Friday, April 22, 2011

Hi, Mom!

This post is dedicated to my mom, who is probably now reading my blog.

Here is an entirely unauthorized (and awesome) account of a story she told me the other day. She picked up a few used books, one of which had a local Michigan angle, something like Murder on Mackinaw. From page one on, there were typos, misspellings and general grammar issues. It bugged her so much that she wrote the publisher, citing specific examples of errors.

My best guess is that this was a self published book. There are a lot of ways to get a book printed with a shiny cover, and the publisher's name could be from a source online or something the author just made up. Who knows. There is nothing wrong with any of this if it's done well. When it's not done well, it pretty much destroys any credibility for the author and "publisher."

My consensus: no wonder it was in the bargain bin.

However, Go mom! That's cool that you aren't willing to let any author, self-published or not, get lazy about writing. And of course, I will always fondly remember when you corrected grocery store signs with a pen from your purse. I used to roll my eyes but at least I know how to spell raisin. And garlic.

2 comments:

  1. I recently read two romance books by best selling authors. The books were filled with major mistakes (like a character who wasn't in the scene nodding in response to a question!!!!). And these were from MAJOR publishing houses. Made me long for my YA novels. The worst I've seen in them are a few typos.

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  2. That's awesome. I'm glad your Mom will not let this slide. She is fighting for the english language. Go Mom!

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