Vive la Revolution, Baby!

I bought a Kindle.

 
Actually, it was a replacement Kindle. My first was an older model, one of those things with buttons, no backlight, and the need to pull up an onscreen keyboard for navigation. Jesus, it was less hassle to read one of those other physical things – what are they called again? Ah, that’s right, a book.
 
So yeah, I settled down with my nice, shiny, new electronic device, in all its touch screen, illuminated glory and I picked a few things to read.
 
Jesus...what in the name of King James’ seventh commandment is this? Typos? TYPOS?!? Yep, books riddled with ‘em. Not just typos, but whole misspellings, formatting fuck ups, page numbers lodged in the middle of words. And these weren’t your little hack job books, oh dear me, no. I’m talking about some pretty mainstream works.
 
But wait a minute, I hear you gasp, there are never such a thing as typographical errors in PROFESSIONALLY PUBLISHED BOOKS. That shit is the domain of the INDIE AUTHOR, THE SCUM OF THE WRITING WORLD, LOWERING THE TONE WITH THEIR QUESTIONABLE EXCUSES FOR LITERATURE. DAMN THEIR EYES, EACH LAST ONE OF THEM!!!
 
Except that isn’t the case. Not all, no sir.
 
Here’s the thing; I’ve read indie books, I’ve read small press books, and I’ve read books by established name authors, put out by mainstream, big name presses – you know, the ones that only publish REAL AUTHORS.
 
(You may or may not have detected my usual air of sarcasm in this blog post. If not, let me alert you to its presence right the hell now)
 
Anyway, guess what? Most of the Indie and small press publications have all had something in common: Typos? Formatting issues? Bereft. Barren. More chance of finding a camel at the North fucking Pole. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there’s the occasional slip up, but every now and then a minnow can escape the fishing net. Shit happens sometimes, it’s unavoidable. But never anywhere near the scale of things I’ve seen in the larger presses.
 
Do you want to know why I think it’s the case? Of course you do! Why else would you be reading this drivel – to check for errors? Ermm, okay, maybe. Anyway, here’s the thing; indie authors in particular, along with indie and small presses, they know that a lot rides on the quality of their product. A lot. If they fuck up, there’s no one else to carry the can for them. As an indie author, I check and I re-check my work long before it reaches a reader. Then I check it again, you know, just to be sure. The alternative is my product looking like it was hacked up onto the page (or screen) by a blind monkey. I know first hand that Kindle can be a bit of a bastard when it comes to formatting, so I slave over the manuscript, both print and ebook, checking it a page at a time. As a general rule, it’s an unfortunate truth that a few rogue typos might slip the aforementioned net. These are usually pointed out to me by my wife after publication. Like I said before, shit happens sometimes. But I like to think that such things aren’t exactly commonplace. I’d imagine it to be the same for other indie and small presses; there’s a hell of a lot riding on their product, both for them personally and for the authors in their stable. I’ve heard stories about the time and love spent crafting works into a release-worthy form, and I'm lucky enough to know a few people who put a lot of effort into running the show. Damnit, those people put the work and the love into what they do.
 
Do traditional publishing houses need to do the same? Of course they should. They’re putting their wares before the same audience, you know, the paying readers, parting with their cash in order to while away a Sunday afternoon, or to make it easier to avoid their snotty fellow companions on public transport. Actual readers who pay their salaries. But there’s the thing: People have been buying the physical copies of those books for years. They’ve already made their money back many times over, they’ve made their writers into household names. For them, the ebook version is just a way of making a quick buck, of milking the cash cow one more time before the teat runs dry. They’re working on the – mainly true – assumption that most people probably won’t care. Hell, it’s a book by (insert well known author name here), it’ll be good, I’ll just buy the damn thing, who cares if it reads like it was put together by someone who’d never clapped eyes on MS Word? You pay your money, you get your product, you overlook the fact that it’s an eye-gouging mess. Of course, this is a massive disservice to authors, who have entrusted their lovingly-crafted work to publishers who should really know better than to convert a manuscript to e-format and upload it without due diligence. Do they care? It seems not.
 
Or maybe I’m just being an arsehole about it. Go figure.
 
Indie authors and small presses: they care about their work, so that you’ll care about it, too. They aren’t in it for the money (although admittedly, it would be nice). They aren’t less talented than their trad counterparts. Their credibility depends upon the quality of their product, and it shows.
 
Vivé la indie revolution.
 
Next time, I promise I’ll try to be a bit less ranty. Maybe. In the meantime, I’ve got some reading – and writing – to do.
 
Love ya!
 
- L