Self-publishing gets a bad name when indie authors fail to do the work. I received an email from a colleague announcing publication of a new book, available to buy. Here’s the excited headline:
BEWTEEN NEWSETTERS ANNOUNCEMENTS
Two misspellings in the heading of the announcement. I assume this person was excited, and/or in a hurry. Should I ignore the typos in the press release headline and buy the book anyway? Does it matter that much?
Yeah, sorry, it does. If I’m interviewing you for a job, and you show up with lettuce in your teeth, I’m going to notice. It’s the same with writing.
Unfortunately, there’s so much competition out there. To be noticed, and read, you have to make sure you take the time to make your work, or the publicity announcements, as pristine and compelling as possible. Many publicists ask me to read and review books, and I get them for free. Plus I have my own reading and writing to do, groceries to buy, a life to maintain. Like you, I have to make decisions about how to spend my time and mental energy.
There’s only so much. A debut book is iffy anyway. A debut book with questionable publicity is even less likely to win a spot on my reading list.
You know how sometimes you’ll bring a well-polished chapter to your critique group, and you think the critique is going to go smoothly because the chapter’s so ace? And then you get there and your colleagues find a bunch of mistakes? You know what happened: the writer became wordblind. Just like the guy who’s been out in the snow too long without his Polarized shades, we get to a point with our own writing that we don’t see it anymore.
Don’t let this happen to you. Take an extra 30 minutes and have a friend check your eblast before you hit “send.”
Have you ever been humbled by wordblindness? Are there any in this post I should know about?
We all miss “things” in our writing — especially if the errors don’t trip the red underline (i.e., public vs. pubic :). And professional editors miss the mark as well. So frustrating!! Some mistakes are more obvious than others, such as BEWTEEN. How can one create a perfect and flawless piece? How many pairs of eyes does it take? Honestly, i don’t know. . . when i edited my little project “From Shadow to Seen” it took several days of reading and scanning for me to feel safe enough to hit the publish button. Honestly, i read and re-read pieces, fixed the margins, spaces and layout, and after i hit publish, i often noticed errors. Argh matey.
I think we should do our best and then have a sense of humor about it. In the case of the headline used at the beginning of this post, I saw carelessness. Perfection is impossible, so that’s why we need to be able to laugh at ourselves. But for me,, and for you Heather, we set a pretty high bar. I’m comfortable with that.
Yes, I have frequently been humble in your presence. That is actually a good thing and I welcome critiques. I might not agree with them all though yours are usually right on the money.
Good or bad they make you take another look at your story line. I am a lazy writer with a multitude of stories bouncing around in my mind. I know it may not be fair to the other writers in a group, but what I usually take to the group is a first draft. The critiques usually awaken memories that force me to expand both my characters and the story line itself.
You have two wonderful things going for you, Jim: a wealth of experience and a cinematic eye. Your writing always contains both, and it’s a pleasure to read. But bringing in the really rough draft takes more courage than I have.
Great post Lynne, and a great reminder to us all.
Thanks for saying so, Ann.
I wholeheartedly agree with today’s post. However, I’ve also seen plenty of glaring errors in books published by the big houses. Does everyone rely on spell check and grammar check these days? Do writers and editors not understand the subjective case?
Your comparison to snow blindness nails it. After going over a manuscript dozens of times, we see what we meant to say instead of what we actually wrote. We have to hope our editor and/or critique group will catch those goofs and keep striving for perfection.
And they don’t always! I can’t tell you how many times they’ve missed my errors. But that is actually comforting, because maybe nobody else will see them either. And as to the “big houses”? Another reason to chortle over being indie-pubbed. (I feel like I’m in a band, don’t you?)
I so agree with the column and with the comments. It is uncanny how I can pick out in a second errors in newspapers and by other writers, but can re-read my own work and typos just saiiilll by.
Part of being a good write is being humble enough to admit that you can make mistakes, so you can empathize with others.
I mean..”writer.” Haha.
Kurt, me, too! They leap out at me in somebody else’s work. When somebody else finds mine, I am always so grateful. One of the cool things about self-pubbing is you have the ability to go back and fix stuff right away. And re fixing the word “write” in your comment? Next time leave it. We get it. Trust the reader (a post for another time). PS I hope you’re working on another book. Loved your first one.
When I first published my book, I read the copy they sent me and was sick at the number of mistakes I found. and I must have gone over that book a hundred times. I corrected it but it was costly and I am still embarrassed at knowing people bought it like that. I am sure there are still mistakes in there, in fact, I have found a couple punctuation boo- boo’s but leaving it as is. I really like your description. Word blindness-that is right on the money!
Judy, I only noticed a typo in my second book when I was doing a reading aloud a few months ago! I was so embarrassed. Mumbled my way through it, and then hastened to fix it. But no doubt there are more (and I do pay a professional editor to review it.) Or as Gerald Ford once said after he tripped and fell at the base of the stairs to Air Force One, upon regaining his footing and standing up: “Oh, well. Nobody’s human!”
Swell ritten, Lynne. Tipe o’s reely stand owt win unscene.
Years ago, I worked at a business that typed and proofread and printed scripts of all types. It was Hollywood, and so much fun. And it was educational for me. I typed mostly, but sometimes was given a proofreading job due to deadlines. I learned to read upside down, right to left. Wow! Did errors stand out using that method! I do the same now (but it doesn’t work on a computer screen). Bit surprised when I’ve read it on-screen, then must give it a final reading on paper — errors appear. Darn. Thinking it was perfect. Wastes paper, except for:
I agree with the comment re: using the backside of paper. Most of my copies are printed that way.
Thank you again for this great Tuesday. (I love your other postings, too, though. The only problem is, it reminds me of my approach to 80. Ugh!)
Bob
You were the catalyst, Bob. I’m enjoying the heck out of this. I even added a caption to my picture in the upper right corner to clarify how AST has become a blog with two missions.
Re 80: do you know about brain bilateralization? Or pattern recognition? Both are skillful refinements exclusive to the aging brain. I wrote about them here. Enjoy. (PS I refer to it as “Middle age” but I mean anything over 50.) https://anyshinything.com/boomersaging/middle-age-brainpower
Oh, Lynne, how I can relate to “wordblindness”. It is absolutely crucial to have another set of eyes review our work. It reminds me of this poem, “Ode to a Typo”: http://www.evangelicalpress.com/typo/. (PS, it helps to have a healthy sense of humor about it). Thanks for this important reminder.
Kathy, I’ve always been terrified about the possibilities of leaving the “L” out of Public.
I’ve learned I proofread better on paper, not the computer screen. I print on the plain side of all the paper that still comes to our house.
And I agree–typos are unacceptable.
Robin, I like that. I got our critique group in the habit of printing on used paper. We just slash a big line through the wrong side. We feel very environmental. Also, reading out loud is good. And for bigger jobs, like a chapter or two, sending it to yourself to read on your Kindle is fantastic.