Editing manuscripts

More and more, the books I read, especially the ebooks, are riddled with errors. Right now, I'm reading a series of four books by four different authors, and each one has many careless, unnecessary mistakes. For example, characters' names are mixed-up, "sheik" is used for "chic," "shew" for "shoo," "thought" for "though," "he's" for "his," "complement" for "compliment," words are left out of sentences, adjectives are used when the adverb with "ly" is needed, and there's capital letters in the middle of words. These are just a small sampling of the mistakes, not even looking at the content, such as "the stores she perused."

I'm beginning to think some indie authors are deciding not to get an editor. It's true that good editors can be expensive and the process can be time consuming, but it is absolutely crucial if they're going to put out a quality product. I wouldn't dream of publishing a book without an editor, because I certainly can't catch my own mistakes. I get so involved with the story, my eyes don't see them, or I read what I think I put instead of what is actually there.

Poorly edited books give writers, especially indie writers, a bad name when there're still many good ones out there. We need to do a better job across the board, however, because the reader deserves our best. I know it's not easy. Mistakes sometimes slip through despite our best efforts. However, no book should have over a hundred or more glaring errors, and I've read many that do. Whether an author pays a professional editor, finds someone who will do it gratis, or something in between, getting every manuscript edited before publishing is a must.

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