Quote:
Originally Posted by Lin2412
It really surprises me when there is are a few typographical or grammatical errors in books from traditional publishers. I'm more forgiving if it's in my indie ebooks, and brush them off as long as I get the meaning anyhow.
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Typos
really irritate me in books, whether traditionally or independently published, but I'm kind of resigned to seeing them in indie books. Even worse is homophone misuse, like when someone "takes the reigns" or "pours over homework." (Unless you've got characters kidnapping monarchs or upending a pitcher over a textbook, those don't mean what you intend to say.)
The way I see it, an author is a construction worker and an architect. An architect designs a structure, just as a writer sets up a story. When it comes time to build it, words and grammar become the bricks and mortar, respectively. Fail on any of those three fronts, and that beautiful house collapses into a pile of worthless rubble.
Homophone abuse particularly bugs me because it tells me that the author isn't even trying. They can't be bothered to tell the words apart; do they even know what the differences are? That's like a mechanic not caring what kind of oil your car needs; would you pay that guy to rebuild an engine? I sure wouldn't! At least rein/reign and pour/pore are relatively uncommon terms; everyday words like your/you're and they're/their/there are simply inexcusable. If you can't keep
those straight, you simply have no business writing for a living. (Likewise, I'll readily forgive mistakes on arcane tenses, but if your narrative shifts from past to present and back again within the same scene and without reason, put the keyboard down!)
One of the earliest and most valuable lessons I learned in school was back in the fourth grade, when a teacher told me that I didn't have to know everything, just where to find the information. That was longer ago than I care to admit, and she was talking about encyclopedias and dictionaries, but this is 2015. We have the Internet now, and lots of websites exist that will clarify just about any questions you have when it comes to language and grammar. If you don't know, do a search and find out. If you're not online at the moment, make a note to check it later. I have to do that all the time with lay and lie, because that's one of my own weak spots, but I
do it - because it's important to Get It Right. (I had to look that up just last night, in fact; I needed it in the newest chapter.)
I'm a little more forgiving with typos, especially certain kinds. Hyphens, for instance - sometimes they get put in or taken out manually to make the print version come out right. I get that. It's still wrong, but it probably happened after the author was done with it; it's a formatting goof. Complex grammar gets a pass, too; I'm concerned with the basics. When something comes out of a traditional publishing company with significant, easily-found errors, I want to mark it up in red ink and send it to them with a note asking if they have an opening in Editorial.
And yes, if a book doesn't have DRM, I fix my copy. I might want to read it again someday. If it's an indie author, sometimes I'll contact them and offer to share what I've found. I mean, if I'm fixing my copy, why not offer the same fixes to them so they can update the master copies?