Quality Control

Like most of you, I love to read. Well, I guess you wouldn’t be reading this blog if you didn’t enjoy that activity. I consider myself a somewhat slow reader, mostly because I usually read in the evenings or in bed before I go to sleep. There have been times when I have fallen asleep reading, but what a wonderful way to fall into slumber, am I right?

Obviously, I also love to write or, again, you wouldn’t be reading this blog.  It’s so fortunate that we now have self-publishing available to so many authors whose work might otherwise never see the light of day. If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you might note that back in June of this year, I wrote about quality, doing proper researching for accuracy of content, proofreading your work several times and having someone else also read/edit your work, even if that needs to be a friend or family member.

I didn’t touch too much on grammar or punctuation, but I do feel those things are just as important as proper researching and proofreading. It’s not about making sure every single comma is correct or occasionally missing proper subject/verb agreement. We all make those mistakes regardless of all the proofreading.

But if you consistently make the same mistakes with certain punctuation rules or with words that are not spelled or used correctly, then that is going to show the reader that you either don’t understand those rules and guidelines or you don’t care about them. That’s part of the quality of your work!  I try to look at my own work as not only representing myself, but also representing the indie author community. We have a much harder road to travel to get our name and brand out there because we are unknowns. We don’t have a large or even small publishing house helping us get readers.  I have seen a few people say they won’t read indie authors because, even if the story is a good one, the work is sloppy.

I know for myself, I will read a sample of a book, and if there are too many errors, I won’t make the purchase. There have been a few where I was enjoying the story, but the sloppiness was too distracting. Now I will admit, I may be somewhat pickier than most. That is because I was a medical transcriptionist for almost 40 years, and I taught it for 13 years. During my time as an instructor, most of the questions I would get from my students centered on grammar and punctuation. I added a Gregg Reference Manual to my reference library because I had not realized how much I had forgotten many of the rules. I think that is more than likely the problem with many indie authors—they don’t realize they have forgotten all those rules and guidelines they learned way back in their school days. There are many G&P websites available, so you don’t have to own a reference, but I like having mine ready to grab because I have a lot of notes in the front for those rules I need to review once in a while, especially if it’s not a common rule.

Below is a small list of errors I have seen when reading, and I can tell you that tack/tact is one I have to remember to double check, since I tend to forget which word I need depending on the usage. So I urge you to have a good G&P reference as part of your researching tools, make a list of any words or phrases you tend to forget, and care about your quality, not just the story. Enjoy your day and keep reading, keep writing.

A FEW WORDS OFTEN MISUSED OR MISSPELLED

a lot >  This is never one word. Think of a little and a lot. 

should have >  Because the contraction is pronounced “should-uv” many expand this as should of, which is never correct.

all right >  Even though you can document the spelling of alright, this is  always two words.

tack – tact > Tack is a way of doing something; tact is a behavior or way of speaking to avoid upsetting people.

wreak – wreck > The phrase is always wreak havoc, meaning to inflict punishment. Wreck means to destroy.