Comments on: As a Reader, Do you care about Flaws in Romance Books?

By: Maureen

Maureen — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:42:15 +0000

A lot of errors in a book does interrupt the story and then that becomes annoying. Good luck at The Season Madison!

By: Karen H in NC

Karen H in NC — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:56:00 +0000

For the past 5 weeks, due to vision problems, I haven’t been able to read a paperback book without the aid of a magnifying glass. So, since I have a new Kindle Fire, I decided that’s what I’ll read until I get new glasses. Most of the books I have on my Kindle and have been reading are freebies, mainly short stories of novellas. And most of those are self-published by relatively unknown (or at least unknown to me) authors. I’m beginning to believe these authors and their books would never, ever find their way into print (print or e-book) by a publisher of reputation. Most are so poorly written, so full of grammar and spelling errors and never edited by someone who knew how to edit that it was extremely difficult to read. That said, I have found some that did have a well-rounded, well-written story and characters. Good enough that I could easily ignore the few spelling and grammar errors I found. Those gems are few and far between. One needs to shovel through a lot of s**t to find them however. Not something I care to do on a regular basis. I’m for sticking with authors whom I know and are known for quality in the end product.

By: Pat L.

Pat L. — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:59:45 +0000

meant to say CAME ACROSS a book…sorry.

By: Pat L.

Pat L. — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:59:07 +0000

Well it depends. I hate grammatical errors, typos and glaring errors like two instead of too, etc.

But worse than that I can across a book that I liked but there was a scene where the heroine left her house, the lights were on and she went back in later and the lights were off and no mention was made of possibly someone had been there and turned them off. It was just an oversight that should have been picked up.

And I have mentioned this scenario several times when asked a similar question.

Back blurb had the hero having a child in the book but the actual sex of the child was the exact opposite of what was mentioned on the back cover. I kept waiting for that child to die and another one to be born of the opposite sex. That was the by far the worse error I have come across.

And I also hate it when the hero is mentioned as having a hairy chest and the cover depicts a bare chest or the hair color doesnt match what is said in the book. Sometimes the scene on the front cover has nothing to do with the book – another thing that bothers me.

But if the story holds my interest, I won’t close the book.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:12:38 +0000

Welcome, Madison! I agree with what others have said. Mistakes can be very distracting. Especially when they disrupt the flow of storytelling.

By: Carol L

Carol L — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:32:14 +0000

With the amount of books I read I haven’t really found that many mistakes that would make me put the book down. I think one of the biggest pet peeves I have is the cover. Seeing a dark haired hero on the cover and reading he’s blonde etc. If I’m really into a great story and come across spelling errors, my brain catches it like a glitch but I keep going because I’m so into the story. But numerous errors would bother me because of the disruption in my train of thought. Welcome to the site Madison.
Carol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

By: Elaine C.

Elaine C. — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:18:43 +0000

I agree with many of the commentators that poor spelling and grammar totally distract from reading and enjoying a book. Librarypat’s comments were expressed very well.
I read a book last year that had numerous errors. In one section there were so many that I started a list. I filled two sheets of paper on one particularly horrible ten-page section. I was going to send it to the publisher, but I didn’t. However, everyone doesn’t feel as I do because that book is a finalist for a RITA!
I have written to writers if I see errors in spelling , etc. on their websites or in their newsletters. They always write to thank me and fix the problems. Everyone needs to proofread what is published. It’s hard to do a final edit on your own writing. If you knew something was wrong, you’d probably have fixed it already. For a book I would think the buck stops with the editor.
Welcome , Madison. The Season Blog is a great and extensively read website. I’m sure you’ll be busy.

By: librarypat

librarypat — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:58:19 +0000

I just finished one that featured a dark haired, rough looking hero toting a handgun and dark haired heroine on the cover. In the book the are doctors (no guns) and both blond. He is described as being so fair his hair was almost white. They could have put two giraffes on the cover and been just as close to the description.

By: LSUReader

LSUReader — Wed, 16 May 2012 03:56:39 +0000

Welcome to the blog Madison. Anything that helps Bev write more is a good thing!

Re your question–in final, published books, digital or print, mistakes do bother me. (In ARCs, I forgive all.) Errors in other printed materials, like magazines and newspapers, also bother me. Factual mistakes bug me more than typos and punctuation errors. I’m a consumer and I like quality goods. Who doesn’t?

By: casey

casey — Wed, 16 May 2012 02:11:13 +0000

I do hate it when there are lots of errors in a book and since getting my nook I’ve seen a lot of them. Everything from grammar to calling characters the wrong name . However I have found that sometimes if you can get passed the errors the story is worth it . Some of these authors just need a good editor . The spelling errors don’t bother me most of the time because I’m such a poor speller myself I probably don’t catch them all but really this day and age it shouldn’t happen since all computers have spell check.I recently read a book that the author must have had a bet going on how many times she could use the word had in one novel . I counted 4 times in one sentence alone but if you could get past all the times had was written it was a great story and I would read other books by that author.