Do you want someone pointing out mistakes in your published works?

Mark G said:

So the poll. How valuable is feedback on errors after the book is already published?

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Publishers will appreciate being told (well, I do, anyway.) The typos go into a reprint correction file and if it's reasonably practical they can be fixed at the next printing.

Authors have been hit with publishing mistakes for as long as books have been published.

Some readers do not realise that the mistakes are publishing related and not author related. I am sure both the publishers and authors appreciate the notice.

Unfortunately, I feel this is going to get worse because of self publishing. In those cases, it would be the author's fault as they are totally responsible... (NOT saying all self published books will fit into this category. Just to clarify...)

I find it incredibly douchey to tell a published (in print) author that there is an error/typo in their finished product. What are they supposed to do about it?

Don't contact the author. Chances are very high that the errors were not made by the author. Chances are also very high that they already know about them. If you feel an overwhelming need to point out such errors, send the info to the publishing company, they are the only ones who can do anything about it. And then only if there are additional printings of the book.

MM

I'll second what Mary said.

(inserts amusing anecdote about how a reader emailed a publisher about errors and how the editor had to admit that somehow an early proof of the book had been submitted for publication--thankfully it was an epub and the errors were easily corrected)

The only time it happened to me was a family friend sent me a list of mistakes but said nothing else about the story. Cheesed me off, really. I might have taken it better if he had said other things about it, even if he'd said he lined a birdcage with it.

Being this was a POD book, the errors could have been mine or the publishers (this publisher is known to introduce errors, some of which I caught in the proofs).

My cousin seems to delight in pointing out that he's found a few errors in mine. I suppose I should ask him what they are, especially for the one that is in hardcover at the moment, so the changes can be made to the paperback (if it gets that far), but his gleefulness is annoying me too much right now.

Mark G said:

I don't know whether it's because of an expanded awareness or increased sensitivity, but I've recently started noticing small mistakes (totally wrong word or "he" in place of "she" or punctuation weirdness) in books by well-known authors. These are books that I loved, but just had some little glitches.

I just finished a book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and of the half-dozen of her books I've read, it's the first I found with mistakes. 25 of them!!! Should I contact her?

I've contacted a couple of other authors about glitches in their books (along with glowing praise for the work, of course) and got polite responses. But I wonder if I'm making more trouble for myself than it's worth.

So the poll. How valuable is feedback on errors after the book is already published?

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Typographical errors should absolutely be pointed out. It can always be fixed for the next batch of books released, right?

As for subjective opinions? About my short stories I've had some as odd as "I don't like the character's name." I just remind myself that an editor liked it enough to take it, opinions are opinions. Plus if you ever get a large readerbase there will be many opinions, I'd gather.

But it appears I've misread and you're speaking from a reader's perspective. Yeah, I don't see harm in sending publishers a note.

In a recent urban fantasy from Del Rey, I found more than five occasions where 'there' was used for 'their' and 'they're'. Sheer laziness on the proofreaders' part, on a book that I otherwise loved.

I think that some mistakes are made, or at least overlooked, by editors. A few years ago I read a book that featured a character named Mark Jr. Every time the characters's name appeared, there was a comma after it. So there were sentences like:

Mark Jr., went to the store.
Mark Jr., woke up.
Mark Jr., liked it.

And so on.

The first time I saw it I thought it was just a typo. After seeing it literally hundreds of times, I realized it was an editorial thing. Even if it was done by the author himself, an editor should have found the errors and cleaned them up. But clearly this editor thought a comma was necessary after "Jr." every time.

Scary.

Mark G said:

I don't know whether it's because of an expanded awareness or increased sensitivity, but I've recently started noticing small mistakes (totally wrong word or "he" in place of "she" or punctuation weirdness) in books by well-known authors. These are books that I loved, but just had some little glitches.

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This happens. No one is perfect, and when proofing 90 THOUSAND words it's understandable that one or two mistakes might be missed.

Depending on the printing sytem used the mistake could be made at any level.

I just finished a book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and of the half-dozen of her books I've read, it's the first I found with mistakes. 25 of them!!! Should I contact her?

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Hell no.

If you feel that you must point it out to someone, then do so to the publisher, who can deal with it on their end, especially if they are minor mistakes like punctuation or spelling.

I've contacted a couple of other authors about glitches in their books (along with glowing praise for the work, of course) and got polite responses. But I wonder if I'm making more trouble for myself than it's worth.

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I would say that the praise is what got you the polite response, not pointing out errors that were, in all likelyhood, not the writers fault.

What do you think the author can do about it?

Nine times out of ten it's an editorial/publication error. Unless, as has been mentioned, it's a self-published book.

Not so much typographical errors, but I would certainly appreciate someone pointing out historical inaccuracies.

Though saying that, I left a review on Amazon telling on author his history of Hadrian's Wall was BS, for the author to say I was wrong. Excuse me? Who is the one with a Classical Studies degree?

... there are always typos in novels, except in ones put out by publishers like Penguin. I guess they have the resources to meticulously go every book. I don't really mind the typos, unless they become too frequent. Then it's annoying.

scarletpeaches said:

What do you think the author can do about it?

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Run around the world with a pencil, striking out and correcting the error in every copy everywhere. That's what they SHOULD do. And then Clarence should eat their face.

I don't think I ever read a book where I didn't find an error. ERRORS HAPPEN. A book is never finished...just abandoned.

Ken said:

... there are always typos in novels, except in ones put out by publishers like Penguin. I guess they have the resources to meticulously go every book. I don't really mind the typos, unless they become too frequent. Then it's annoying.

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Penguin is not immune. No publisher is.

Publishing is such a labor-intensive process, I'm startled that I don't see more errata. Copy-editors and proofreaders can only do so much, especially when many of those jobs have been eliminated or combined.

That strikes me as unnecessarily nitpicky and petty. "Hey, you know this comma's in the wrong place. And you didn't close this parenthesis." Really?

No one wants a book full of typos. But I'd be aggravated if, at the end of reading my (theoretical) published book, that's all someone would have to say about it.

Amarie, if there was anything glaring in Wolf Storm, I would have noticed it and my son would definitely have noticed it. Somebody is being a bit nit-picky!

I suppose I'd want to know if there was something I could do about it, but if not, then no.

What's the point?

Mark G said:

I don't know whether it's because of an expanded awareness or increased sensitivity, but I've recently started noticing small mistakes (totally wrong word or "he" in place of "she" or punctuation weirdness) in books by well-known authors. These are books that I loved, but just had some little glitches.

I just finished a book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and of the half-dozen of her books I've read, it's the first I found with mistakes. 25 of them!!! Should I contact her?

I've contacted a couple of other authors about glitches in their books (along with glowing praise for the work, of course) and got polite responses. But I wonder if I'm making more trouble for myself than it's worth.

So the poll. How valuable is feedback on errors after the book is already published?

Click to expand...

Factual mistakes, yes. Nitpicking errors like the ones you mention, no, I really don't have the time to read one more complaint. Ten minutes after the book is published, we ALL see every mistake in it, but what can you do?

I'd be willing to be you didn't catch them all. Getting a book to print without mistakes is tough, no many how many eyes go over it.


And more often than not, most of the "mistakes" I make along the lines of grammar and punctuation are intentional, but readers point them out, anyway, apparently thinking a novel should use perfect grammar and punctuation at all times. But even if they aren't intentional, don't yell me, tell my editor.

Odds are about ten thousand to one that we've both noticed them after the book was published. Odds are also good that neither of us made the error.

Really, though, who has time to read such a complaint, run to whichever book it is, thinking, "Oh, God, there's a "he" when it should be a "she"? If it is an error, it's already been made, it will also certainly be corrected without the complaints, and new mistakes will replace these.

But when I receive such complaints, I, or someone, sends back a polite response. You do no harm by pointing out such goofs, but they don't help me, and I doubt they help ,many others, simply because the moment it's too late to make corrections, every mistake and typo in the book jumps off the page at you.

Filigree said:

In a recent urban fantasy from Del Rey, I found more than five occasions where 'there' was used for 'their' and 'they're'. Sheer laziness on the proofreaders' part, on a book that I otherwise loved.

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Sounds like "there" proofreader is named Spell Checker.

I don't report mistakes. Ain't my job as a reader. If the publishers want me to proof for them, they can pay me.

Ken said:

... there are always typos in novels, except in ones put out by publishers like Penguin. I guess they have the resources to meticulously go every book. I don't really mind the typos, unless they become too frequent. Then it's annoying.

Click to expand...

No publisher puts out perfect books. Meticulous doesn't get the job done, either. I've had books published with a few mistakes, even with three very experienced people trying to find them all, and I find as many typos in books from top publishers as in books from tiny publishers. Sometimes more because the editor at the tiny publisher is under less stress, and can take a good deal more time with each book.

I get frustrated when people mention it when it's just a few typos or mistakes. It happens and it's not a big deal. It always amuses me, actually.

Now, if you have a case where the author refuses editorial input *cough*Hamilton*cough and the problems are major enough to interfere with the reading, I'd leave a review on Amazon or the like. Same for self-published books that have really poor editing or grammar. I'd have no problem leaving a review that said there were lots of grammatical errors or what not.

I wouldn't feel comfortable saying, "There was a typo on page 6." That doesn't really matter, IMO. ETA: That holds true for self-published books as well. I get that a lot of people expect errors and go looking for them, but I've seen a review before that was trashing someone's editing skills because they found a few minor typos.