Kindle eBooks will have PUBLIC Warnings for spelling/formatting errors!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Hitch -- maybe there *are* typos in there... and he's more popular than we ever thought.

I'm sure there are. But the timing of this is, to me, highly suspect.

@JackTorrance: well, the bottom line is that Amazon gets the feedback from the readers. I'll say it right now--most of it is either a) pissy, or b) highly...what's the word I'm reaching for?...smug. That's the word. I would imagine that some folks think of themselves as helping the author...but so far, it most feels like a pissy demand for instant gratification of their self-importance, by forcing an author to "hop to." At least, that's what we've been seeing. Everyone here has heard my story of my Red-Carpet client and the three typos--one of which was a scanning (backlist) error, and the other two--not errors. Brit Spellings. {shrug}.

@Doubleshuff:

Agreed. Excellent question. In goldfish years, it's practically the Walking Dead (book).

@mitford13: well, he's already reported on pretty much everything, including the edits, before this happened, so...don't see him getting much traction from that.

If I didn't reply to anyone, mea culpa. Will try to do so later.

Hitch

[Froide]

Originally Posted by Catlady

It seems silly to me. Other than the most egregious formatting screw-ups, how is Amazon going to objectively verify actual errors?

An author might choose to have characters speak in dialect, for example, or to have an unconventional first-person narration. Even regarding formatting, an author might decide to be nonstandard. These may be stupid and annoying editorial choices, but they may be choices, not mistakes.

If, say, a dozen people incorrectly report something as an error, is Amazon going to decide it's an error?

I wonder: will Amazon post some sort of "exception" message for works by writers such as e.e. cummings, George Eliot, Zora Neale Hurston, Harper Lee, Cormac McCarthy, and Mark Twain, who either use grammar/mechanics/spelling idiosyncratically or frequently write in dialects?

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Froide

I wonder: will Amazon post some sort of "exception" message for works [...] who either use grammar/mechanics/spelling idiosyncratically or frequently write in dialects?

No matter who you are or what your name is, I think that writing in dialect should never be acceptable unless it is in dialogue. Same with bad grammar outside of dialogue - it doesn't add to the story, but simply shows that the writer/editor don't know what they are doing. For me it is just as effective to tell me about it even for dialogue since accents, for example, cannot be distinguished by horribly misspelling. US vs brit spelling? Keep it consistent throughout the book, please.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

No matter who you are or what your name is, I think that writing in dialect should never be acceptable unless it is in dialogue. Same with bad grammar outside of dialogue - it doesn't add to the story, but simply shows that the writer/editor don't know what they are doing.

Yes, in the bin with all those artsy-fartsy stream-of-consciousness writers! They obviously didn't know what they were doing.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

No matter who you are or what your name is, I think that writing in dialect should never be acceptable unless it is in dialogue. Same with bad grammar outside of dialogue - it doesn't add to the story, but simply shows that the writer/editor don't know what they are doing. For me it is just as effective to tell me about it even for dialogue since accents, for example, cannot be distinguished by horribly misspelling. US vs brit spelling? Keep it consistent throughout the book, please.

Dialect and bad grammar are legitimate choices for a first-person narrative.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Dialect and bad grammar are legitimate choices for a first-person narrative.

Well now to me, the big catch would be this.
Joe, Guy, Dave and Cindy were planning a trip to San Angelo.
Their going to go swimming at the lake.

That would be bad grammar.

If Cindy says let's go et at Western Sky Cafe cause you guys ain't fed me all day.
I would figure Cindy to be a backwoods never been to the city kind of girl.
Not a grammar error.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Well now to me, the big catch would be this.
Joe, Guy, Dave and Cindy were planning a trip to San Angelo.
Their going to go swimming at the lake.

That would be bad grammar.

If Cindy says let's go et at Western Sky Cafe cause you guys ain't fed me all day.
I would figure Cindy to be a backwoods never been to the city kind of girl.
Not a grammar error.

Depends. If your first example were a semiliterate character writing the information in a note, say, it could be an authorial choice.

All I'm saying is that a sentence cannot always be taken out of context to decide if something is an error. That's why I don't like the idea of Amazon relying on reader reports alone. I've seen too many instances of people claiming something is wrong when they have no clue--I'm sure there are those who would attempt to correct your second example, failing to understand that the nonstandard usage is deliberate. I am in no way defending authors who mangle the English language out of ignorance.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Depends. If your first example were a semiliterate character writing the information in a note, say, it could be an authorial choice.

All I'm saying is that a sentence cannot always be taken out of context to decide if something is an error. That's why I don't like the idea of Amazon relying on reader reports alone. I've seen too many instances of people claiming something is wrong when they have no clue--I'm sure there are those who would attempt to correct your second example, failing to understand that the nonstandard usage is deliberate. I am in no way defending authors who mangle the English language out of ignorance.

No. The first one was just a mangling but you are so right. In a note, it might or might not be intentional.

I bet Uncle Remus gets lots of reports.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Depends. If your first example were a semiliterate character writing the information in a note, say, it could be an authorial choice.

All I'm saying is that a sentence cannot always be taken out of context to decide if something is an error. That's why I don't like the idea of Amazon relying on reader reports alone. I've seen too many instances of people claiming something is wrong when they have no clue--I'm sure there are those who would attempt to correct your second example, failing to understand that the nonstandard usage is deliberate. I am in no way defending authors who mangle the English language out of ignorance.

Yes--if it were a note. The difficulty arises when we see authors writing that way for the characters' dialogue (there, theyr'e, their). As the reader is seeing text that the character is not seeing, nor spelling...that's a hot mess. If the character is writing--sure. But not in dialogue. Regional pronunciations, again, sure. But homonym errata and the like? Not for speaking characters.

Hitch

[Little.Egret]

Sharon Lee blogs

http://rolanni.livejournal.com/1073416.html

a. The Kindle edition of omnibus The Crystal Variation, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, including the novels Crystal Soldier, Crystal Dragon, and Balance of Trade -- has been taken off-sale by Amazon pending correction of "serious quality issues." These issues are "misspellings." Amazon forwarded the list of 144 instances of misspelled words to Baen, which forwarded it to us. More than a dozen of those "misspelled" words are "cermacrete." We also have "ISBN" identified as a "misspelled" word. Also, cantra, kais, qwint, Iloheen, aetherium, autoshout -- you get the idea. Steve and I have each made a pass down the list and have so far identified three Actual Misspelled Words, and one that I need to research, but believe to be a spacing problem. The process from here goes like this: We tell Baen which words are Actually Misspelled. A Baen editor will fix those errors. The Baen Ebook Team will then recompile the omnibus and shuffle it into its various formats, including forwarding a "clean copy" to Amazon. Amazon will then, at some point, put the book back on sale.

https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Varia...dp/B00APA1L4E/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crystal-Var...dp/B00APA1L4E/

If you would like to purchase an electronic copy of The Crystal Variation in the immediate future, your best choice of vendor would be Baen Ebooks, which offers the book for sale in All Formats Known to Man or Clutch. Here's the link.
http://www.baen.com/the-crystal-variation.html

(other ebook notes)

[theducks]

I have been blasting books with (obviously) wrong word, split or run together errors in my reviews since there was no 'report errors' button/area in the 'Review my Purchase' section.
I do not review grammar. I ignore those I suspect are slang/jargon that I am not familiar with.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Sharon Lee blogs

http://rolanni.livejournal.com/1073416.html

a. The Kindle edition of omnibus The Crystal Variation, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, including the novels Crystal Soldier, Crystal Dragon, and Balance of Trade -- has been taken off-sale by Amazon pending correction of "serious quality issues." These issues are "misspellings." Amazon forwarded the list of 144 instances of misspelled words to Baen, which forwarded it to us.

{. . .}

Sharon Lee follows up in another blog post

http://rolanni.livejournal.com/1075190.html

Baen forwarded the list to us, and we identified -- wait for it -- THREE incidences of Actual Misspelled Words (the rest were made-up scifi words, and most of them were "cermacrete"), four instances of missing commas (which Amazon had not pinpointed as errors), and one instance of two words that were smushed together.

Yeah, that's it. Amazon pulled our omnibus, without notice, for containing three spelling errors across a 1200-page book.

The Crystal Variation is now back on sale at Amazon, thanks to speedy work on Baen's part, for getting those errors fixed, and the book re-up-loaded in record time.

So, that.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Amazon had likewise taken Courier Run, Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 18, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, published by Pinbeam Books (aka Sharon Lee and Steve Miller) off-sale, without warning, for four spelling errors and two bad line breaks. These errors were represented as having been reported by a reader who found them "distracting."

[Barbara1955]

This is why I Don't read SiFi... To much made up crap. Now you tell me even Made up Words! No wonder Kids Cant Spell or READ!

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Katie1

This is why I Don't read SiFi... To much made up crap. Now you tell me even Made up Words! No wonder Kids Cant Spell or READ!

Do you mean Jabberwocky?
There have been made up words since at least 1871.
Kids can't read or spell because they aren't given books but they can have TVs.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katie1

This is why I Don't read SiFi... To much made up crap. Now you tell me even Made up Words! No wonder Kids Cant Spell or READ!

I really see no connection. There are many people with appallingly bad spelling who don't read SF.