I have quit reading books over an abundance of such errors. I will excuse a few (although I do notice them) but if they are numerous, I can't take it. And yes, they are more common in free / self-published works.

My peeve is using the same word over and over again in the same paragraph. "She walked up the stairs. He followed her up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, she stopped. He paused at the top of the stairs as well."

I can excuse a few mistakes here and there, even the big publishers miss some stuff. But when it's so blatant it effects the flow of the story, yeah, I get annoyed too.

A few years back I listed to an audio book of one of the Virgil Flowers books and couldn't get into it - but that could have been the narrator too. I will have to try it the old fashioned way!

Now that you mention it, I do believe.

The market has been flooded with self-pubbed e-books on Amazon. All it takes is a word document and you can get something live in 12-24 hours. Amazon does some low-level review, but it's just to ensure content isn't against their guidelines. A sad consequence of the ease of self-pubbing is that some (lots?) of them are not professionally edited.

About 40% of the free Kindle books I get are deleted within the first two chapters because of that very reason. It hurts to even read such drivel!

I am currently reading Under the Dome by Stephen King and in the past have read The Green Mile. I'm not a fan of horror movies, so I've never watched any of the scary movies based on his books, but I am thinking I want to try to read one of his horror books. But I need a recommendation.

bsa nerd, my favorite Stephen King is "The Stand". Don't let the sheer number of pages scare you. If you immerse yourself in books like I do, you'll find it's a quick and very pleasant read. My ex and I joked that we were going to "Stand Land" while reading and that meant short of an air raid, we didn't want to be disturbed.

If you liked The Shining try Doctor Sleep. It's about the little boy in The Shining as an adult.

Christine is an excellent book to start with, much of the book is told from the car's point of view...

I also recommend Jaws by Peter Benchley...much of that is told from the shark's point of view...

Skip reading Pet Semetary if you don't want to be freaked out...also skip The Shining and It. I made the mistake of reading the expanded version of The Stand...while it was a decent read, the extra 600 pages was a tad over the top (i think it was 600, was so long ago i honestly don't recall and i'm too lazy to google it)

Oh, I totally agree, Happy. Read the book in its original non-expanded form. The extra 600 pages (which I just had to go back and re-read) was just so much self-indulgent fluff by an author who knows some of us have to read every word he writes.

The Last Day of Kindergarten

Nancy Loewen

Most could at least get a grammar-nazi friend to beta for them, though. Heck, I did that when I was writing fan-fiction. I have given up on many, many books (and left scathing reviews) because there were so many errors that I was spending too much time editing in my head to even follow the plot.

ETA: I just finished Good Omens by Neil Gaimen and Terry Pratchett. I've only ever read short stories by those authors before, and the book did not disappoint. It's a little dated, but very similar to Christopher Moore's writing style and a fun read if you enjoy British humor.

This is true!

Same with Insomnia.

Agnes Nutter predicted you'd say this!

Thanks for all the recommendations! Now to decide which one!

I agree 1000% Becca. I've got a group of betas and I use each of them for different skill sets: grammar/structure, content/flow, etc.

That is why I'll read yours.


In all fairness, there are at least a couple of major authors that skate by with sketchy or nearly non-existent editing, too. I've recently quit reading one of them after being a faithful fan for many years because, in addition to red-pen-itis, her material has gotten stale, repetitive, and just plain weird. The other one I still read even though her gratuitous use of the word "peer" drives me absolutely bonkers! (RR Sarah will know the ones of whom I speak.)

"red-pen-itis"

Love this term! !! And thanks, Becca, it's nice to know I'm not on the naughty list. You can thank Matt for that, he is an amazing beta reader.

There is no worse feeling for a reader, IMO, than a beloved author letting you down.

I don't see my particular skill set listed, or is it grouped under "content/flow"?

BWAHAHAH!!! Oh... that was a fun night.

Um...yeah...I was providing valuable input.

You did provide excellent input. And then beta-read afterwards!

"The STAND" is the best Stephen King book written ever! IMO...

Just finished reading "George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution" Good book and a part of history that I knew nothing about.