Traditional Bad Editing: Not Just For The Self-Published
Supporters of traditional publishing often tout editing as one of the advantages of the legacy process. And, of course, anytime people who are enamored of the old ways find an editing mistake in a self-published book, they point out how inferior the indie route goes.
(Another take on that issue here: How Traditional Publishers SUCK On eBooks).
And then there are those self-published books — like my thriller, Perfect Killer — that were traditionally edited and published before the author regained the rights and self-published it.
New cover for upcoming re-edited edition
4-STARS AND ANNOYING STYLE
A kind reader gave Perfect Killer a 4-star Amazon review, then took me to task me for repeating a phrase (“Mona Lisa smile”).
“After the FOURTH repetition of describing the female lead as having “a Mona Lisa smile,” I was starting to want to time-travel and kill da Vinci before he could paint the thing!” He wrote.
He also expressed how confusing the book was for using both first- and third-person points of view.
” It is very disconcerting for the reader when the story jumps back and forth between first-person and third-person narrative like a volley ball on Spring Break.”
(You can find that review and the resulting comment by scrolling down on this page)
I have written all my other books completely in third person.
THIRD PERSON IS MY USUAL POV
But in Perfect Killer, I used the hero to tell the very personal story of my family history in the Mississippi Delta and my own journey from the scion of a Delta plantation family with a U.S. Senator and other powerful figures … to my expulsion from Ole Miss (where my great-grandfather had been Chancellor) for leading a civil rights march.
I just couldn’t write the words to describe the deep emotions for what I was feeling if I used third person, no matter how hard I tried. I believe I did a better job using first person.
SLOPPY EBOOK EDITING
Anyway, just recently, another well-meaning reader who sympathized with the original reviewer, expressed her opinion that the errors were all part of sloppy e-book publishing.
” The ebook market has made it ever so much easier for writers to have their works see the light of day without the benefit of serious editing, “ she said.
I agree with the original reviewer. And disagree with her comment.
Perfect Killer is not an ebook original. The hardcover edition was published by Macmillan’s Forge/Tor imprint in 2005. The Mona Lisa smile thing was imposed on me by an editor. It annoyed me as well. I have a new edit (and new cover) coming and I’ve removed all but one of those references.
As for the first/third person, it’s a stylistic choice that’s used by some authors who are obviously far more accomplished than I am (Ernest Hemingway and James Patterson being two of those). Obviously, not everyone likes it.
Usually, Perfect Killer’s POV change is moderated by not making the change within a chapter. In those occasions when the point of view changed within a chapter my original manuscript I used
* * * * *
to let the reader know that the POV had transitioned. But those signals were deleted by the editor. And I agree that the lack of a signal or other transition is confusing.
There are a number of other editing problems and other issues far more serious than those that prompted me to sever my relationship with the publisher.
