B is for...Back to Basics

Welcome to day two of the A - Z Blogging Challenge!

Today's post is brought to you by the letter B ;)

I think it's easy to get caught up when writing your book in what I would call 'the big things', e.g. plot, character arcs, character motivations, timeline, formatting, fonts, book cover....I could go on.

But all that work won't mean anything if you don't get the very basics right.

And by basics I mean spelling, grammar and punctuation.

There still seems to be a horrible misconception surrounding indie publishing; most people seem to assume that any book that's self-published is generally going to be full of spelling mistakes and other errors. In the beginning, they may have been right, but over the past few years, indie authors have really upped their game. Indie publishing is no longer thought of as a new form of vanity press, or a quick way to make money. It can (and should) be a serious career for authors.

Which is why authors should treat their self-published books no differently to a book that's been traditionally published. Readers are still going to read your book. Reviewers are still going to review it. Self publishing is no excuse for sloppy writing.

I'm not saying that if you're spelling and grammar is perfect, you'll immediately sell thousands of copies, but it will help. People who read your book will be able to see how much care and attention you've put into it, and will be more likely to buy your other books (providing, y'know, they liked the premise of your first book).

I know how difficult it is to catch every single spelling and grammar mistake. No matter how many times you, or your beta readers, comb through your manuscript, there's bound to be one or two that you miss. And that's acceptable, so long as the rest of your work isn't littered with mistakes. It can really grate on the reader and pull them out of the story if they're constantly having to stop and think about what you're trying to say. I read a book recently that repeated sentences further down the page on at least two separate occasions, if not more. I can honestly say I probably won't read one of their books again - not just because of the repeated sentences, but because of silly spelling mistakes and other errors which constantly grated on me. And this was by a traditionally published author, who had decided to self-publish this particular book.

So, make sure you read through your work for any little mistakes. And then reread it. And then reread it again. And then get someone else to check it for you.

At the very least, there's no excuse nowadays not to use spellcheck!

How about you? Have you ever noticed any mistakes in books that simply shouldn't have happened?

Hvae a grate dai evry1 ;)!