An impossible problem? -

Mollyc

17 Aug 2012, 06:21 AM | Post: #1

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An impossible problem?

Hello Everybody,
Apologies for the long post. I've landed myself in a bit of a pickle. Some may comment that I ought not to complain, but I am genuinely concerned. I have about twenty novels on the Kindle (and equally in paperback). Recently, I looked at the numbers for those sold on the Kindle, and June's figures took my breath away. Particularly for one title. (I'm still waiting for the money though!)
Anyway, that's not my point. What's happening is a great deal of the reviews, although praise is being given for the story etc, people are concentrating on the writing. Specifically writing sentences such as:

'is it just the kindle edition that has soooooo many spelling and grammatical mistakes?'
'I have never read a book with so many syntax and grammar mistakes'
'Punctuation and grammar very poor making the book a bit of a chore.'
'I can't believe any author would write this with so many mistakes ? These errors spoilt the whole book and make me reluctant to read another by this author'
'Punctuation and grammar very poor making the book a bit of a chore. Will not be back for more.'
'I was seriously irritated by the constant grammatical or spelling errors which seemed to turn up on almost every page of my Kindle. I was prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt but for me it completely ruined the book as a potentially good read.'

As you can imagine, I suspect this could have a detrimental effect on future sales. My point is, I am confused. Before each novel is published, I run it through five spelling and three grammar checkers. My neighbour reads them and she used to be a proof-reader and she has helped me a great deal. I go through each novel at least three times as well, checking for things such as homonyms.
So troubled am I, I even went so far as to purchase a copy of one of my own books in the Kindle format and read the first fifty pages on my iPad.
I have to say, I could not find any problems except one; which is that the chapter headings do not appear on a new page. (Yes, I always use insert page break in Word-the final program I use to compile) (That is not to say that I believe myself such an egoist that no errors exist-I often find mistakes in best sellers published by major publishing houses)
But I believe that that particular issue is the fault of the conversion process from a Word document to Kindle. This fault also seems random. In one or two of my novels, I have been unable to provide chapters at all. I have informed Amazon Kindle about this but received no reply.
In reading my novel, I found no spelling errors, speech quotes are correct, the indents are fine, and therefore, overall, I am confused and bothered; something must be wrong because so many readers have commented on the same issues. I really have no idea what's going on.
But to the heart of the matter. A professional proof-reader would charge me about $300 (£200) to look through one of my scripts, and my novels do not make that much money to justify using one. I'd come out at a loss. So, here I am, asking if this situation rings a bell with anyone? And has anybody solved the problem?
Best wishes to you all,
Molly

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ElaineG Reading Standers by Dale Brumfield

17 Aug 2012, 07:04 AM | Post: #2

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RE: An impossible problem?

This post was last modified: 17 Aug 2012 07:11 AM by ElaineG.

what book is it Mollyc? <--- found it now. I will download it and see what I get on my Kindle, as opposed to any other media such as an Ipad. It could besomething weird with the kindle formatting - for instance the font sizes have all gone kaput since the last kindle update, but I will give it a go and see what i find and report back to you.

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Mollyc

17 Aug 2012, 07:14 AM | Post: #3

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RE: An impossible problem?

(17 Aug 2012 07:04 AM)ElaineG Wrote: what book is it Mollyc? <--- found it now. I will download it and see what I get on my Kindle, as opposed to any other media such as an Ipad. It could besomething weird with the kindle formatting - the font sizes have all gone kaput since the last kindle update, but I will give it a go and see what i find and report back to you.

Thank You, Elaine. There are two that concern me. 'A Year In Holloway' and 'Miriam's War' I look forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
Molly

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ElaineG Reading Standers by Dale Brumfield

17 Aug 2012, 07:18 AM | Post: #4

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RE: An impossible problem?

(17 Aug 2012 07:14 AM)Mollyc Wrote:
(17 Aug 2012 07:04 AM)ElaineG Wrote: what book is it Mollyc? <--- found it now. I will download it and see what I get on my Kindle, as opposed to any other media such as an Ipad. It could besomething weird with the kindle formatting - the font sizes have all gone kaput since the last kindle update, but I will give it a go and see what i find and report back to you.

Thank You, Elaine. There are two that concern me. 'A Year In Holloway' and 'Miriam's War' I look forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
Molly

I am on Miriam's War now! I am not a professional proof reader, but I deal with reports all day long which have to be spot on with grammar, spelling and punctuation, so I am a fully paid up member of the grammar police in some respects, if not all.

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Mollyc

17 Aug 2012, 07:21 AM | Post: #5

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RE: An impossible problem?

Thank you! Good luck. I am on tenterhooks. Please bare in mind though that Miriam's War is a sequel. So, some of it may not make sense!

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Mollyc

17 Aug 2012, 08:01 AM | Post: #6

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RE: An impossible problem?

Just began to read Miriam's War again, and found some stupid, stupid errors already. However, not ones that ought to incur the wrath of what has been written about it.

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lyndawrites Reading The Midnight Man by Paul Doherty

17 Aug 2012, 08:28 AM | Post: #7

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RE: An impossible problem?

Hi, Molly, I hope you don't mind mind me butting in here.

I checked out Miriam's War using the 'Look Inside' feature, and here are a few of the problems I found, just on the first page.

Old friend of Miriam's father—God rest his patriarchal soul. If the police caught Sam, it will be the worse for him.

After peace was declared, she was now lounging in an old and semi-broken deckchair, and it was a beautiful afternoon.

She wondered how they've survived. But they have.

The errors here are:
1. Sentence fragments - Old friend of Miriam's father-God rest his patrichal soul - not always a bad thing but here it makes no sense. It might be better written as, "He was an old friend of Miriam's father—God rest his patriarchal soul—but if the police caught him, it would be the worse for Sam."
2. Mixed up tenses. If the police caught Sam, it will be the worse for him. This should be if the police catch Sam, it will be the worse for him or, If the police caught Sam, it would be the worse for him. (You're using the conditional tense because of that 'If' at the beginning.)
She wondered how they've survived. Is this in the past (She wondered = past tense) or in the present ('how they've' survived.')? Because you have both tenses in the same sentence.
3. Mixed up times leading to more mixed tenses. After peace was declared, she was now lounging etc.

If the whole book is like this then the complaints are justified IMHO and you have a major re-write on your hands. You might also consider changing your proofreader Sad

I'm sorry, this may not be what you wanted to hear. At least most of the reviewers like the story, so getting the grammar right can only improve it. Best of luck.

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Mollyc

17 Aug 2012, 09:09 AM | Post: #8

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RE: An impossible problem?

Dear Lynda,
Firstly, thank you so much for replying. It is much appreciated. And thank you for pointing out those details. But I fear I've been trying too hard. That opening sequence was supposed to convey the confusion in Miriam's mind after D-Day, and was deliberately written in two overlapping styles (third person, and her own thoughts-a kind of stream of consciousness) All you mention is true of course. Nevertheless, those errors are part of how she thought. I know this sounds like an excuse, but it isn't.
Of course, whether readers will accept the style I used is another matter! I would not call myself avant-garde, but I do like to experiment. However....I just read a few pages, and I can see mistakes that were not intended.

For instance, I am in error here: 'After peace was declared, she was now lounging in an old and semi-broken deckchair, and it was a beautiful afternoon.'
Ought to have been: That day, after peace had been declared, she was lounging in a decrepit deckchair. It was a beautiful afternoon.
Much clearer. Thank you. So, I have work to do!
Many thanks again for your input,
Molly

PS. If James Joyce were alive, and he put Finnegans Wake on the Kindle, I wonder what readers would think. Some literary novels are hard to read, and can be misinterpreted. Adventures in grammar and not obeying the rules etc, etc.

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ElaineG Reading Standers by Dale Brumfield

17 Aug 2012, 01:42 PM | Post: #9

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RE: An impossible problem?

(17 Aug 2012 08:28 AM)lyndawrites Wrote: Hi, Molly, I hope you don't mind mind me butting in here.

I checked out Miriam's War using the 'Look Inside' feature, and here are a few of the problems I found, just on the first page.

Old friend of Miriam's father—God rest his patriarchal soul. If the police caught Sam, it will be the worse for him.

After peace was declared, she was now lounging in an old and semi-broken deckchair, and it was a beautiful afternoon.

She wondered how they've survived. But they have.

The errors here are:
1. Sentence fragments - Old friend of Miriam's father-God rest his patrichal soul - not always a bad thing but here it makes no sense. It might be better written as, "He was an old friend of Miriam's father—God rest his patriarchal soul—but if the police caught him, it would be the worse for Sam."
2. Mixed up tenses. If the police caught Sam, it will be the worse for him. This should be if the police catch Sam, it will be the worse for him or, If the police caught Sam, it would be the worse for him. (You're using the conditional tense because of that 'If' at the beginning.)
She wondered how they've survived. Is this in the past (She wondered = past tense) or in the present ('how they've' survived.')? Because you have both tenses in the same sentence.
3. Mixed up times leading to more mixed tenses. After peace was declared, she was now lounging etc.

If the whole book is like this then the complaints are justified IMHO and you have a major re-write on your hands. You might also consider changing your proofreader

I'm sorry, this may not be what you wanted to hear. At least most of the reviewers like the story, so getting the grammar right can only improve it. Best of luck.

Actually that was pretty much what I picked up on as well - the mixture of tenses in the same sentences was a bit confusing.

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ElaineG Reading Standers by Dale Brumfield

17 Aug 2012, 01:44 PM | Post: #10

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RE: An impossible problem?

(17 Aug 2012 09:09 AM)Mollyc Wrote: Dear Lynda,
Firstly, thank you so much for replying. It is much appreciated. And thank you for pointing out those details. But I fear I've been trying too hard. That opening sequence was supposed to convey the confusion in Miriam's mind after D-Day, and was deliberately written in two overlapping styles (third person, and her own thoughts-a kind of stream of consciousness) All you mention is true of course. Nevertheless, those errors are part of how she thought. I know this sounds like an excuse, but it isn't.
Of course, whether readers will accept the style I used is another matter! I would not call myself avant-garde, but I do like to experiment. However....I just read a few pages, and I can see mistakes that were not intended.

For instance, I am in error here: 'After peace was declared, she was now lounging in an old and semi-broken deckchair, and it was a beautiful afternoon.'
Ought to have been: That day, after peace had been declared, she was lounging in a decrepit deckchair. It was a beautiful afternoon.
Much clearer. Thank you. So, I have work to do!
Many thanks again for your input,
Molly

PS. If James Joyce were alive, and he put Finnegans Wake on the Kindle, I wonder what readers would think. Some literary novels are hard to read, and can be misinterpreted. Adventures in grammar and not obeying the rules etc, etc.

I actually quite liked the way you were telling the story, as if it were Miriam talking to the reader in the same room - it felt very realistic.

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