At what point do you put a book down and not finish it because of poor editing? I’m not talking about a story that doesn’t click for you, is outside your realm of interest or anything to do with taste
I’m speaking of straight up poor editing. Even down to the sentence level.
I believe I mentioned I’ve been on a reading tear. For this month I am at 15 books completed, not counting the 3 books I reread. (All by Zapata, I really really like her books!) Not all the authors I like are on KU which is where I’m getting most of the books I’m reading. And with 35 books under my belt for February and March, I had to branch out. Found some thru TikTok, and some through recommendations on Amazon.
I’m going to put a few caveats here. 1. I know, I KNOW my writing here could use a good editing or even proofreading. I come here to get things off my chest. When I send things out for “Submission” it has been proofread & sent to my writing partner (Hi Sis!) for editing help. 2. I will not name this author here. She has done something not everyone can do– completed and published not one but 3 books (in the series). 3. To whomever left the Amazon review of how she could get her money back from her editor… I howled. Also felt bad, but snickered too. BUT there is a possibility she didn’t have the funds for an editor, or resources. However, some of the problems could have been spotted with a set of beta readers.
The first hiccup I encountered was the tense. Writing in present tense is hard on the reader, but I could roll with it. Not my first rodeo lol. I don’t generally like the pacing, but the book was under 300 pages so thought I could handle it.
Then there was the missing word. It bothered me enough that I went back a few times just to see that Yup ! Really missing a word there.
Chapter four rolls around. We, the reader, are still with the couple on the first meeting. It’s been going back and forth between male and female character for point of view, but I’m chapter four we get.. Past tense.
No. Just no.
I know that fore personally, if I continue reading it I will be doing so in order to find more hiccups. But there’s no reason for me to do this. I am not in a class, needing to give feedback. I am not her editor. I am not a beta reader.
And at 15% in, I’m not that invested in the characters. Which wouldn’t be a problem (taste) but I figured it was short. I could rip through it. Maybe it gets better. But when that chapter bounced the tenses, I hard bounced out.
So my lovelies, at what point do you DNF a book due to technical errors?
If you write and self publish, please know that there are people rooting for you and willing to be beta readers for you.
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