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#106 |
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I got a little late to this one, but here's my 2 cents worth.
It's one of those things that you have to take a bad review on the chin whether the bad review is warranted or not. The reader is entitled to their opinion and it's a subjective one. No one sees a book the same way. If the writer can't handle that, time to get another another job. As to bad publicity, I like to think not all bad publicity is good publicity. If a book is universally panned or the author misbehaves, I'd like to think time to get a pen name. That said, a couple of months ago, a writer went after someone who placed a review on Amazon UK. She left comment after comment for the reader who'd left the review. A thread was started where everyone discussed the writer's bad behavior. How was the writer punished? With a book that reached the top 100. So maybe bad publicity is good publicity. :-) |
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#107 |
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This remark is on the money. All writers need editors and second pair of eyes. I'm dyslexic also and nothing goes out without at least two people checking it. Also I came from an engineering background and nothing got built without a 'checker' and an 'approver' reviewing a design before it went into production.
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#108 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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A mediocre writer can use a bad publicity event to get more readers, because almost anyone's mediocre writing is someone's favorite style. A bad writer can't pull that off. Outside of her immediate family who has practice with her syntax and context for her stories, I don't think she'll sell more than a tiny handful of ebooks, once she's stopped being the "point and laugh" center of the ebook world online. |
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#109 | |
mrkrgnao
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It's a very strong Southern English accent: - from the East End of London I think, although perhaps one of the forum's English members from that side of the river Humber will correct me on this. Jacqueline's reading is not pleasant to listen to and it really should have been obvious to her that she needed a bit more practice before doing so and putting the results up online. As well as an editor, she is badly in need of an agent to handle her publicity (well, as an exercise in damage limitation, really). I taught ESL classes for several years, so am familiar with most of the mistakes made by someone who is in the process of learning English. Her errors strike me as being merely clumsy usage; they're far more similar to Dan Brown's errors, lazy uses of syntax and gross ambiguities. |
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#110 | |
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![]() I completely agree. I sometimes beta for an online-acquaintance who's prone to dropping words and such, and I know that if I go back and slowly read something I wrote a while ago, even with knowing what to expect I often spot a typo or something, so, yeah, I think a book needs to be run past someone besides the author before publishing. |
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#111 |
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#112 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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#113 | |
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#114 |
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All this discussion about whether native/non-native English speaker reminds me of George Bernard Shaw's writings on the subject*, in which he basically asserts that the only speakers of really good English are the foreigners who've deliberately studied the language.
Whereas home-grown Anglophones have the sloppiest and worst grammar and vocabulary usage because they assume the way they grew up with it is "correct" and they never bother finding out otherwise (plus, speaking too well marks you as a despised toff, or something). *GBS has been dead for 50+ years, yes? I should go see it's up on one of the Projects Gutenberg. |
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#115 | |
temp. out of service
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#116 |
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It's true. I can often spot people online for whom English is not their first (and often, only a written) language because they, having learned it correctly and been graded on correctness, speak English correctly. Native speakers got points for "creativity" instead of actually getting the language right, and write like they speak, if even that well, so they write like slobs. While there are some things which are common mistakes for non-English-speakers (for example, noun/adjective order in speakers of Romance languages), by and large, if someone can actually communicate reasonably well in a language, the better they are with it, it seems that the less likely it is that they're a native speaker. Depressing, that.
One of the things I like about MobileRead is the number of exceptions to this rule of thumb, possibly because anyone who writes in teenage text-speak is soundly laughed at. |
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#117 |
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Wow. This just shows the power of the internet and blogging. Honestly, I hope Ms. Howett recovers from this blowup and go on to accomplish great things. Criticism is hard for any artist, especially with all the work we pour into our projects. It's easy for emotions to flare. But no one should have to suffer a ruined career for a little fit. That's just my opinion.
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#118 |
Teacher/Novelist
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I feel bad for her. I've had my share of bad reviews (some really mean). Still, that type of response doesn't help you. You have to let it go and move on at the least. If the criticism is constructive, maybe you can learn something to improve your writing.
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#119 | |
Curmudgeon
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And when a person who wants to be an author is incapable, not only of using the language she is writing in, but of recognizing or acknowledging that inability, even when examples are pointed out to her, it's highly unlikely that this person will go on to great things. |
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#120 |
Grand Sorcerer
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She's lowered the cost of her novel to $.99, so she might be getting curiosity purchases. Even without a sample, plenty of people will pay a dollar to find out what the fuss was about.
I hope she doesn't convince herself those people will be buying her next book, supposedly out later this year. |
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Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
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