What is the Difference? Part 2

by BigAl

Last week, in part 1 of this post, I looked at the issue of copy editing and proofing in Indie books, both the perception and the reality of what I’ve found. Today I compare this to traditionally published books and give some final thoughts.

How do Traditionally Published Books Compare?

Over the last several weeks, I’ve read eight traditionally published books. These were a combination of Christmas gifts (thanks again, everyone), purchases, and two books from the Kindle Lending library. There is a slant towards non-fiction; however, most had dialogue and a narrative (not unlike a fictional story) rather than a recitation of facts, so I feel it is a fair comparison. I’ll leave it to you to decide if the sample size is large enough to draw conclusions or not.

While reading, I kept track of the same kind of errors I would with a book I was reading for review. This should be an apples to apples comparison. I’m not a professional copy editor or proofreader, nor do I try to be. Some things I’m good at noticing, others I’m not. Comma misuse is one example of something I know is a weakness where I’ll only catch the most flagrant errors.

One issue that needs mentioning before giving the results is what I call “ghost hyphens.” These are hyphens inserted in words for the print edition of a book incorrectly left in the electronic version. This is a common issue, even in Indie books, and I’ll typically count these as a formatting issue rather than a typo. This issue is much more prevalent in traditionally published books. I’ve mentioned those with this issue in the detail on each book evaluated at the end of the post.

What I found is that of the eight books, all but one fell into my “no significant issues” classification (seven or less problems found). Only one was in the next worst classification of “a small number of errors,” and barely missed the better category. None of these would have prompted mention of a serious editing problem were I reviewing them, with the majority being in the three to four issues spotted range.

The phases of editing.

Before giving my final thoughts or conclusions, I thought a quick explanation of my understanding of the different kinds of editing would be a good idea. My understanding may have some holes or misconceptions. If so, at least you’ll know what I meant when I used the word (which means what I meant for it to mean).

Although different publishers and authors may vary their process, including repeating phases, and overlaps in between functions, I picture editing as having three major phases: content editing, copy editing, and proofing.

Content editing looks at the big picture. In traditional publishing, this could happen from the initial pitch to a rewrite after acceptance of the initial manuscript and continue until deemed ready for copy-editing. It is an ongoing process. Although primarily “big picture,” this phase can actually get very detailed, questioning the purpose of a specific scene (with deletion or reworking so the scene works) or even fixing of a single line of dialogue that doesn’t ring true.

Copy-editing and proofing, while different, tend to overlap in function, at least in my mind. Both functions aim to eradicate errors at the line level, looking at each line for proper word usage, grammar, punctuation, etc. However, copy-editing is slightly higher level. It will look at whether what is said makes sense, while proofing is more focused on catching typos. Problems in both of these areas are what we evaluate in the format/typo section of our reviews.

Final Thoughts

An Indie author who expects serious consideration should aim for a book that is indistinguishable from a traditionally published one for the majority of readers. That means a good story, a professional looking cover (not having one will drive many potential readers away while browsing their favorite on-line book retailer), and making sure all phases of editing are done in some way. The author is virtually never going to be able to do the editing functions without help.

I believe that content editing can be done using critique partners and/or Beta readers if the people on an author’s team are the right combination. No single person is likely to have the insight of a good editor, but by using enough people with different strengths and weaknesses, it might be enough, if the author is open to their advice. My feeling is that this area is also one where whatever changes are proposed can often be a matter of taste rather than being clearly right or wrong.

Copy-editing and proofing is much more clear-cut. While some things might vary based on preference or style, an error in this area is usually clearly an error. While the right team of Beta readers might shake out most remaining issues, I think this is an area where most authors should invest in a professional.

It seems the thresholds we use are slightly lenient, as suspected, but reasonable. Classification as having “no significant issues” should be an indication that in the area of copy-editing and proofing, a book met a high standard. That 70% of the books we’ve reviewed meet that standard is both encouraging (the claim that “all” Indie books are deficient in this area is clearly not reality). However, I can understand someone who stumbles on several of the books in the remaining 30% being leery of trying others.

I’ll leave you with this quote I found on the blog of an Indie author. While the slant of this post is different than his post, the conclusion is still fitting.

The only books that are truly trash, in my opinion, are books that have been carelessly written or carelessly edited. They are full of misspellings or typographical errors or errors in usage.

Detailed evaluations

For those interested in the traditionally published books evaluated, here are the details about each.

States of Confusion by Paul Jury. Publisher, Adams Media.

(Although not a Big 6 imprint and not a publisher I am familiar with, this book was available through the Kindle Lending Library prior to when Amazon opened this option up to self-published authors and small presses that published for Kindle via KDP. It seems appropriate to consider this a traditionally published book.)

Evaluation: Three typos or proofing errors. Additionally there were multiple instances of ghost hyphens. I also spotted errors of fact which I believe are the kind of thing that should have been caught in one of the editing processes and I would mention in a review. (Specifically these were errors in geography, for example saying he “turned east” at Tallahassee, Florida to go to Pensacola.)

Grade: No significant issues

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Publisher, Simon & Schuster.

Evaluation: Three typos or proofing errors. One instance of a ghost hyphen.

Grade: No significant issues

On Writing by Stephen King. Publisher, Publisher, Simon & Schuster.

Evaluation: Four typo or proofing errors although these were all instances that might be artifacts from the conversion and formatting process. Each was a case of a missing character, three of them were missing spaces where two words were displayed as a single word and the fourth a missing hyphen. This book also had some issues with ghost hyphens.

Grade: No significant issues

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont. Publisher, Anchor (a Random House imprint).

Evaluation: Three typo or proofing errors. Additionally there were six instances where the word “I” was clearly missing from the sentence. Although possibly an artifact from an OCR conversion, I am considering them typo or proofing errors for a total of nine.

Grade: A small number of typo and proofing errors

Me, the Mob, and the Music by Tommy James and Martin Fitzpatrick. Publisher, Scribner (a Simon & Schuster imprint).

Evaluation: No issues found

Grade: No significant issues

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Eagan. Publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Evaluation: Three typo or proofing errors.

Grade: No significant issues.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. Publisher, W. W. Norton. 

Evaluation: One typo, plus ghost hyphens. 

Grade: No significant issues 

The Litigators by John Grisham. Publisher, Doubleday.

Evaluation: One typo

Grade: No significant issues

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The Thousand Hour Club / George O’Har

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Literary Fiction

Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words

Availability
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

George O’Har is an Air Force veteran, a former electrical engineer, and has a Ph.D from MIT. He currently lives in the Boston area and teaches at Boston College. You can follow him on Twitter.

Description:

It’s the late 1960s. When Tom Betz drops out of college, he fails to consider his local draft board, instead spending his time working dead end jobs and doing drugs. But the draft board doesn’t forget him.

Appraisal:

Most definitions of literary fiction are nebulous. It’s one of those “I know it when I see it” things. The two characteristics most often attributed to literary fiction are that it is more “literary” than other genres and tends to be more character driven than plot driven. The Thousand Hour Club seems to fit. (Plus, when submitting the book for review the author described it as literary fiction. Since he’s an English professor, he’d know better than I.)

More “literary” in this instance is one of those “I know it when ..” things that is difficult to articulate. Some of this feeling can be attributed to writing style and story, and part to the qualities of Tom, the protagonist. Tom is above average in intelligence (the reason he ends up in the Air Force) and an avid reader, literally introducing literature into the story. But I want to focus more on the second trait of literary fiction mentioned, being character rather than plot driven.

This raises a question; what does that mean? There has to be a plot, right? A plot is the storyline – the events in the book strung together, one after another. Each event still has to follow the previous event in a way that is both logical and credible.

In my opinion, the difference between plot driven and character driven is that, in a character driven novel, the story goal, what the protagonist hopes to accomplish, is fuzzy, if it exists at all. This doesn’t mean the protagonist doesn’t have goals. He may have many, but they are the kinds of goals we all have, possibly vaguely defined and fluid. The plot is the character living his life. If the character and his experiences are interesting, the book is, too. That Tom doesn’t know what is coming next (a recurring theme is that the military doesn’t let you know where you’re headed next) keeps the story unpredictable and the reader interested.

In the end, The Thousand Hour Club is also a coming of age story. However, unlike the typical coming of age story where the protagonist’s goal is obvious, Tom’s coming of age is precipitated by lots of accumulated experiences. Just like real life.

FYI:

Adult language and situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant errors.

Rating: ***** Five stars

What is the Difference? Part 1

By BigAl

Books and Pals had just passed its one-month anniversary when I noticed a spurt of traffic coming from one particular site. I tracked the link back to an internet forum where current and wannabe authors, primarily Indies, hung out. In that discussion, an author had linked to a review of one of his books. He was mostly pleased (he’d spun a good yarn and the review was largely positive), but he wasn’t happy with the portion of the review that indicated his book had “a small number of typos and proofing errors.” I should hasten to add that he didn’t question whether they existed; only that he was disappointed he hadn’t eradicated all of them before publishing.

One of the other posters wondered why my reviews had this section and initially thought the intent was anti-Indie. Others made the point (or claim) that few books are error free, including traditionally published books. Someone else said that, “Big 6 books have errors too, but nowhere close to a random sample of indie books. I say this as a fan – we need to improve our proofreading, it’s hurting everyone.”

The Answer

My intent when defining the format for our reviews was to tackle one of the legitimate gripes about Indie books head-on, that they receive insufficient editing and proofing. My experience to that point had been that this problem existed; however, it was not as widespread as those who brought it up claimed (an explanation I gave to those who were wondering why our reviews addressed that issue).

I set arbitrary and somewhat lenient thresholds. If I spotted up to seven errors in a novel length work, I would indicate “no significant issues.” I’d seen numbers between five and ten bandied about as what a publisher would consider an acceptable number of errors in a book. I didn’t have any hard evidence that this was fact, although it felt about right based on what I’d seen in traditionally published books. More than that and less than twenty errors, I would say “a small number of errors,” but it would not influence the review rating. This acknowledges that there is an issue, but I didn’t feel that an error every ten pages, on average, should be enough of an irritant to most readers to be a problem. Twenty or more errors, I would indicate in this section that the book had a large number of errors, possibly indicate the nature of the kind of problems it had either as part of that section or in the analysis section, and in most cases it would influence the ranking.

If this were a novel, I’d complain that the author did an info dump with too much back-story in the first scenes. However, I think the history is necessary background for the rest of this two-part post where I’ll discuss three things: why I think this matters, how those books we’ve reviewed have stacked up when compared to the error thresholds I established, and last, in part two, I’ll look at traditionally published books: how do they compare to the Indies and the error thresholds?

I’ll give my opinion and plenty of data, but I’m interested in hearing what you think, too. Readers, how much do typos, missing words, incorrect word usage, homonyms, and other proofing issues effect your reading enjoyment? What kind of errors are the worst? How do you think Indies compare, on average, to traditionally published works? How about those who are authors: what do you think on these same questions? Does being an author make you more sensitive to these issues?

Why does it Matter?

While I think readers vary in their tolerance for these mistakes, every time they trip over a sentence or have to interpret meaning, the reader is jolted out of the story. Too many of these take what should be an experience as smooth as cruising down the highway and turn it into an off-road adventure of the worst kind. An author who neglects adequately polishing their book prior to publication is doing a disservice to the reader. They are also doing a disservice to their fellow authors and to their own book.

I’ve seen some authors argue, “What do people expect for less than three bucks?” My answer is that the cost of a book is a very small part of a reader’s investment. The biggest part is their time. If your book isn’t up to snuff, it doesn’t matter what the purchase price was; the reader is going to feel ripped off. Although the correlation is far from perfect, I also think authors who don’t do all they can to account for this part of the process while readying their book for publication are more likely to have other significant issues in their writing.

How have Indies Stacked Up?

Before I discuss the numbers, a disclaimer is in order. My sense has been that the books I’ve received for review are better in every respect, on average, than a random cross-section of Indie books. I’ve attributed this to two reasons. The first: that the author who has invested the time and effort to make their book as good as it can be is more likely to put forth more promotional effort, including submitting review copies to blogs such as this. The large deluge of submissions in the wake of The Greek Seaman fiasco, which dominate the books reviewed, has probably caused what insurance companies call self-selection. An author not confident about the quality of their book is much less likely to have submitted it for review.

Looking at reviews either published or slated for publication at the time of this writing and excluding those not evaluated for typos and proofing errors (beta or pre-release versions), we have evaluated 195 books. Of these, 71% met the highest standard of “no significant issues.” Only 10% were in the worst category with the remaining 19% falling in the middle with “a small number of issues.”

Sometime next week I’ll address traditionally published books, how they compare, and give some closing thoughts.


<Click to go to part 2>

Darlin’ Druid / Lyn Horner

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Western Romance/Historical Romance/Supernatural

Approximate word count: 105-110,000 words

Availability
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Originally trained in the visual arts, Lyn Horner has worked as a fashion illustrator and an art instructor for Art Instruction Schools (famous for their “Draw Me” heads.) Looking for a creative outlet after her kids left home, she started writing. Darlin’ Druid is the first of a series, with one other installment available. She also has a Kindle ready memoir, Six Cats in My Kitchen. For more, visit Horner’s website.


Description:

Jessie Devlin, the daughter of Irish immigrants, has prophetic visions and goes west in search of the man of her dreams (and visions). Captain David Taylor is a Texan, estranged from his father after fighting for the “wrong side” in the US Civil War. Is Captain Taylor the man Jessie is looking for?

Darlin’ Druid takes place in 1872 and is set in Utah and Texas.

Appraisal:

My natural tendency is to shy away from both historical and western genres. Darlin’ Druid combines both, along with a touch of something else, either supernatural or paranormal, depending on how you define these. I know why I have this tendency. It’s because I don’t think I’ll be able to relate to a story so far removed from my own life and experiences. Yet I consistently find when I venture into new genres that the human experience, regardless of differences in time, geography, or even worlds, is often enough the same to draw me in. That was what I found in Darlin’ Druids.

In her bio, the author says she enjoys the historical research for her books. Although I’m not a history buff, through education and reading I’ve picked up a lot of the history of the time and areas where this novel takes place (primarily Chicago, Utah, and Texas) and the historical elements, including many subtle touches, all ring true. Another thing that will often throw me in a story that takes place in areas I’m familiar with is if they get a geographical detail wrong. Horner obviously did her research here, too.

All of this would be for naught if there weren’t a good story here, but there is. It blends a compelling romantic story line, and all that implies, with a coming-of-age story line for the heroine, Jessie, and to a lesser degree, for the hero, David. Jessie’s prophetic visions, which give Darlin’ Druid its supernatural twist, serve as a plot device, by foreshadowing and also driving Jessie’s decisions. Fans of historical romance and possibly even those who are into westerns, sans romance, should find much to like in Darlin’ Druid.

FYI:

Sexual situations.

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of typo and proofing errors.

Rating: **** Four stars

A Cool Million

When I first unveiled this blog, roughly a year ago, I would never have dreamed of ever reaching this milestone. According to the statistics kept by Blogspot, Books and Pals passed one million page views on Monday. I’m sure it won’t be a surprise to many of our readers to know that the train wreck that got a lot of attention last March accounts for a large part of this traffic. That review, a post it inspired, and one about the fallout have accounted for three-quarters of those page views and continue to draw lots of traffic. Of the more than 3,500 who follow the blog, almost half started in the immediate aftermath of that incident.

It seems apropos at a time like this to thank those who have made it possible and to take stock. Where are we and where should we go?

For what started as a small, one-man gig, there are an awful lot of people who have helped make it a success. I’m not even going to try naming names, not only because I’d miss someone, but the list would be too long. I’m sure those I’m talking about will recognize where they fit, some multiple times.

First, I’d like to thank the readers and authors who encouraged me to do this. I fought it for a long time, but they eventually wore me down. Next are those who follow us and read what we have to say. If a review fell onto the internet and no one read it, there would be no point. An additional thanks to those who comment on posts, retweet, share Facebook posts, and otherwise actively engage with us and our content. If not for you, we’d have to wonder if anyone was really out there.

I’d also like to thank the authors who have submitted their books for review, especially those who continue to wait in anticipation of a review. Some of you have been waiting a long time and still have a long wait ahead of you. I’d like to thank those who have written guest posts. (As an aside, I’m always willing to consider a guest post on a subject likely to be of interest to our readership. If you’re interested and have an idea you think might fit, contact me and we’ll discuss it. Clicking on ‘Guest Post’ in the list of labels on the right hand side of any page will display previous guest posts for examples of the kind of things we’d be interested in.)

Last, a special thank you for those reviewers who have joined me. While I expect I’ll always write most of the reviews, having others willing to pitch in is a big help. Several of these reviewers, one I’ve especially come to rely on, have also been a great help in putting the final polish on my sometimes convoluted thoughts.

Another post immediately prior to this one has a survey. We’re hoping you’ll take the time to fill this out to let us know how we’re doing - what you like and where you’d like to see something different, as well as helping us understand who our readers are.

How Are We Doing

This week marks two major milestones for BigAl’s Books and Pals. It is our first anniversary and we passed one million total page views. It seems like a good time to see what our readers think. We would appreciate it if you would take the time to fill out the survey at this link.

Jobless Recovery / L.C. Evans

Reviewed by: BigAl 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Thriller

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words

Availability
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

After her novel Talented Horsewoman was traditionally published, L.C. Evans decided to try her hand at Indie publishing. As she put it, “All this means is that I pay for my own editing, proofreading, cover design, formatting, and all the other publishing expenses. However, I also get complete control over my books.” Evans has five novels available for your Kindle. Until her recent death, she lived in North Carolina. For more, see Evans website.

Description:

Dave Griffin is living the American dream. He has a big house in the suburbs, a monster SUV, and a beautiful girlfriend. He supports these habits with a great job as a computer programmer for a large corporation.

Joe Tremaine is a former FBI agent who was let go after a head injury on the job. He knows better than to trust corporations or the government.

What will Dave and Joe do to survive?

Appraisal:

Jobless Recovery reminded me of M.P. McDonald’s book No Good Deed (the first of her Mark Taylor series). This comparison isn’t because these books are the same or the authors writing style are similar (neither is true), but that both stories are thrillers with a strong political message buried in the story. Each puts the reader in a position that they hope to never experience and by doing so forces them to consider the issues from a different point of view.

Beyond that, any comparison falls apart. The position the characters in Jobless Recovery find they are in is much more likely. Chances are you know someone who has suddenly found themselves unable to work like Joe Tremaine or someone who worked for a company that outsourced their job to an offshore company, like Dave Griffin. Maybe it has happened to you.

Jobless Recovery is a entertaining, fast-paced thriller. Read it for the entertainment value, but when you’re done reading think about the picture it paints and what is wrong with this picture. Then do what you can to change it.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five stars

Love Again / Jan Harrell and Alan Robins

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction/Self-Help

Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words 

Availability (Note: book available in paper versions only.)

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Both psychologists, Jan Harrell and Alan Robins are also partners in life. They have written one other book, Personal Strength – Spiritual Joy: Bridging Heaven and Earth.

Description:

It is in our most emotionally intimate relationships that our deepest, unresolved developmental issues (ah, yes! We are never finished!) are triggered. A marital or committed relationship is therefore the developmental vehicle for everyone, man and woman, to face the final frontier of childhood and finally "grow up."

Harrell and Robins explain what they mean by this, how this need to grow manifests itself in a relationship, and what to do about it for a stronger and better relationship.

Appraisal:

When evaluating non-fiction books I try to supply a reality check. Although I might not be an expert in whatever the subject is, I can evaluate whether it fits with my life experience and feels right, even if the ideas presented seem mostly new. Unlike the only other book I’ve reviewed on this subject, what the authors of this book had to say did feel right.

An ex-spouse (yes, this book could have practical application for me) once told me that a good relationship requires constant work. The happily-ever-after ending doesn’t just happen without continuing effort. Harrell and Robins not only agree, but also help you to understand why this is and what to do about it. Unlike many self-help books, the authors don’t pretend they’re perfect. They use examples, many from their own relationship, to illustrate their points.

As I was reading, one concern I had was that it seemed to be a requirement that both people in a relationship read and understand the concepts Love Again teaches. Although that would be the ideal situation, I realized that while that would be beneficial, if for no other reason than to give you some shared insights and terminology, it wasn’t necessary. In fact, in one section the authors give hypothetical situations and discuss how they can be improved using the “tools” they had introduced earlier. In at least one of these example scenarios, the tools are used in a one-sided fashion.

Although it felt as if this book was primarily aimed at improving the relationship between you and a spouse, significant other, life partner (or whatever term you prefer), it is applicable to other relationships, especially a parent-child relationship. Several examples throughout the book even used situations that had happened with the authors and their children as illustrative stories.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars

When Horses Had Wings / Diana Estill

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Literary Fiction/Women’s Fiction

Approximate word count: 65-70,000 words

Availability
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

A former journalist and humor columnist, Diana Estill has written several humor books, some full length and some short essay collections. This is her first novel, inspired by her own experiences as a teenage mother. For more, visit Estill’s website.

Description:

At sixteen, Renee Goodchild is trapped. A single mistake sets Renee down the road to pregnancy and a forced marriage to an abusive man. This story takes place in rural Texas in the 1970s.

When Horses Had Wings is a Red Adept Select book. <link>

Appraisal:

One of my recent reads was Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott, a Christmas gift about writing from an author friend. One of Lamott’s recurring themes is that an author has to tell “the truth.” This may seem strange when fiction, by definition, is a pack of lies; something the author has made up. What Lamott means is that everything about a character’s actions and words has to ring true with the reader. When Horses Had Wings rings true. While Renee makes choices and takes actions that are sometimes obviously the wrong thing to do, they are always true to the character at that point in her life.

Although When Horses Had Wings addresses some serious topics (teen pregnancy and spousal abuse among them), it does so in a way that manages not to turn into a downer, while staying true to the story. I found Estill’s writing style evocative and engaging, often reading a sentence or phrase and thinking she’d found the perfect way of expressing her thoughts. An excellent read.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars