Dear St. Martin's Paperbacks:

[jmc_bks]

Dear St. Martin's Paperbacks:

I borrowed Lora Leigh's Killer Secrets from the library. I've been rather squicked by Ms. Leigh's Breed books, but so many people enjoy her work that I thought perhaps one of her non-Breed books was worth a try. Maybe it wouldn't creep me out so much. Sadly, I didn't have a chance to figure that out. Why? Because the very first word in the book is a typo...unless somehow the verb "tlipping" is some sort of Super Secret Commando Code (used instead of "slipping" when said commando is skulking and sneaking). If that is the case, then I apologize for my disgruntlement.

Was it a typesetting error that no one missed? I don't know.

The first pages of a book are the hook for readers. If a publisher can't be arsed to make sure that those critical pages are at least free of glaring typos, then I can't be arsed to read it.

Off to find something else to read,
jmc

Comments

You have got to be kidding me.

[(Anonymous)]

Just awful (about that typo). I don't know what to think about that. I don't get Ms. Leigh's appeal at all. I read her one non-Breed book and was lukewarm to it.

What are you reading now? I am reading Lara Adrian's new book, Midnight Rising. This is a do or die book for her. I wasn't all that enthused with the third book in the series and I am reading the fourth because the ending was a cliffhanger of sorts.

Keishon

Re: You have got to be kidding me.

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

I'm not reading any romance right now. Instead, I'm reading about bananas. I had no idea that they were not indigenous to Central/South America, or that that the one that is most commonly consumed in the US was so genetically vulnerable.

I'm planning on trying a Laura London book next.

Re: You have got to be kidding me.

[tinyluv.livejournal.com]

tliipping??? That is hysterical.

Re: You have got to be kidding me.

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

I know. I should just laugh it off...but I finished Lori Armstrongs Blood Ties before picking up LL's book, and the horrendous formatting in BT (missed paragraph breaks, dropped conditionals, etc.) had me primed. I've become less and less tolerant of sloppy editing and typesetting lately.

[coolredwyne.livejournal.com]

You showed St. Martin's! Hopefully they learned their lesson. Clean up their act or people who weren't going to buy book 'X', who generally don't read ::name author here:: and 'might' take a chance to be nice and take so many chance on them to check them out of the library to dislike.

They have been warned :)

sorry I kid.... sucks though more so for her fans, for her and the people who bought the book than for you who were all of inconvenienced checking a book out of the library. Of course I read ARC's, eARC's and bound 'scripts more often than not that... has St. Martin gotten just terrible on the editing side of things?

I do have a question though since it was a borrow, why not read it if you wondered if you would like it? Were you too annoyed to see passed it? Saying If a publisher can't be arsed to make sure that those critical pages are at least free of glaring typos when you spent no money or have any personal stake involved seems a touch odd. I could 'get' it if you had spent money on it. LOL that it matters of course... none of my biz...

First impressions...

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Why I won't finish the book, since I'm not out any money? Because the first impression of the book was bad. If I had read the first 20-50 pages and then found a few typos, it wouldn't matter. But the first word error grates on me, however good the later content may be, even if that makes me shallow. It's like me sending a letter to a client with their name spelled wrong in the address line or in the salutation. Maybe it was an accident, but it tells the client that I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing/saying and couldn't be bothered to get their name/address right. If I can't manage that, then how much attention am I paying to the rest of their case? It's just sloppy work and unprofessional.

Admittedly, I spent no money on this particular book. But I've bought a couple of Leigh's books in the past, and spend probably $50-100/month on print books alone. And I *do* notice the frequency of typos and copy editing errors. St. Martin's doesn't stand out more than any other big publisher. Off hand, I'd say that Indigo and Medallion seem (to me) to have a lot of formatting and punctuation problems. My blog letter was addressed to them because the LL book was the most recent one I picked up with sloppy editing/typesetting, which seems endemic to the publishing industry today -- not just books, but newspapers and magazines as well. I could just as easily have "addressed" it to Robb/Roberts' publisher; I keep buying her books (in hardback, no less) but have to grit my teeth against some of the typos. I don't expect SMP to pay any attention to me, as I am merely a reader. The letter was to express my own frustration.

I guess I do think I have a personal stake, even if I haven't read this particular book. Because the problem doesn't belong just to this one book. As a voracious reader, I am the audience and market for publishers. It matters to me when I spend $6.99 -- $24.95 on a book with poor production values. It matters to me when I spend X hours reading a book written by an author whose voice I enjoy but who needs a red pen taken to her work because of the misuse of homophones and punctuation. I suppose this is soapboxish, but I think everyone in the reader community has a right to expect a certain minimum of polish (for lack of a better word) from professionally published books.

*steps back from the mic* Sorry, this has been brewing in the back of my mind for a while now.