In past articles, I have spoken of the need for indie authors to use professional editors (see, e.g., On Words: Is the Correct Word Important?, Professional Editors: Publishers and Authors Need Them (Part 1), and Professional Editors: Publishers and Authors Need Them (Part 2)). Alas, there is always an excuse for not using them. A little more than a year ago, in On Words & eBooks: Give Me a Brake! I talked about the problems that readers often face when confronted with an unedited or nonprofessionally edited book. This topic has been repeatedly discussed in numerous blogs and on numerous forums — almost discussed to death.
Yet, here we go again.
A few days ago, I was looking at what new-release ebooks were available at Smashwords. I found a couple of doozies. Try this one, first: So Your Afraid of Dieing by LaVall McIvor, for which the author wants $4.99, and which the author describes as follows:
Everyone dies, what happens after we die. Is that the end of who and what we are? I have had two NDE’s and I can tell you there is more to ‘us’ than just the physical life we live on this world. I only lay out my experiences, what you believe to be true concerning an afterlife is up to you to decide.
Setting aside the “your” problem, does “dieing” mean dying as in death or dyeing as in coloring? OK, I get the gist and realize death is meant, but why should I have to guess or assume?
So I checked the sample to see if the title was an anomaly. Here is the first paragraph of the book:
Probably the single most commonality of all of us, is knowing that someday in the future this physical life will end. But what happens when we die, are we just consumed by the elements, is that the end of it? If you are a religious person, you have been ‘taught’ that if you live a good life doing no evil, you (your soul) will be rewarded with eternal life in ‘Heaven’. If you are an atheist, you may believe there is no ‘afterlife’, that when your body dies, that is the end of who and what you are. I was of the latter persuasion until I had two NDE’s (Near Death Experiences).
Then, as I was reeling from the title, the author’s description of the book, and the first paragraph, I came across A Crown of Thorns by Andrew Cook, for which the author wants $2. Cook describes his book as follows:
When the Spencer’s arrive at Millbridge, Virginia meets Rector Byrnes, beginning an emotionally charged and passionate relationship. Rev Byrnes is in a vulnerable position struggling with his wife’s inner demons, and his own loss of faith, and with no one to confide. Virginia is consumed with hatred towards God but they find comfort in each other’s weakness with dramatic consequences.
Tell me: Is the location Millbridge, Virginia or is it Virginia who arrives at Millbridge? No matter because within the first few paragraphs of the book, we find this:
The reason I am writing this is because I want to remember all my thoughts this morning, for it is remarkable to me that it should be this morning that I was again allowing myself the shameful thoughts of death, my own death in fact, while appreciating at the same time the pleasure and beauty of life. The green rolling hills that overlooked the cemetery and continued for miles, the bright blue sky as though painted that morning by an artist, devoid of cloud, the flowers dancing in the breeze celebrating the arrival of spring. It was a day to celebrate life, not to contemplate death. But perhaps I was not considering death in the physical sense. There are many types of death. This morning I once again felt as though my soul had died and I had paled once again into insignificance. If one died emotionally, what would be left? Without love people wither like flowers starved of water.
I am afraid to venture further into either book.
Tell me, what does it take to convince author’s that there is a reason why professional editors exist and why they are hired to go over a manuscript before it is published? Would you willingly pay $4.99 or $2 for either ebook?
What these two ebooks vividly demonstrate is that the combination of the Internet Age and easy self-publishing — without any gatekeeping (i.e., vetting of the manuscript, which is the role agents and traditional publishers have played) — has turned everyone who wants to be an author into a published author. Yet too many of these wanna-be-published authors are unwilling to accept the responsibilities that accompany publishing, particularly the hiring of a professional editor.
Sadly, I expect both of these authors to sell copies of their ebooks. Even more sadly, I expect that those who buy their ebooks won’t (and don’t) recognize the grammar and spelling problems that are in the ebooks, nor that the ebooks have not been edited — professionally or otherwise — by someone with at least minimal competency.
Companies like Smashwords have done a great favor to both readers and wanna-be authors. They make distribution to the normal book-buying channels possible. Yet, at the same time, they fail both readers and wanna-be authors because they do no vetting of manuscripts at all. These distribution platforms do us no service when they reinforce illiteracy, which is the effect of making such drivel widely available.
I realize that we are early in the evolution of ebooks, but the time to address basic issues is now, not later when the problems become so entrenched that they are insurmountable. Although the distributors need to share in the blame for permitting this drivel to see daylight, those of us who are professional editors also have a responsibility to reach out and educate authors. In this endeavor, we are failing as evidenced by these two ebooks and by the overall decrease in grammar and spelling skills in younger generations (see The Missing Ingredient: Grammar Skills).
Professional editors need to better explain our role to authors before we have no role to play at all (see Symbiosis: The Authorial and Editorial Process).
Via Rich Adin’s An American Editor blog
When I was in college, studying writing and literature, I quickly came to the conclusion that a number of the popular novels I had been reading for pleasure were not very good. Professionally edited and published, but suffering from poor pacing, inferior word choices, or covering the same thematic ground that other writers had previously done much better with.
Now, with self-publishing, the bar has not gotten lower; it’s vanished altogether. Anyone can create something that looks, on their e-reader, EXACTLY like a book. Technology has allowed the rise of “cargo cult writers” (anyone not familiar with the term “cargo cult science,” coined by Richard Feynman, should make a quick detour to Wikipedia), people who see the form and think that’s all that matters. People too incompetent to realize that they’re incompetent, like the examples cited in this article.
I guess that’s why I’m one of those who continues to rely on Project Gutenberg and on my public library e-books for reading material, rather than shopping for price and trying independents. Because life’s too short to read bad books, and while there might be gems in the editorial slush pile, it’s sounding more and more like the joke about the optimist digging in a pile of manure, thinking there has to be a pony in there somewhere.
Okay, Rich, two things:
First: I’d argue that if readers do not recognize the incorrect grammar and spelling in a book, and they enjoy the book as-is, there is no problem here. Sure, any author wants his book to be the best it can be… but if your audience doesn’t care, or even notice, that it’s not… what the heck. Spreading the idea is more important to many authors than the strict accuracy or compositional strength of their wording.
Second: “Tell me, what does it take to convince author’s that there is a reason why professional editors exist and why they are hired to go over a manuscript before it is published?” See the first point above.
(Sorry, buddy.)
I am confused. I have read multiple articles here on Teleread over the last three months about eBooks from the big 6 that have multiple typos … ?
One might ask “What does it take to convince . . . Big 6 Publishers . . . that there is a reason why professional editors exist and why they are hired to go over a manuscript before it is published?”
I would guess that there will always be some people who have low standards for themselves. But I don’t see any evidence in this article that “.. too many of these wanna-be-published authors” are delivering this low standard. What exactly is too many ? Is one too many ? Maybe. Maybe not.
I read this article as ‘cover’ for an ad hominem attack on the new freedom to publish that eBooks is bringing. And I don’t accept the basis for this attack.
In addition I would suggest that reading through a bit of the sample on the web site before buying will expose any low standards. So the buyer has a chance to make an informed decision before coughing up.
“Tell me, what does it take to convince author’s that there is a reason why professional editors exist…” Normally, I wouldn’t bother to comment on an error like the one above, but when it’s someone who’s expounding on the need for professional editors… And who thoughtlessly exposes two people to ridicule… I sometimes use bad examples of self-published work in my blog posts, but I don’t give out the author’s name or the title of the book.
As Howard said, it’s almost always possible to read a fair sample of the work before deciding whether or not to shell out money.
It’s a fundamental physical law of the Internet, and has been since Usenet days, that any post complaining about someone else’s spelling, grammar, or punctuation will always contain at least one typo of its own. 🙂
The right words are important. As a self-published indie author my husband and I rely on multiple beta readers to catch all the misspelled words or examples of wayward grammar that they can find. Do they catch everything? No. We’d love to utilize a professional editor, but alas have yet to find one with reasonable rates or one willing to barter.
“We’d love to utilize a professional editor, but alas have yet to find one with reasonable rates or one willing to barter.”
Reasonable rates as defined by YOU? Barter?
ROFLMAO
I think you mean “someone willing to do demanding, skilled work for wages lower than those of fast-food workers.”
I don’t think there’s any point trying to convince independent small-time authors to use editors; as the above posts clearly indicate, they are completely out of indies’ financial league. (Most of us are barely making lunch money as it is… what do you expect?)
Most editors will only make money off of big organizations with pockets deep enough for professional salaries. The rest of us, not having tens of thousands of dollars rolling around in our back pockets, simply have to make do without, and let the chips fall where they may… something many of us indies are more than willing to do.
Most likely the only editors that will make money off of indies will be those who will accept a percentage of sales, and hope they latch onto that rare “up and coming” author that will make them big money; ie, they become speculators on authors. (Maybe they can take losses off on their taxes… hey, it works for other speculators.)
Editors who can’t manage either of these things… may need to start looking for new jobs…
“The rest of us, not having tens of thousands of dollars rolling around in our back pockets, simply have to make do without …”
You are over-estimating the cost of an edit. If your manuscript is fairly clean, you could probably have it done for less than $1000. What you might pay for repairs to your car. If your manuscript is rough, you might want to hire an editor to suggest substantial revisions and also to point out recurring spelling and grammatical errors. That might take just a few hours and cost relatively little. You fix the recurring errors yourself and then return the manuscript for another pass.
I am sure we will see a surge of independent editors spring up in the coming years to service the indie an self publishing market. It’s likely they will be of mixed quality, like every other new service, and will charge a range of prices and have a range of reputations.
I believe it very much possible to persuade small time authors to use an editor. Like any other venture in life we reap what we sew. If we want to earn money form any business it is up to use to invest to produce a quality product, or as high a quality as we can possibly manage.
I am also sure that those who do invest will increase their chances of succeeding many times over. It’s up to those blogging and those indie publishers etc to always emphasise this point.
Only those who want to spew their creative juices into the internet with no interest whatsoever in earning a living can afford to go it wholly alone.
“You are over-estimating the cost of an edit. If your manuscript is fairly clean, you could probably have it done for less than $1000. What you might pay for repairs to your car.” I love the assumptions that roll around so easily. For many people, $1,000.00 is an enormous sum, and their cars are non-existent. Apparently only those who can pay $1,000.00 and up are entitled to try to make it as writers. The rest of us do have to let the chips fall where they may, but some try to direct the chips by mastering the skills of editing.
Personally, I’m rather tired of hearing the same crap over and over — that if you’re not willing to pay for professional editing, it’s because you’re a loser who doesn’t give a damn what your manuscript looks like.
“For many people, $1,000.00 is an enormous sum, and their cars are non-existent. Apparently only those who can pay $1,000.00 and up are entitled to try to make it as writers.”
Don’t try to paint me as an out-of-touch elitist. I’m on foodstamps and Medicaid and I drive a sixteen-year-old car with peeling paint, worth a few hundred dollars at most. Yes, $1000 is a lot of money, but if I were hoping to make money on a book, I’d try to scrape it together. That would be a business expense, and relatively minor as business expenses go.
(I should perhaps add that how much you pay for editing depends on the hourly rates the editor charges [perhaps $25 to $50 an hour], the length of the book, and how many pages the editor can do an hour. Five 250-word pages an hour would be average, ten pages an hour might be possible if the copy were clean and the editor were fast. So the cost for a 250-page book might run anywhere from $625 to $2500, depending on the editor’s rates and the state of the text. That would just be for a first pass. Note that many editors prefer to quote a project rate rather than an hourly rate; however, they’ll be doing these sorts of calculations before giving you a quote.)
If you want to self-publish without paying for a professional editor, I’m not going to stop you. I’m probably not going to buy your book either.
BTW, you also have the choice of submitting to publishers, who will pay for the edit if your manuscript is accepted.
“Does “dieing” mean dying as in death or dyeing as in coloring?”
Obviously it means neither. “Dieing” would have something to do with the business of making dies. It’s less likely to be related to this.