“Just look at your ball all of you”

What does that even mean?!

I plan to self-publish Gunshot Glitter later this summer and just the prospect of flaws in my behemoth makes me nervous. I don’t understand how with spell-checkers on software and proof-reading services being available she could have put herself in this position?

It reflects really badly on writers who are opting to use e-publishing as an active rather than reactive choice to get published. We don’t need it.

Well, at least she knows how to spell fuck.

Thanks for the warning.
The author seemed to not do her homework, even in the replies!
It’s good to see how NOT to do things, for sure.
We have formed our own press and our first book (for animal lovers 8 and up – May on the Way: How I Become a K9 Spy) is due out this summer.
We hired a writing coach, have had 4 proofreaders, and over 25 people reading the manuscript.
It’s about as polished as we know how to make it.
But the point is, when your book is out there, it must stand on its own.

This demonstrates the downside of self-publishing – a lot of junk gets into the marketplace. Too bad Ms. Howett doesn’t know she is a poor speller and grammarian.

Oh my! I have a book that is due out next month and I read that puppy over and over again till I was blue in the face and I still found some typos. Mine is not self-published, but even still. To say that she has no errors in her typing…I mean…how? Is she that blind? Does she not see the red and green wiggles under the mis-spelled words as she types or did she find them pretty? Seriously. That is just sad. She puts those who do wish to self-publish a bad name.

@ Cynthia – Actually there are excellent 99 cent e-books out there. It just depends on whether the author went the extra mile for editing and proofreading.

There are those of us out here who really do consider ourselves “writers” without having a big publishing house behind us. There are also a great deal of self-published authors whose work deserves to be read and treasured.

Personally, I would rather have 500 people buy my book for 99 cents on Amazon than have my unread, perfectly-proofed manuscript sitting in a slush pile on the desk of some big-name New York publisher.

Why? Because it’s not always about getting onto the shelves at Barnes & Noble. It’s not always about that $500,000 advance and getting locked into a three-book deal.

It’s about getting people to read what you write. Letting them lose themselves in characters that they never before imagined and seeing those characters do incredible things.

Regardless, the spelling and grammar need to be as good as possible. Maintaining a professional attitude is also a huge necessity.

Ms. Howett needs to stay away from publishing, e-books or otherwise, until she gets a better grip on the English language and her own personal demons.

Before we blame the ebook here, books such as these have been published by the all knowing publishers as well.

Recently, I read a non-fiction book in print from a small publisher. It was full of typos and errors. The back cover said one thing, inside it said another. It was a mess. The writer’s reply was I had a bad copy, than they released a copy with all the errors corrected. He did not tell me where or how to find the “good” copy. I mentioned the Kindle was a format nightmare. That was Amazon’s fault or mine for downloading it wrong. I didn’t bother to mention the new downloaded Kindle copy was from the “bad” printed versions with all the errors, errors repeated at the writer’s website.

Publishers are not the heroes. Editors, copy editors, and the working staff at the publishers are. With the rise of self-publishing there is a rise of freelance editors. Hopefully, more self-published writers will get the needed help and not be as lazy or stupid as Jacqueline Howett.

I totally agree with S.J. Wright above, this really does make it hard for real writers who have talent, but not a big name publishing company behind them. These writers want to publish their work and decide to go the self-publishing or e-publishing route.

Ms. Howett went overboard, and was very unprofessional. There are pros and cons to everything, so I am not surprised that self-publishing and e-publishing is getting a bad rap. Still, there are many upsides to all the negativity associated with these publishing methods.

Many are producing great work, making a name for themselves as well as some money going the self/e-publishing route; and they deserve accolades.

I noticed the author received several suggestions including to apologize. The one I did not see, that she might seriously consider — a pen name. Quickly. Followed by a dose of new attitude.

Well. If I didn’t know before—and I did—that I must, without fail, fine-comb through my manuscript three times OR MORE before sending it anywhere, I know it now. There are no short cuts. Once it’s written and out there, it’s there forever. Am on the 4th self-imposed edit of this, my first book. What do I find? Missing commas and quotation marks here and there. Forgot to indent a paragraph. Small things, yes, but just look what happens once people start reading it! Wow. Better that I read it SIX times if necessary, than that the public gets it with errors! I would deserve any blunt review I got. By the way, I love the photo of the ship run aground at the head of this article. It does say it all.

It looks to me as though that author has mistaken publishing on Smashwords as some sort of safe haven for rough and ready homecraft. Sure, many of us need an editor and I’m forever finding new systemic errors in my punctuation and grammar. But to put it out in public invites ridicule. It’s a lesson for us all. That work should have been through an editor’s hands at least, better through peer review either face to face or virtually e.g. YouWriteOn.com or similar. The author would then have been able to sound off in a delimited environment and hopefully learn to take and judge criticism of the work.