Author Throws Tantrum, Curses out Reviewer

[spellbanisher]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

From the sample at Smashwords, which is over 30 pages long, there are no passages without weird sentence structure.

She could be a literary genius.

[Nyssa]

This is why I think it is actually "bad publicity", instead of the ever common "any publicity is good publicity" belief; people do not have to actually buy anything in order to see an example of her poor work.

As one who does not usually read samples, I wonder, if this situation could have an effect on other authors? Meaning, might other new authors decide not to offer samples for fear of "pre-sale rejection"?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

As one who does not usually read samples, I wonder, if this situation could, have an effect on other authors? Meaning, might other new authors decide not to offer samples for fear of "pre-sale rejection"?

Any new author not allow a large sample of their novel to be read for free is an idiot.

[wvcherrybomb]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

From the sample at Smashwords, which is over 30 pages long, there are no passages without weird sentence structure.

I guess you're right. I had not even thought of that.

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Her bio says she was born & raised in London, not that she's a native speaker of English. She may have grown up in a multilingual household where English was only used occasionally, and the grammar and syntax were irrelevant as long as the meaning was understood--which is a lot easier to manage in face-to-face encounters than in text.

This sounds likely. It would explain why her "ear" for language is off key.

Her spelling and usage is off too, though. "Anyways" "your/you're" etc... Maybe she has some sort of learning disability.

I hate to see anyone dogpiled, but yeesh. She had so many opportunities to make lemonade, but chose to spit instead, and afaik, hasn't apologized, retracted, or anything.

If she had just thanked the reviewer and said she would seek an editor, she could have come through with some tolerant fans, even some willing to overlook her flaws until she got help. According to the blogger, the story itself wasn't bad.

[bZkindle]

Originally Posted by Piper_

This sounds likely. It would explain why her "ear" for language is off key.

Her spelling and usage is off too, though. "Anyways" "your/you're" etc... Maybe she has some sort of learning disability.

I hate to see anyone dogpiled, but yeesh. She had so many opportunities to make lemonade, but chose to spit instead, and afaik, hasn't apologized, retracted, or anything.

If she had just thanked the reviewer and said she would seek an editor, she could have come through with some tolerant fans, even some willing to overlook her flaws until she got help. According to the blogger, the story itself wasn't bad.

Her smashwords bio says that her mother is Greek.
Not that it really matters. She insults writers of any language!

BTW, I am unable to see that sample on smashwords. Has it been removed or does one need an account?
I don't plan on reading it or anything! I couldn't even make it through the kindle sample. Painful.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Piper_

This sounds likely. It would explain why her "ear" for language is off key.

Her spelling and usage is off too, though. "Anyways" "your/you're" etc... Maybe she has some sort of learning disability.

I think that's a matter of informal language use and lack of writing skills. Punctuation and spelling are irrelevant to spoken communication, and anyone who's not working in academia or a communications-focused business field has no need to focus on those after high school.

I hate to see anyone dogpiled, but yeesh. She had so many opportunities to make lemonade, but chose to spit instead, and afaik, hasn't apologized, retracted, or anything.

Yes, this. Had she been willing to take any criticism at all, or even acknowledge that the book might've been improved by an editor, I think the dogpiling would've stopped much sooner.

I'm tempted to submit the first few sample chapters to one of the automatic grammar-check sites like Paper Rater just to see what it says.

[Elfwreck]

Sample is now GONE! Yeah, she's gonna sell a *lot* of books by not allowing any previews!

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I think that's a matter of informal language use and lack of writing skills. Punctuation and spelling are irrelevant to spoken communication, and anyone who's not working in academia or a communications-focused business field has no need to focus on those after high school.

So true. Even when I was in college I forgot a lot, just from spending most of my time writing notes. By the time I had to write serious papers, I couldn't remember how to spell whole words or construct a full sentence.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Yes, this. Had she been willing to take any criticism at all, or even acknowledge that the book might've been improved by an editor, I think the dogpiling would've stopped much sooner.

I'm tempted to submit the first few sample chapters to one of the automatic grammar-check sites like Paper Rater just to see what it says.

Thanks. That looks like a great site. Bookmarked.

But will it pick up the stuff I'd attribute to her having a "bad ear"?

For example:

"Don and Katy watched hypnotically Gino place more coffees out at another table with supreme balance."

Ouch. lol

[amkuska]

She had it coming to her, but I still feel bad for her.

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Sample is now GONE! Yeah, she's gonna sell a *lot* of books by not allowing any previews!

Now that her book has gained a bit of infamy (Neil Gaiman even mentioned it on his Twitter), she would be smart (there's the catch) to lower the price to .99 just to get curiosity-sales or sales from people wishing to take part in the mockery for fun. I bet there's a fair number of bored people would spend a dollar for the amusement.

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by amkuska

She had it coming to her, but I still feel bad for her.

I save my feeling bad for people who don't have it coming, like the reviewer and blog commenters she cursed at. People who act like she did can go hang.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Piper_

This sounds likely. It would explain why her "ear" for language is off key.

Her spelling and usage is off too, though. "Anyways" "your/you're" etc... Maybe she has some sort of learning disability.

I hate to see anyone dogpiled, but yeesh. She had so many opportunities to make lemonade, but chose to spit instead, and afaik, hasn't apologized, retracted, or anything.

If she had just thanked the reviewer and said she would seek an editor, she could have come through with some tolerant fans, even some willing to overlook her flaws until she got help. According to the blogger, the story itself wasn't bad.

As someone with 8 learning disabilities (dyslexia and auditory discriminatioon being the biggies), I have learned to have all of my professional work proof read and the really important stuff (can we say dissertation) editted. I try and use spell check (not at option at this site with the way work blocks crap)for everything I do.

Why? Because I know that my spelling sucks and that my grammar is a bit screwy. If I want people to understand what I am saying I need to make sure people review my work for me.

When I taught, I gave my students the address, telephone number, and email address to the resource center. The folks there were paid to proof read papers for students and to walk the students through the mistakes that they found. I include the information in my syllabus, I made sure that they remember to go there before turning in papers, and I tried to point out that students who went there tended to see a huge improvement in their writing. The first paper was almost always a disaster. One student recommended that I use a purple pen for grading because all the red on his paper was just scary. The students who took the not so subtle hint, I would write "Go see the folks at the resource center for help editing your work" on many papers, saw a huge improvement in their grades.

The moral of this story is, learning disabilities or not, she should use a freaking editor. Most of us need editors because we miss things due to being too familiar with the work and because we are not perfect.

[elcreative]

And that is the real point... any writing needs proofing for public consumption,proofing by a third party who doesn't know the content and therefore doesn't what is expected (no expectations) and sees what is actually written...

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Most of us need editors because we miss things due to being too familiar with the work and because we are not perfect.

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

As someone with 8 learning disabilities (dyslexia and auditory discriminatioon being the biggies), I have learned to have all of my professional work proof read and the really important stuff (can we say dissertation) editted. I try and use spell check (not at option at this site with the way work blocks crap)for everything I do.

Why? Because I know that my spelling sucks and that my grammar is a bit screwy. If I want people to understand what I am saying I need to make sure people review my work for me.
-snip-

I must say I think you've done an excellent job overcoming your challenges, prof. I never would have guessed these things, judging by your posts.

The moral of this story is, learning disabilities or not, she should use a freaking editor. Most of us need editors because we miss things due to being too familiar with the work and because we are not perfect.

Exactly. Everyone has limitations. The key is to know them and use whatever tools and people you can to work around them. What's destroying her is her attitude.