[LuvReadin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Totally different scenario. There's a difference between writing dialogue which is an accurate reflection of the way that people speak, and not knowing how to write using accurate and correct punctuation, spelling and grammar. If the author can't be bothered to get those simple things right, I can't be bothered to read the book.

Precisely. Why should I waste my precious time wading through a morass of mis-spellings and poor grammar just to read what may (or more likely may not) be a half-decent story, when there are far more books out there for which I don't have to make this unnecessary effort? If a writer wants their book read, they need to make that effort. I mark down books in my reviews for poor spelling and grammar - it shows me that the writer doesn't care about their writing, their reputation or their readers.

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

... lots are not being careless, or too thrifty to hire an editor, they just do not know any better and are truly puzzled as to what the fuss is about.

Stinginess maybe, thrift, no. It's a false economy for an author or publisher to skimp on editing or proofreading, and it's coming back to bite some of them on the bum now.

Originally Posted by bigjantailor

At least look at writing and writer and say, ‘is this a person I should come down on because they had the ability and resources to make it perfect or is it someone who is a neophyte, who needs guidance.’ Truly, not easy to do but if you do that I'll read more stuff by haters of bad grammar.

Sorry, there's no excuse for this. Even with the current abysmal standard of education, people know whether their spelling and grammar is up to scratch or not. If it isn't (and TBH, even if it is), then they should get their work edited. I have the greatest sympathy for anyone with a disability such as dyslexia, but even the best writers will benefit from working with a good editor. As others have said, if a writer is expecting readers to pay for their product, they owe it to those readers to make sure it's as good as possible.

Originally Posted by Catlady

What this guy says about copyeditors and how mss. are assigned is completely off the wall.

And he's nuts if he thinks a copyeditor gets $10,000 for a single assignment.

Indeed. At $5 per 1000 words, that's a very long book!

Originally Posted by Fbone

I've seen editors charge between $6-8 per page for copy editing. Dean is saying that they should charge $1.25/page but that seems too low. I suppose there is going to be variations perhaps for skill and experience. Would you risk your career using the cheapest and possibly an unskilled editor? I always thought the minimal qualification was B.A. English.

There is no minimum qualification, of any kind. Anyone can call themselves a 'copyeditor' or 'proofreader'. it makes it difficult to find good editors. Cost is one possible guideline - the more in demand the editor (or whoever) is, the more they can charge. However, this depends far more on the particular area of publishing than the editor's skill; fiction editing is one of the lowest-paid disciplines. Qualifications such as a BA in English are pointless, IMO - it's much more important that they have qualifications recognised by the industry. Membership of a good trade organisation may be a useful pointer, but as many have no membership exams, this also isn't foolproof. Hence, the best indicator is often personal recommendation. Most editors will also be willing to do an editing test or a few sample pages, but they'll generally expect to be paid for this - there are far too many scams around with people trying to get their 'sample' chapters done for nothing.

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

What about the ones I posted the mistakes from in the errors in ebooks thread, would you say those had ever gone near an editor ]None of those were self published, and several of them were from large corporation publishers.

Possibly - many of the large publishers have been slashing their editing budgets, or sending the work out to editors whose first language isn't English (which can be OK if the author is a native speaker but is a recipe for disaster if they're not). Or as Catlady said, a proofread was needed as well.