and an additional proof-read. (iUniverse, in case anyone thinks of taking that route) I trusted that my book would have only a few minor errors. I was, to my dismay, wrong. Am I steamed – you bet. Do I feel ripped off? Yep.

    Now my dilemma is, do I stop writing my third book long enough to correct all those errors in the first one or do I do that after it is published? Grrrr.

    My one hope is that the second has far fewer errors. I hired a freelance editor for that. My daughter is a pretty good spotter and only caught two.

  6. Rah rah! I wholeheartedly agree with you. I too have read some great books badly let down by poor editing.

    My own experience with my first book was just ghastly and even now I cringe at the thought of some of the mistakes that were left in it. I also paid handsomely to have it edited professionally and naively assumed it would be fine. Well, it wasn't! If only I had been more experienced then or known someone like you (Or preferably, known you!)

    I am now paranoid about editing and I would rather my work was edited, re-edited and re-edited than let it go out with errors in it.

    Well said – an excellent post.

  8. Hooray for the lily pad! I would rather my manuscript go through a horrendous amounts of edits than put out a shoddy product on the first go. I made the mistake of putting out money for an indie book I thought was going to be great (the reviews said it was awesome!) only to read it and find that, while the story was good, the book was in dire need of a better editor. One bad experience certainly hasn't put me off indie books, but it has made me more careful and choosy-er (that's right, isnt it?).

    Great post!

  9. Excellent article, Cathy. As a reader, the "indie revolution" has made me a much more selective reader. If I find an inordinate number of errors or too much repetition in the first twenty percent of a novel, I don't finish it. I have too many books in my queue to waste time on a bad one.

    As a writer, I have always believed editing was a mandatory step toward publishing. It breaks my heart when I pick up a new writer's book and find it is full of errors — they have irreversibly damaged their writing career by rushing to release an unpolished product.

    Thank you for telling writers the truth.

  10. Thank you, Cathy, for writing this article. I am pulled completely out of stories where the editing has either missed many errors or has been obviously non-existent.

    When I finally have the fortitude to move forward with publishing something I write, and after all the energy and commitment that goes into creating that work, I would be gutted to lose readers to bad editing.

    Definitely will be saving your post!

  11. Cathy – there is no need to apologise, for what you say is so true. I, for one, have learnt the hard way. My first paid editor, accredited by a South African writer's digest (I'm South African)edited my first novel twice after I pointed out a few mistakes. Because I lacked confidence in her editing, I paid for a line edit. I still found mistakes. So I hired an American editor – who ostenibly did a good job but I had a mixture of British/Amercian spelling in the novel. FINALLY I now have found the gem. She's proofread the novel, and actually went the extra mile. There are hundreds of editors advertising, some with degrees as long as a toilet roll – but how do you know who is geniune and who isn't? On the same token, yes, I would also be peeved if I bought a book that lacked editing. And to be honest, my e-book is up on Amazon at the moment, and yes I am embarrassed that there are still editing issues with it. After I have finished my KDP contract, which is in two weeks time, I will pull the book off and hopefully put up a perfectly edited novel.

    1. I'm a proofreader and editor, and I agree with your post wholeheartedly, Cathy. I've read some great indie novels, some dreadful ones, and a few that just need some editing to make them worthy of a reader's time and money.

      There are some authors who just won't (or can't afford to) pay for editing, and who publish poor quality novels. I would say this to them: if you've taken time and effort to write a novel, then for God's sake take that extra bit of effort to get it edited. It's no good trusting your friends to find the errors – firstly, they're likely to be biased in your favour, and secondly, editors and proofreaders do not read books in the same way that those reading for pleasure do. They read every letter, and every punctuation mark. They don't get caught up in the story to the extent that they don't notice your hero had blue eyes on page 10 and brown eyes on page 50. Nor do they skip pages that don't interest them to get to the next juicy bit.

      Then there are those who pay for editing and proofreading and who are ripped off by unscrupulous people who think nothing of exploiting writers desperate to get their work published. These frauds incense me. They give genuine proofreaders and editors like myself a bad name. They give the self-publishing industry in general a bad name.

      If you're thinking of employing someone to edit or proofread your book, ask them if they'll provide a sample of their work for free, and then submit the first few thousand words of your book for them to edit. If you like what you get back, then hopefully the rest of your book will be edited well.

      I will always edit the first 3,000 words of a book for free if an author wishes. As well as this, I usually ask my clients to pay half of my fee up front. Then I'll edit half their book and send it back for them to look at before they agree to pay the rest of the money to me to complete the work.

      I also like to have an avenue of communication with writers whose work I'm editing, so that I can email them to discuss any serious problems I find, or any suggestions I have as to how they could improve their book.

      One of the good things about social media is that people can share their experiences of writing, and also their good and bad experiences of proofreading and editing services. I am endeavouring to ensure that I stay in the recommended list and not the list of those to be avoided like the plague!

        1. Rosalind, Julie has been amazing with my novel. This is my gem and I honestly couldn't wish for better. I found her on this blog about three weeks ago. And as I mentioned before, she has really gone the extra mile for me. When she has finished, I will be confident to POD my novel.

          Micki

  12. I am one of those authors that had a messy first copy. However, I was fortunate enough to find the best and nicest editor in the world, and her name is Cathy Speight.

    Oh how I hope there are no errors in this paragraph for her to view.

    2. Then Donna you were lucky – you hit the jackpot first time round. Good for you.

  15. Excellent article and I agree. I can look past some errors, but after awhile, it becomes too much. I think a lot of indie authors don't consider an editor because of the expense. Yes, our services cost, but surely they can find one that is affordable!

    There are many options out there, find one and use it, please!

  16. I know a number of people who put a book down after the first 20% or so if there are too many errors. I'm not so strong. Or, actually, maybe I'm very strong – to keep going! I also keep thinking back to a time when I didn't edit. Did I overlook those errors that I now deplore? Is being an editor a curse?

  17. I find it a curse sometimes, because I find that spelling errors leap off the page and hit me in the eye! Also, when people post very amusing pictures on Facebook, I can't bring myself to share them if there's an error in the caption. My boyfriend calls me a grammar nazi…. 😉

  18. @ Julie Roberts. 'Grammar nazi' – love it! I'm not a professional editor but I am a perfectionist so getting stuff in my eyes really hurts!

    I tend to 'proof' everything I write in public because each comment, each post and certainly each book will be a first impression for someone and we all know how important those first impressions can be. Sadly errors still slip through so I know that having a professional editor is vital.

    1. The 'grammar nazi' is from a picture someone posted on my Facebook wall of two people hugging each other. The caption reads: 'when you hug a grammar nazi, don't forget to say there, their, they're…'

      😀

  19. Cathy, I admit to being a grammar nazi *and* a punctuation nazi, and I will happily join you on your lily pad. 🙂

    It drives me crazy to see errors in a published work that a decent editor should have caught. My most recent experience with that was with a traditionally-published fantasy novel — and I was really angry about it. I kept thinking how I've read better edited indie novels, and yet we're the ones with the reputation for putting out junk. Arrgh.

  20. Cathy, well said. There are a handful of typos in Joe Cafe. My fault. The VERY few in The Biker are Antrobus' fault. Great post.

  21. Cathy, I agree with you completely. I've read a few poorly edited, the story doesn't make sense books, too. Often, I don't bother to finish them. Too bad we can't return them. Perhaps that's what needs to happen even if it is free: send it back to the seller to make a point.

    Thanks for the wonderful post.

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