Errors - Whose Responsibility Are They?

An interesting question regarding how to judge a book when it's full of errors was posed this morning on an author board I'm a member of. You see, many members of this group, including me, are judges in a huge annual writing contest, and one of the things we're up against is who should take the blame for typos, spelling errors, and punctuation errors. Should we dock the author and reduce the score, or do we look the other way under the premise that it's the editor's fault, not the author's?

I bet U Turn is getting tired of hearing "no."

To Dock Or Not To Dock?

To answer this question, I think we need to look at the types of errors being made, as well as the volume.

First of all, we all make errors. I've never read a book that didn't have at least one error in it. Most have several. But as long as there aren't too many mistakes, and the reading experience isn't severely impacted, it's easy to look the other way.

Is this message only for the guardians of parents? And what are "ate's?" And time's what? This poster is a hot mess.

Where we run into a problem is when there are errors on every page. And not just errors, but glaring errors. Errors that make your skin crawl because they're so absurd that even a bad editor should have caught them. Errors that muddle the message and confuse the reader as to what is actually being said.

Yeah, those errors need to be docked. There's no excuse for them, and they've impeded the reading experience so severely, you have no choice but to deduct points. 

Additionally, I recently read a book that contained a ton of errors, but what was weird about them was that the author made those errors half the time, but wrote them correctly the other half. For example, she punctuated dialog tags correctly with the comma half the time. The other half she punctuated the dialog tag incorrectly with a period. Maybe an example would help:

Correct: "I want to go home," she said.

Incorrect: "I want to go home." she said.

She did this throughout the entire book. And she made this same kind of half-right-half-wrong error with other punctuation, spelling, etc. I was like, "She knows how to write it correctly, so why is she writing it incorrectly half the time?"

I had to dock points for that.

Who Do Errors Reflect On?

Let's look at a few examples:

"We are committed to 'excellense'"? Apparently, you're not.

"Were" opening...? I guess you're not now, huh?

 

If you're going to preach about our "lanaguage" to those who don't speak it, maybe you should learn it first. 

Like it or not, errors reflect on the person or business who made them public. The business who is committed to "excellense" just showed they're not that excellent. Dunkin Donuts' sign reflects on the business, not the person who printed the sign. And, yeah, the patriot in the minivan just shot him- or herself in the foot. 

In other words, in each of the above cases, not only was the message diminished by the errors, but they reflected on the person or public entity who represents them.

In the book world, that person is the author.

Who is Responsible for the Errors?

Like it or not, when it comes to errors in books, the author is ultimately held responsible. Not the editor, not the publisher, not the proofreader. The AUTHOR.

Think about it. When you're reading a book that's full of typos, do you say, "Ugh! That editor needs to learn how to edit," or "Ugh! This author needs to learn how to write."?

Maybe you're the one in a hundred that honestly blames the editor, but I've seen enough readers complain to know that 99% of the time, the author is blamed for typos, punctuation errors, misspelled words, and even bad formatting (which is WAY outside most authors' realm of responsibility, by the way). These readers aren't blaming the editor or proofreader. They're blaming the AUTHOR.

Don't dig your own grave with bad editing.

I once published a story with a small press. The publisher edited it in-house, but they never ran their edits by me for approval. When the story was published, I found that they had completely changed entire sentences, punctuation, and even the spelling of certain words, and in doing so, they created a lot of errors in my manuscript. Also, the book was for an American audience, but they formatted to British standards (colour instead of color, flavour instead of flavor, etc.). If you're writing for an American audience, you need to edit by American standards.

At any rate, I was furious. Luckily for me, I am extremely well-versed on punctuation and spelling. I edit as well as I write (with one exception: compound words. They are my nemesis). So, when I send my manuscripts to my editor now, it's really more about getting a second set of eyes on my story, so she can find the mistakes my author's eyes glossed over. And she's awesome sauce with compound words, so whew! Thank goodness for that. But my point is, I know an error when I see one.

So, back to this inept editor who marked up my manuscript with errors. Her mistakes reflected on ME. My name was on the book, not hers. As such, I was the one who stood to lose readers, not her. Because let's face it, there are a lot of savvy, educated readers out there who will ditch an author for a lot of things, including typos. That is the reality, like it or not. You can bitch and scream and try to "educate" those readers about whose fault those mistakes are, but it won't work. Those readers will still blame the author. It's a fact of publishing life we authors have to accept and strive to minimize in any way possible.

For me, the way I minimized the problem was  by never publishing with that publisher again. If this was the care they were going to give me, then thanks but no thanks. My reputation as an author is too important to me to let them foul it all up. And if they were going to be the cause of me losing readers, they needed to be cut loose. Ba-bye! I need a team around me that understands that this is MY work, MY reputation, and MY livelihood they're influencing. Those who take care of me, I will take care of in return. Those who don't...I wish you well, but see ya.

And therein lies the crux of this post. Authors need to take greater responsibility for their work, as well as greater control of the editing process, even when they're with a publisher. After all, it's the author's name on the book cover. As such, it's the author who has the most to lose from bad editing. Take the time to read those edits and not just trust that they're right. And if your publisher publishes your work without getting your approval on edits, it's time to find a new publisher.

Going back to the initial question then, how do you judge books with errors? My thoughts are, if a book is full of errors, no matter whose fault they are, judges should judge accordingly and deduct points if those errors are prolific and negatively impact the story and/or reading experience. Because, like I said, ultimately it's the author who's responsible for their own work.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to weigh in in the comments.

Happy Writing!

-D 

365 Ways To Be A Better Writer - Week One Recap

I hope everyone is ready for Winter Blast 2014. As I'm writing, the snow has arrived here and is coming down pretty heavily. And what better way to spend a snowy Sunday morning than to hunker down indoors and recap this week's writing tips on how to be a better writer.

I won't always do a weekly recap, but since this series is still so new, I thought it appropriate this week.

We started the 365 Ways with last week's blog post on creating a 5-Year Plan. Since I already spent ample time on that topic, I won't rehash it here. The other topics I hit this week are:

1. Know yourself
2. Read "On Writing" by Stephen King
3. Editing
4. How to start your story.

Let's look briefly at each one:

Know Yourself

They say to write what you know, but you also have to write what you love. And to write what you love, you need to know yourself. For example, if you have no interest in vampires, you don't want to write a vampire novel. If you don't like reading romance, then don't write romance.

Right now, male/male (m/m) romance is super hot in the romance world, but authors who aren't comfortable with homosexuality shouldn't write a m/m romance simply to cash in. Same with Fifty Shades of Grey. I recently read an erotic romance written by a gal who admitted that she isn't comfortable writing sex scenes and only wrote the book because she wanted to jump on the Fifty Shades bandwagon. The problem was that I could tell as I read the book that she was not comfortable writing sex. It was glaringly obvious and detracted from my reading experience. What could have been a fabulous erotic romance came off as only lukewarm. Know yourself first, write what you love second, and then write what you know.

Also, know when you do your best writing. I'm a morning writer. I seem to be more productive before 2:00PM, the earlier the better. I used to get up at 4:30AM and get 2,000 words written by 6:30AM. Other people are more productive late at night. Still others write well in short spurts. This is individual to each author, and only you know when it's best to write for you. Also, do you prefer music or silence? A warm beverage at your side? A dish of m&m's? Once you know when and how you do your best writing, you'll soar.

Read "On Writing" by Stephen King

This is pretty self-explanatory. I will say that this was one of the first writing books I ever read, and many of Mr. King's advice has stuck with me almost verbatim. I'm not a big fan of Stephen King's fiction, but that doesn't mean he doesn't give excellent advice. He does. Read this book over and over and over until you've nailed his advice. He knows what he's talking about. I always say that if you want to be a bigtime author, you need to emulate a bigtime author's behavior when they're writing.

Editing

Too many self-publishers publish too quickly. They get impatient. They finish their rough draft and do a cursory read-through, and that's it. They might have a friend do a quick proofread or "edit" (I've seen some of these "edits" done by friends, and I'll just say, DON'T USE YOUR FRIENDS TO EDIT unless they are professional, trained, and educated editors), but that's it.

That book is your baby. The writing within it is your reputation as an author. Would you really treat your baby that way? Is it smart to sacrifice your reputation for a quick dollar? No. So, this is my advice: Write your first draft, put it away for a month or two, pull it back out and re-read it, and if you don't immediately vomit from how bad it is (and you might) start editing and rewriting it. After each edit/rewrite, set it aside for a few weeks, then come back to it and do another edit/rewrite. Do this about five times, maybe more. Send the story to your beta readers with the explicit instructions that you want them to shred your story to pieces (I'll be talking about beta readers later in this series of blog posts, so stay tuned). Once you get your beta feedback, do another round of edits and rewrites. [By the way, I usually send out my first or second draft to my beta readers, but I have thick enough skin to take the beating my betas will give me based on one of my early drafts. Most authors don't have thick enough skin to take this harsh criticism, so I'm recommending you send out a later draft. Of course, if your skin is thick, and you trust your betas to be excruciatingly brutal like mine are, then send them your first draft. It could save you a lot of editing and rewriting on things that will end up not mattering.] After you've addressed your beta feedback within your manuscript and are happy with the story, hire an editor. An actual trained and educated editor who comes with some credentials. Let the editor do their thing, and then implement his or her changes. Give the story one final proof (I do a proof, and I have someone else who also does a proof), and THEN you can publish. 

True story about the importance of editing: Several months ago, I saw that an old friend of mine had published a book. I visited her wall. Less than a month prior, she had posted that her book was "about" halfway finished, but that she wasn't sure just how long the book would be, because she was flying by the seat of her pants as she wrote it. Okay. Stop. Think about that. Less than a month before she published her book, she was "about" halfway done with the book...which means that she finished the book probably a week or so before she published it. Yes, I went to the book listing on Amazon, and yes, I "looked inside." What I found was astonishing. It was obvious she hadn't done any editing or proofreading at all, and what I read was filled with not only errors, but too much "fluff" that detracted from the story and led to confusion. It was, in a word, awful.

Good storylines don't mean squat if the story is poorly edited (or not edited at all) and/or poorly proofed. No story is good enough to overcome poor execution. Edit, edit, edit!

How to Start Your Story

The best way to grip your readers is by starting your story at a point of change that leads to questions about what will happen:

1. Your pregnant heroine walks in on her husband in bed with another woman. (What will she do? Will she leave him? Will she meet someone new? Will she be able to make it on her own?)
2. A mother is getting her kids ready for school when an explosion shakes the house. (What caused the explosion? Will she be able to save her kids? Will their crumble? If so, then what?)
3. Your middle-aged hero is unjustly fired from the job he's held for ten years. (Will he be able to find a new job? Why did he get fired? Will he sue? Will he get retribution against his former employer?)
4. Your heroine opens an envelope which contains divorce papers. (How long were they married? Do they have kids? Was he cheating? Was she cheating? Why are they divorcing? How old is she? Is she scared to be single again?)
5. Your hero is in a car accident and loses his leg. (Was it his fault? The other driver's fault? Is he hurt? How will this affect his life? His job? His relationship?)

Right away, your character(s) are under duress in some way. This is interesting. This is conflict and dramatic tension. These are the things readers want. They don't want to read three pages of your heroine washing her car as she talks about nothing of importance with her friend, who's helping her. Yes, I once tried to read a book that opened that way, and yes, I stopped reading after three pages.

You get maybe a page or two to grab your reader. If you don't grab them fast, you'll lose them.

The thing to remember about all these tips is that they're just that. Tips. They aren't the end-all-be-all gospel. Every writer has their own take and style, but every author has to start somewhere. Take from my tips what works, and leave the rest. And maybe something I've said might just spark you down a path you never would have gone otherwise. That's what it's all about, discovery new paths and methods of professional growth. I'm excited to help each of you find your own path of writing discovery and growth this year.

Happy Writing in 2014!

-D

365 Ways To Be a Better Writer - The 5-Year Plan

This post begins my series this year that I'm calling 365 Ways to Be a Better Writer. Every day on my Facebook page and profile, I'll post a new nugget that will, in some way, make writers better. Perhaps it will be a tip on writing craft, or a way to dig up new ideas, or perhaps it will pertain to the business or marketing side of writing. Then once a week, I'll write at least one blog post about one or more of the nuggets I posted that week.

Since it's January 1, I thought this would be a great time to talk about Nugget #1: The Five-Year Plan.

Every writer should have a five-year plan. You have to know where you're going and what you want to achieve if you're going to get there and achieve it. Think of your five-year plan as your road map to reach the destination you've projected for yourself.

What do you include in your Five-Year Plan? This could vary for everyone depending on where you are in your writing journey, but it could include:

• Your targeted annual sales for the next five years
• How many books you want to publish each year (including their titles. Use "working titles" if you haven't yet named a manuscript.)
• How many drafts you want to write each year (including their titles or working titles)
• Total number of words you want to write (make sure the number of words you're targeting makes sense given the number of drafts you want to write and the number of books you want to publish. For example: If you plan to write three novel-length drafts, you will need to write a minimum of 180,000 words)
• How many books you want to read on the writing craft (including the titles of those books if you already know them)
• How many writing classes you want to take (and the names of those classes, if applicable)
• The number of conventions you want to attend, including which ones and the dates.
• Any contests you want to enter
• Your five-year bio

The point is, it's your plan. Include those things you want to achieve and that you feel are important at each step in your journey as an author. If you're just starting out, your plan might include more study-related items. If you've been writing for a few years already, your plan will likely include more publishing-related items. But really think about what it is you want to achieve each year, especially year one (2014). Be realistic. If you haven't published a single book and haven't even written one, don't make "Publish four books" part of this year's plan. It won't happen and you'll be setting yourself up for failure right out of the gate.

I've been planning for the past couple of months to devote all of 2014 to writing. Everything I've done since the end of October has been to prepare myself for one solid year of writing. There's a few reasons for that, some personal and some professional, but this change in plans made me pull out my the Five-Year Plan I worked up in May and revise it. This is what my 2014 plan now looks like:

2014

This is the year of writing. No book conventions, perhaps only one blog tour at the end of the year, no big giveaways.

Get all books in print and update ebook listings.

Start searching for an agent.

Enter local chapter RWA contests, Golden Heart, RITA.

Enter IPPYs with Good Karma, Bad Karma, and Bound Guardian Angel.

Publishing Goal: 6 books

Good Karma

All the King's Men - The Beginning (novella prequel)

Bound Guardian Angel

Severin's Muse (novella)

Trace of Submission (novella)

Bad Karma

First Drafts Completed (aside from those published): 7 books

Learning to Walk (m/m contemporary)

The Right Type (working title for CA contemporary romance)

One Night (contemporary romance)

Taming the Savage (Maddox)

Marked (KOJU, book one)

Strong Karma

Losing Control

Taking Control

Publishing Rights

Regain my publishing rights for Moonlit Hearts through XOXO Publishing.

As you can see, I have a MAJOR writing year ahead of me. Will I reach all my goals? I don't know. All but three of my planned drafts have been started. I just need to finish them. And all but two of the books I plan to publish have been started or are in some stage of editing. But I know one thing for sure. If I don't map out my goals, I definitely won't reach them, and I won't have anything pushing me to keep surging forward when I would rather take a day off. Goals give you that. They give you a guide and motivation to keep going when you would rather watch TV.

I've broken out 2015-2018 the same way, but with less detail for each subsequent year, even though I have noted how many books I want to publish and draft in those years, with a general idea as to what they will be. And at the end of my 2018 plan, I've also written a short bio about myself based on what I've outlined in my Five-Year Plan.

You'll note that I don't include my word count goals on my Five-Year Plan. That's because I track word count goals on a white board hanging beside my desk. I've got the next four months plotted in a grid:

Jan = 68,200 words or 2200/day

Feb = 96,000/3429

Mar = 84,000/2710

Apr = 88,000/2839

Here's the thing you have to remember about making a Five-Year Plan. It's always evolving. I visit mine a couple of times each year and revise it based on where I am and what has come up. For example, just this morning, two new short novels popped into my head that I immediately started working on. Obviously, I want to get those drafted in the next year, so I added them to my 2014 plan. This might mean that another story could get bumped off, but for now, I think I can accommodate all my projects with some serious elbow grease.

What else do you think should be included on a Five-Year Plan? Did I miss anything?

Happy Writing! And may 2014 be the best writing year of our lives...so far. :)

-D

Author Platforms

When it comes to an author platform, there are some things that an author really shouldn't talk about or post on their social media outlets using their author persona: politics, religion, anything considered even remotely related to either of those two topics, or any subject that could be construed as controversial. There's something to be said about an author using social networks to be social, and then there's using social networks in a social way that negatively affects an author's platform.

I just read an author's post that said the author's Facebook page had been shut down. The reason wasn't stated, but the post explained that this author, who writes male/male romance, posts "interesting" articles or links on a variety of subjects that have nothing to do with writing, but which are political in nature and include topics that many would find controversial, such as marriage equality and gay rights. The post also stated that pics of men kissing are among favorite pictures to post.

While a part of me applauds this author's courage to stand up for what he/she believes in, their author platform is not the place to do so. His/Her page was shut down because someone (probably a lot of someones) complained about the content on his/her page. Being that a lot of m/m authors don't get arbitrarily shut down simply for being an author of m/m romance, it's a good bet that it was the other non-writing related content that worked up whoever reported the author's page.

Was it worth it? Was it worth having the author's page shut down—a page he/she had built and put a lot of effort into, and which had an impressive number of likes? Just to voice his/her personal beliefs?

This is where it gets tricky for an author. I found this out recently when I posted my opinion on what I believe is an over-medication of kids with ADHD (more on this later). I never knew this topic was such a sensitive one, but as an author, I NEVER should have posted my personal beliefs and feelings about something like that using my author platform. That's not what an author platform is for. It's not what MY author platform is for. Here's an excellent post that defines author platform and what activities make up and detract from it: http://janefriedman.com/2012/03/13/author-platform-definition/

I've excerpted out a couple of sections from that blog post, highlighting a couple of key points:

What platform is NOT

• It is not about self-promotion.
• It is not about hard selling.
• It is not about annoying people.
• It is not about being an extrovert.
• It is not about being active on social media.
• It is not about blogging.
• It is not about your qualifications, authority, or experience, although these are tools for growing or nurturing a platform.
• It is not something you create overnight.
• It is not something you can buy.
• It is not a one-time event.
• It is not more important than your story or message (but hopefully it grows out of that).

What activities build platform?

First and foremost, platform grows out of your body of work—or from producing great work. Remember that. The following list is not exhaustive, but helps give you an idea of how platform can grow.

• Publishing or distributing quality work in outlets you want to be identified with and that your target audience reads.
• Producing a body of work on your own platform—e.g., blog, e-mail newsletter, social network, podcast, video, digital downloads, etc—that gathers quality followers. This is usually a longterm process.
• Speaking at and/or attending events where you meet new people and extend your network of contacts.
• Finding meaningful ways to engage with and develop your target audience, whether through content, events, online marketing/promotion, etc.
• Partnering with peers or influencers to tackle a new project and/or extend your visibility.

If something has the ability to annoy another, even if it's just a faint possibility, it should not be posted. There's a reason why politics and religion are the two subjects everyone says never to discuss in social situations. They are extremely volatile subjects that can turn a friendly evening into a war. I've seen it happen. Gay rights? Marriage equality? Your beliefs on Catholicism or Islam? Nope...they're off limits unless you want to risk putting yourself—and your fan page—and your business—in jeopardy, not to mention your readership. Look at what one poorly timed, socially controversial comment from the Duck Dynasty guy did. Do you want that to be you?

Some might be saying right about now, "Well, my target audience is one that reads m/m romance, so I should be able to post about gay rights and marriage equality. I should be able to post pics of two guys making out, because my readers like that." Wrong. I write erotic romance and have a reader group where only fans of my stories are members. Even so, when another member began posting pictures that were a little too racy or provocative, some of my members grew uncomfortable. I had a few leave the group. I had another message me and tell me that while she loved the group, she couldn't have those pictures coming up in her newsfeed, even though the models weren't showing their private parts. I write pretty graphic erotically charged sex scenes. Nothing is left to question. So, shouldn't my readers enjoy pictures of half naked hot men? Why would they complain about something like that when what they're reading something I've written that's ten times worse?

The truth is that reading something and seeing something are two totally different things. Reading hot scenes is a lot easier to hide than seeing hot pictures. And the reality is that people view Facebook at work and in front of their families, which include kids. They want to know that they're not going to pull up a picture that could upset a coworker, boss, child, or husband who might be looking over their shoulder. And to be honest, even I was uncomfortable with some of the pictures being posted. Me. The author who writes the graphic sexy-smexy stuff. So, I'll say it again, just because someone likes to read it (or write it) doesn't mean they want to see it. It doesn't make them a prude (I dare anyone to call me a prude, because that is so not the case), but there is something to be said for good taste and reader respect.

And just because someone reads m/m romance doesn't mean they want to be exposed to your opinions on gay rights and marriage equality. Your readers follow you because of your BOOKS, not your opinions. I've had to unfriend authors who posted constantly about their political agenda, their beliefs, etc. I wanted to ask them, are you an author or an activist? I've left behind m/m authors who posted rants about anti-gay bloggers, anti-gay politicians, anti-gay everything. It was like, OMG, do you have a life outside the world of homosexuality and political activism? I hadn't followed those authors because I wanted to be exposed on a daily basis to their anger and rants about the injustices against gay people. I get that enough from the news. I mean, hey, I'm all about marriage equality and gay rights, too, but my author platform is not the place for me to throw my beliefs about those topics out into the world.

If you're an author, then be an author. If you have a strong belief about marriage equality, write it into the character development of your next book (as long as you're not preaching to the reader through your characters, using real-world controversial topics can create a wonderful plot arc. I use them all the time to great effect with my readers. In fact, my m/m romance, Heart of the Warrior won over an enormous amount of traditionally het readers and positively changed more opinions about gay rights than any post I could have written ever could, and I have the fan feedback to prove it). But don't spew your opinions and beliefs on your wall and think your readers like it, because more often than not, they don't. And it sends a confusing message about your intentions. If you're an author, be an author. Engage your readers and followers in constructive, less antagonistic ways, and you'll cultivate a loyal fan following.

Remember my example of how I posted my opinion regarding ADHD medication? I lost two readers from that post. Two that I know about. All because I used my platform to voice a personal opinion I never should have posted. How many others turned away from me that I'm not even aware of because of that five-minute mistake? All the work and cultivation I had done to build my readership, my platform, and social relationships with my fans/friends was annihilated in a blink from one careless post. Over a year of hard work and careful cultivation was destroyed for at least two of my followers over a subject I had no idea was so sensitive. My words were twisted by one into something I never even said, to the point that she called me an ignorant judgmental bitch—over something I didn't even say, but which she perceived incorrectly from what I did say. But there was nothing I could do. Nothing I could say at that point. None of the funny, witty, socially acceptable comments I'd made in the past year-and-a-half that this person had liked made a bit of difference. In less than five minutes, I killed all that with one misguided post that never should have gone on my platform.

I will NEVER make that mistake again.

So, I speak from experience when I tell all authors to watch what they post. Make sure it relates to your platform and can cause no fallout among your readers. This is especially true for self-publishers, who have no agent, publisher, or publicist shielding you and guiding your social endeavors. Be smart, guard your platform like the priceless entity it is, and leave the controversial subjects to someone else. And if you really can't NOT speak out about those political, religious, and controversial topics, at least don't do it using your author platform. Start a page elsewhere that doesn't connect in any way to your author platform. That's a lot safer.

I'll visit "author platform" again with my 365 Ways to Improve Your Writing Series coming in 2014.

Happy writing!
-D