Bitchin' Blog Posts
Speak Up or Butt Out?
by SB Sarah | by SB Sarah | April 22, 2010 | Thursday at 9:12 pm | 98 CommentsIn a comment thread, Amanda asked:
If you were a writer who had a new website that was RIDDLED with spelling and grammar errors, would you want a reader to email you about it?
An author I like has a terrible website, the errors are all over the place. I’d like to mention it to her, because I don’t think it represents her well. I’m sure the site is outsourced and she doesn’t actually do the rotton spelling, but you think she might look at it every once in a while…
Or should I do a big butt-outski?
Her question was a very good one and I didn’t want it to be missed in the discussion.
My thought is: a kind email pointing out some errors would be welcome. A snide one would not. But everyone knows better than to be snide, right?
Pointing out spelling or grammar errors is not the same as saying, “Your website sucks,” but then, what if you go looking for information that isn’t there? So I’d also like to widen the question to more than grammar: if you thought there was a feature that an authors website could benefit from, should you suggest it? Some sites that I’ve seen don’t list the books that an author has published, let alone information about the books themselves. Would it be rude to ask for that info, or should you head over to Amazon or another site for that info?
What’s your call?
Filed: General Bitching, Random Musings
Jen said on 04.22.10 at 09:32 PM • [link]
I’d speak up—the sooner, the better. It’s like having your slip show or your fly down or a big piece of spinach caught in your teeth… You’d appreciate someone letting you know!
J
Laurel said on 04.22.10 at 09:41 PM • [link]
I agree. Speak up. Be kind about it and make sure you mention you tracked down the site because you like her books so much, think she’s a great writer, etc. If I were her, I’d want to know.
If it makes her mad or gets taken the wrong way, that’s on her. Not your problem. I’d be surprised if she reacted that way, though. Writers have to be willing to take and apply a great deal of criticism before they get published and should understand that the point is to make their work better.
If I were researching a book before I bought it (and I do, frequently) this would affect my decision to buy. I’ll forgive a lot on a website, even something so absurd as not listing work or linking to sites that sell it, but I do expect the text on the site to be representative of the author in some way. Bad writing on the site would lead me to believe the book I was considering might be poorly written, as well.
Bottom line is it might help her in a real dollar way to have this called to her attention.
Randi said on 04.22.10 at 09:43 PM • [link]
That’s a good question. I’ve run across a number of author sites that, as SB Sarah mentions, don’t have bibliography info. Or, my pet peeve, which books occur in series order (I’m looking at you even though you’re deceased, Catherine Asaro[yes, yes, she does have a bibliography on her website, but it’s sooo complicated, I can never figure out which book comes next]. Loretta Chase, too, has her books in order she wrote them, not in series order. Soooo annoying). I’d also like to know when the next book comes out, or when the PPB comes out - those types of things.
I suppose a nice note would be OK. I’m usually just too lazy to do it. I’ll be interested to hear what the authors say.
ten92: isn’t that a tax form?
Randi said on 04.22.10 at 09:45 PM • [link]
PS. I can’t seem to load Lauren Willig’s site. Is it just me?
Peggy said on 04.22.10 at 09:48 PM • [link]
As part of project to update a database of “Maine authors” (quotes used because none of us has a really tight definition yet) I’ve been looking at a lot of author web sites. Many of them leave a great deal to be desired. It had not occurred to me to contact them with suggestions. I really don’t need more to do but perhaps I should make an attempt at contacts.
SB Sarah said on 04.22.10 at 09:51 PM • [link]
Funny enough, and I swear the penny just dropped in my own brain, I’m giving a talk this weekend at the Chicago RWA Chapter’s Spring Fling conference about online marketing 101, and I mention the things an author website must have, and the things people tell you you have to have but you really do not.
For the love of all that is holy, do not autoplay music. PLEASE.
Pussreboots said on 04.22.10 at 09:51 PM • [link]
Mistakes happen on websites. They happen to big sites, small sites and in between. It’s really easy to get blind to the text when you’re concentrating on the over all design of the site. So by all means, send a polite note.
Ros said on 04.22.10 at 09:56 PM • [link]
I say a polite email mentioning no more than a couple of the most egregious problems and see what response you get. If the author is friendly and grateful, then you can follow up with some other suggestions. If not, then move on.
And I totally agree about autoplay music and videos. When I am Queen, I am going to ban all websites that do that. Right after I ban chewing gum.. Ugh.
Ros said on 04.22.10 at 10:01 PM • [link]
Oh, and Sarah, since you’re giving that presentation I thought I’d mention the awesomest author website I’ve come across lately. Abby Gaines has a whole series of After-The-End scenes for her books, so that when you’ve just turned the final page and don’t want to say goodbye to her characters immediately you can click through for a little extra treat. I think this is a totally brilliant idea and I wish all my favourite authors did it.
Diatryma said on 04.22.10 at 10:03 PM • [link]
The potential outsourcedness gives you a polite way to say it. “You may want to check on the people who run your website; there are some pretty bad errors. I know they didn’t come from you and may not be in your control, but…”
I’ve done that with published books before.
Kalen Hughes said on 04.22.10 at 10:04 PM • [link]
I took it as a kindness when a reader emailed me about a typo on my site (hello, dyslectic girl here; I need all the help I can get with that kind of stuff).
Tabetha said on 04.22.10 at 10:14 PM • [link]
I agree that an email pointing out any mistakes or even things that aren’t working would be appreciated by just about anyone. I also think it’s entirely ok and not rude at all to request a feature that isn’t currently available like an author’s backlist. I’m not an author and I don’t have a website but that’s all feedback I’d think that anyone would welcome.
But what about when an author has a website that you think is just poorly designed even though all the information is there? I’ve been re-reading some old Julie Garwood books this month (still enjoyed Lion’s Lady and Saving Grace but absolutely hated Gentle Warrior :o) and looked up her website. It’s really lovely with birds chirping in the background, tons of interesting point & click junk but it’s an absolute nightmare to navigate and find information even though it’s all there. She obviously puts time and/or money into the site and there’s weekly and monthly drawings and give-aways but I don’t imagine I’ll ever visit her site again. On one hand I think she’d like to know that but on the other hand I imagine she actually likes her website and nothing positive would come by mentioning it.
So what do I do? I just keep my mouth shut about all of it, bookmark the author websites where I can actually get updates and information and rely heavily on Amazon and Fantastic Fiction. Even though the majority of author websites I go to are pretty bad (I think) it still surprises me every time when I can’t get basic information in an easy to read format from a site.
An example of a lovely yet horrible website (in my opinion, of course):
http://www.juliegarwood.com/
SheaLuna said on 04.22.10 at 10:15 PM • [link]
I’m definitely in the camp of “letting the author know”. Preferably with a shit sandwich.
Tell her how much you love her books and admire her work, mention the problems you found with the site, then finish up with another sincere compliment. It takes the sting out and lets the author know you aren’t being a nasty know-it-all. Sometimes an author’s website or blog is the first introduction a reader has to her writing. One that’s full of typos does not a good impression make!
Can we elect Ros the Queen, as in NOW? I can live without chewing gum as long as auto-play music is banned forever!
SheaLuna said on 04.22.10 at 10:18 PM • [link]
@Tabetha
Just went to Julie Garwood’s website and GACK! You are right. I LOATHE those types of websites. There’s another author who has a very similar one and while it’s beautiful and everything is there, it’s a nightmare to navigate!
Mfred said on 04.22.10 at 10:20 PM • [link]
I create & code web sites as part of my job and I will totally underline, bold, highlight and re-emphasize what Pussreboots said:
At some point, I just stop seeing the text completely. I have made horrifying, egregious mistakes—like, I am a librarian and I published a page called ASK A LIBARIAN.
Also helpful: include links to the exact pages with the mistakes, and be detailed. “BTW, I noticed xyz.com/you has three spelling mistakes in the third paragraph” is way better than “You misspelled librarian on your web site”.
GrowlyCub said on 04.22.10 at 10:37 PM • [link]
Randi!
I’m pretty sure Catherine Asaro will be surprised to hear she’s dead… lol.
I find websites completely useless that do not list backlist with summaries; or current books that have excerpts but no summaries; or that do not list series (Chase); or that show the book from last year under ‘current books’ (Carlyle).
Why do they bother having a site and most likely paying for it? It’s often easier to go to FictionDB and get the info. That’s counterproductive and, yes, I’ve not bought books I had planned to because the websites pissed me off so bad.
wanted57 Wanted: 57 websites that are informative and easy to navigate.
Randi said on 04.22.10 at 10:43 PM • [link]
GrowleyCub:
WAH!!?? I swear I had read something recent about Asaro passing away. Well, welcome back to the living, Catherine. LOL. What a hoot.
hot54: well, no, not yet. But I sure am fine blaming my mistake as a “senior moment”.
Sandy (Strlady) said on 04.22.10 at 10:44 PM • [link]
A properly designed website is essential for an author today. If there is a typo, a properly worded email to the author should not offend. A few things on websites while we are at it… Backlist. Important. Also, I find that many authors fail to put a FAQ on connecting books. Many readers hate picking up a book in the middle of a series and regardless of how many times the author says “it can stand alone” the presence of previous’ books couple playing HEA makes you realize there was a story there and you missed it. It’s a book the author is not going to sell because I already got ‘spoiled’ by reading out of order. PLEASE give me a FAQ.
Someone mentioned the music… Kill the music. For those with poor internet access it just makes navigating the site slow and annoying. Don’t create a Flash Player driven site (like Garwood’s) because the version you used can become outdated and those that cannot upgrade to the new free flashplayer are out of luck.
Don’t make me guess where your content is.. just put it out there. I could go on forever.
KimberlyD said on 04.22.10 at 10:44 PM • [link]
Totally agree about speaking up but politely. What if the author is not a computer savvy person and doesn’t really look at his/her own website all that often? They’ll never know about any problems unless someone tells them. I agree that its frustrating to look for an author’s bibliography, especially series order, and not be able to find it. I wouldn’t have thought to send an email about it but now thats its been suggested, I think its a great idea. Just a simple request, politely worded. If the author chooses to take offense at that, then that might not want to be an author I want to support anyway. I wouldn’t bombard anyone with any ridiculous or difficult requests, of course. And an “I’m working on that and will have it up sometime in the future” response would be perfectly acceptable as well. But I really think authors who take the time to listen to the people who actually visit and browse their webpages will end up with the cleanest, most stream-lined websites, which will encourage visitors to linger and maybe buy a book. ;)
Randi said on 04.22.10 at 10:45 PM • [link]
OH OH OH!
Here’s something that Lora Leigh USED to do, that I just loved. She had a private stash of her books and I was able to buy them FROM her, signed and everything. Super cool. I noticed recently she no longer has that option, and I’ve never seen another author offer that service; but I totally loved it. Would LOVE LOVE LOVE if authors sold some of their own stash w/ signage.
Margaret said on 04.22.10 at 10:46 PM • [link]
I like the idea of letting the author know, however, there’s one author whose website is *full of errors (broken/incorrect links) and when told about major MAJOR spelling issues, she dismisses it with a, “perfectionism isn’t the goal, I am just getting the information out there.” It’s frustrating! Specially when I am trying to find information and have to spend another fifteen minutes of hunting around to find the correct link because the official site uses the wrong URL, or has repeats of the same information which is all completely incorrect. As a fan, I’m not asking for perfectionism, just a modicum of professionalism.
KristieJ said on 04.22.10 at 11:12 PM • [link]
If I were an author, I think I would most appreciate having errors, bad ideas etc pointed out if done in a nice way. After all, their website represents them in a way and for that they would need to have it right.
Kelly Wittmann said on 04.22.10 at 11:13 PM • [link]
I’d just toss it out there very casually: “You might want to run your website text through spellcheck, because I noticed a few misspellings.” Then move on—quickly.
Emily said on 04.22.10 at 11:15 PM • [link]
I contacted Patty Briggs once about an expired link on her website. (The link took one off site to an interview on another site.) I got a sweet thank you email from her husband. Boy, that’s the way to handle it. Personal thank you? Oh my.
terripatrick said on 04.22.10 at 11:19 PM • [link]
I would want to know what worked or not about my website. It’s the most important marketing tool for a writer today, and will become even more so in the future.
Lizabeth S. Tucker said on 04.22.10 at 11:23 PM • [link]
There is no way that I would NOT email the author. I hate spelling errors with a passion and make every effort to get them corrected, whether on a website or on signs in my local grocery store (they’re well aware of my handy pen).
Lori said on 04.22.10 at 11:24 PM • [link]
This. A thousand times this. I can’t stand reading a series out of order. It’s a total OCD thing with me. Seriously. If it’s too much work for me to figure out the correct order, or worse the author doesn’t tell me that the books are series, I’ll just move on to other books. It’s definitely one of the top 5 ways to lose me as a reader, and I mean permanently because it makes me angry.
I’m also willing to give me vote for Queen to anyone who will ban autoplay music and video. No. Just no.
As a general rule I don’t like sites that are over-designed. I don’t visit author sites for the pretty, I visit them for information. Having complete information, updated on a regular basis and presented clearly on a site that’s easy to navigate counts far, far more than the color of the background or having a fancy font. In fact getting too wild with colors and patterns and fonts just makes the site hard to read, which defeats the purpose for me being there. If it’s enough of a problem I won’t go back and that can lead to me missing a book that I would otherwise have read.
robinjn said on 04.22.10 at 11:35 PM • [link]
As a professional graphic designer who does both print and web design, my viewpoint is admittedly a bit more, um, strict? Harsh? Unforgiving? than some. But for what little it’s worth, here’s my viewpoint.
I actually don’t get that bent out of shape for a typo or two (not talking “riddled with” here, but one or two doesn’t automatically make it a no-win site for me). However, I really, really dislike with an unholy fury badly designed sites that impair the visitor’s ability to find out the information they want to know, which is usually, what books do you have that I haven’t read yet? When is your next book due out? If this is a series, what is the chronological order? If you write under other pseudonyms or in other genres, what are they and where can I find those books?
On top of that, I confess to being surprised and appalled at the truly amateurish sites out there. It’s pretty easy to be dismissive of good design, a lot of authors really don’t have design experience themselves so it’s hard to tell what IS good. Garwoods site is the glaring exception; she probably paid somebody big bucks for that thing and it’s basically useless.
An example of a very nicely done site is Norah Roberts (http://www.noraroberts.com/). Obviously professional, simply done, well organized, clean, elegant. You can find what you need and it’s done in CSS so it’s very fast loading AND accessible to the visually impaired. No flash. No blinking anything. No music. Here’s another nice one, Kat Richardson, http://www.katrichardson.com
Authors, your website, more than almost anything else about you, informs readers about you. Readers will gain an impression of you overall based on your website. It is well worth paying a professional to do your website. Of course then the trick is finding a professional who doesn’t want to throw every bell and whistle at the code. The key is to do nothing that is not functional. A cutesy flash movie NOT functional.
Tina C. said on 04.22.10 at 11:40 PM • [link]
I’m all for sending someone a politely-worded email that points out spelling errors or asks for further information, but sometimes contacting the author is all but impossible.
Back in October, I saw the ad for an author on Smart Bitches and thought, “That sounds like an interesting book!” I followed the ad link to the author’s website and, after reading a few synopses and first chapters of various books, decided I actually wanted to read a different book of hers. In the interest of comparison shopping, I put the title into Google and found that I could buy it in paperback from Amazon for over $10 or I could download it from a couple of sites for $3.50. As many of us have noted, it’s pretty unusual to find the ebook that much cheaper than the paperback, so I did a little more digging and discovered that the print version is 156 pages, but one of the two reviewers must have read the ebook version, because she lamented the fact that the book is only 75 pages long. I desperately wanted to get in touch with the author to find out what the difference between those two versions could be—did she re-write the book and make it longer for the print version? Use larger type, but keep the story the same? Add some pages from another book to pad the print version? I went to every site that she has listed for herself and, I swear, you can’t contact this woman anywhere! I would have left a comment at the one site that accepted comments, but it said at the top that she planned to move the thing and I didn’t even know that she would bother to check her comments there. I was so incredibly annoyed at what I now felt was a colossal waste of my time, I decided to not buy anything of hers.
At the bare minimum, there should be some way to contact the author or leave a comment or why even bother to have a website?
Kimberly Nee said on 04.22.10 at 11:40 PM • [link]
I would want to know, absolutely. It’s so easy to see what you think should be on the page, rather than what actually IS on the page, no matter how many times I’ve proofed. I also want to know what works/doesn’t work, and I welcome all suggestions. I can’t imagine being offended because I misspelled something. It happens. I’d rather do a **facepalm** rather than lose a potential reader. :)
Donna said on 04.22.10 at 11:52 PM • [link]
I didn’t think I had anything to say on this topic, but now that I’ve had a few minutes letting it roll around my subconcious while I read everyone else’s thoughts, I find there is a bee in my bonnet. Why, why, why do authors have features titled “diary” or “journal” or even “news” & then never update them? I’ve logged on to sites were the personal update is 6 mos. or more old. If you aren’t checking in at your website, why should I? Not saying I don’t understand how busy a popular writer can be, just don’t put something on your website called a diary & show up once a year. Skip it.
donna said on 04.22.10 at 11:54 PM • [link]
Oh, as to the original question, I consider authors my friends, and I always tell my friends when they have lipstick on their teeth.
Kilian Metcalf said on 04.22.10 at 11:58 PM • [link]
How about misspelled words on a literary agent’s website? I looked for a way to email them a polite note, but the only contact information requires that I scribe a note on parchment, using a quill pen, and have my liveried footman deliver it to them, er, by snail mail, I mean.
So I didn’t. Now that typo is there for everyone to see. I wonder whether I would evenr send a query letter to a literary agency with a typo on the web site and declines to use modern communication. If this is how they are with their own stuff, what attention are they going to give a new author, hmmm?
veronica said on 04.22.10 at 11:58 PM • [link]
I agree with what seems to be the consensus… a polite email to the author would be appropriate and, hopefully, appreciated. I would welcome such a response from a reader. I can’t imagine anyone who’s published would have such thin skin that they would be annoyed or defensive.
@TinaC Wow at that author. I think its a shame that he/she isn’t more responsive to their readers (aka bread and butter).
Darlene Marshall said on 04.23.10 at 12:13 AM • [link]
I want feedback, even when it’s negative, as long as it’s deserved. I didn’t discover how little I knew about sailing until it was pointed out to me by people who sail. Now some of them are my beta readers, and one, Capt. Vic, took me sailing out on the Atlantic off of St. Augustine. A fun day on the water, research, improved writing, what’s not to like?
Anything that makes me a better writer is valuable to me.
Liz said on 04.23.10 at 12:15 AM • [link]
i have absolutely no problem contacting authors, but it seems really hit or miss to me. A couple years ago, I contacted Christine Feehan with a question about her Ghostwalker series, and she took the time to answer me personally. However, about 3 months ago, I contacted another author about a glaring anachronism in one of her books (she used the term “serial killer” in an historical when that term did not exist until 1977). I still have not heard back from her and I do not expect to. This won’t hurt my appreciation for the books, but if the anachronisms get worse (or this one continues) I might start to have problems with them. imo, poor research can really hurt a book.
Tina C. said on 04.23.10 at 12:15 AM • [link]
I agree. How can someone have three (yes, three!) different websites that they either own wholly or contribute to and not have a way for someone to contact them? Or, in this particular instance, she had to know that people might be curious as to why the print version of a title was nearly twice as long as the ebook version. If she doesn’t want readers contacting her, she could have written a brief paragraph about why this disparity existed and posted it to at least one of her sites.
(Gaw, I didn’t realize until I wrote these posts that I’m still completely irritated with this woman about this months later. My congenital lack of patience is making itself known again ;) )
darlynne said on 04.23.10 at 12:16 AM • [link]
Here’s my stab at politely indicating something on a website that jars me every time I see it:
Dear Ellora’s Cave:
Your advertisement currently running on Smart Bitches Trashy Books gives me the willies. I applaud your celebration of “10 years of bringing you big O’s,” but the accompanying picture of Betty White preparing to lock lips with a man 60 years her junior is quite disturbing. (I’m 55, just so you know there’s nothing ageist going on here.) Perhaps a quick touch-up with Photoshop would set things to rights and bring the model a little more into focus. Oh, and maybe that stray hair on the male model could be made to look less like a mustache.
Wishing you many more years of big O’s, I remain,
Darlynne
Hmmm. This letter could probably use some work.
Julie said on 04.23.10 at 12:19 AM • [link]
Pretty much what robinjin said above, but I’d add that clarity is far more important to me than bells and whistles. if the web site is stuck in 1995, I’ll live with it if I can find the information I need. and that information is current. Not every writer has mad web skillz, and I can appreciate how some will go for ease of maintenance.
Have you ever been to Web Pages That Suck? It’s a site that teaches good design by pointing out bad design. You could waste hours there.
JoanneL said on 04.23.10 at 12:23 AM • [link]
I guess I’ll be the dissenting vote. I just would never email an author to tell him/her that there are spelling errors on her site. Even my auto-buy-even-after-I’m-dead authors are not my friends or business associates.
Haven’t got the time to have a friend or family member proofread what is, in essence, your public face? I haven’t got the time to read your website. We are talking about multiple mistakes, right?
Everyone makes errors, me first on THAT list, but if I’m selling a product then I best know how to spell what I’m selling. Harsh, I know, but it’s a jungle here in Romancelandia!
MaryK said on 04.23.10 at 12:25 AM • [link]
Not an author, but if I were I’d definitely want to know. And I wouldn’t want readers to have to rely on Amazon, etc. for blurbs. Some of their blurbs are wrong, consist of two sentences or a magazine review, or don’t have blurbs at all.
Yesterday, someone mentioned that Theresa Weir’s Bad Karma was re-released. I popped over to Samhain to buy it and noticed it had a “this book has been revised” note on it which I always want an explanation for. I didn’t see anything about the revision on Weir’s website, but she had a blog entry about it so I was happy.
Marie Brennan said on 04.23.10 at 12:26 AM • [link]
I will omit details to protect the poor individual involved, but I e-mailed a writer friend a while ago to gently point out that the header graphic on her site misspelled her name.
Proofread EVERYTHING, folks.
For my part, I have zero objection to being e-mailed about typos/grammatical goofs/broken links/etc on my own site. I am somewhat touchier about “you should add this feature,” because sometimes what people ask for is a lot of work and hey maybe that’s why I haven’t done it already—but still, it’s useful for me to know what people are engaging with and want more of. So in general, I say feedback is good.
robinjn said on 04.23.10 at 12:34 AM • [link]
Julie noted “clarity is far more important to me than bells and whistles.” I’ll use that as a springboard to say that bells and whistles are not only not needed but often distract from what the user needs.
Some “bells and whistles” are very nice. For instance, a dropdown menu involves some coding and perhaps a bit of javascript, but it can really help your visitors find what they need easily and quickly. GOOD bell and whistle! A video or flash that’s there just to supposedly give “fizz-bang” to the site is IMO just extraneous junk. As for turning the cursor into some cutesy character (a dragon! a butterfly!) don’t make me hurt you. Flash has become the blink tag of the decade.
Yes, I might rather see a site that’s super-amateur and/or stuck in the 90s where I can find thing than a high end mess. But I have to say again that your website IS you to many readers. People can and will make judgments on YOU PERSONALLY based on your website. We all know this, because we do it to other people. Somehow we just don’t want to think about it happening to us. We want to assume people will understand and be perfectly fine if our website is badly done or never updated. People don’t. I think websites can directly affect an author’s bottom line. It’s really, really important to do them well.
Julie said on 04.23.10 at 12:52 AM • [link]
@robinjin: Yes, any bell or whistle that adds to usability is a wonderful thing.
But yes: Don’t hijack my cursor. Don’t blare music or video at me. And don’t have a thousand blinky things. There is such a thing as too much blog bling. I’m struggling with that balance right now.
l
MaryK said on 04.23.10 at 12:54 AM • [link]
Since someone else mentioned one of the SB ads:
I totally read the title of the Tracy Wolff book as “lease me.” LOL
At least it’s effective advertising, it certainly made me look twice.
Perryw said on 04.23.10 at 01:12 AM • [link]
I would speak up. I know I would like it if someone did that for me. As you say - kind and polite suggestions and corrections not snide finger pointing.
Tabetha said on 04.23.10 at 01:27 AM • [link]
I couldn’t agree more with this statement. Especially for authors who are completely new to me and I’m just following a link from a blog like this one. It takes only a few seconds for me to decide if I want to stick around and see what you have to offer. If your site is neat, clean and easy to navigate I’ll be happy to stay for a few minutes but if it isn’t your site/books are dismissed—it’s not worth my time to figure it out. And if your site requires scripts just to run (all the flash & java crap) you won’t even get those initial couple of seconds to make an impression because I use a no script ad on that I won’t disable for an unknown site. Now, if I’m a fan of your books a bad site design is just disappointing but for those new to me authors it really can hurt your chances of a sale.
A professionally designed site that’s easy to navigate with a few cool features is awesome and worth the money if you have it but a generic template is fine too. Your site doesn’t need to be fun or amazing to catch my attention—you already have it that’s why I’m at your site—it just needs to not drive me away.
GrowlyCub said on 04.23.10 at 01:44 AM • [link]
Tina C, I think I followed that same link. I gave up way earlier than you though and swore I’d NEVER buy a book by that person.
Darlynne, I so totally agree. That ad is not sexy, it’s not intriguing and it’s making it very unlikely that I’ll buy from them ever again (I stopped long ago when they started putting out a book a day and the editing quality dropped into negative territory).
And while I’m talking about ads: Who at Samhain thought that putting an clearly anorexic/bulimic woman in a wet shirt in their ad would sell books? I look at that shoulder blade sticking out of that woman’s back and think two thing: 1) somebody please feed her and 2) the guy is going to cut himself if he gets to close to it.
SylviaSybil said on 04.23.10 at 01:48 AM • [link]
Send a polite email. Absolutely. I just did this the other day, in fact. I visited what I would consider a poorly-designed website that was missing some pretty basic information. I emailed the author and mentioned how much I loved her work and that her website was missing a few things. I got a very nice email back the next day thanking me and telling me the missing info.
Any webpage should be clean, neat and usable. I’m here to get information; don’t distract me from that. Autoplay music or ads with sound have me scrambling for the back button. For an author’s page, some basic info about your books and your series is the minimum. Tell me what order I should read the books in, and put book 1 at the top of the list, not the bottom. I don’t want to read the most recent release first.
This might be just my thing, but tell me when your next release is. Because the thing is, I would like to give you money. However, there are a lot of authors I would like to give money to, and if I don’t know when to look for your next book it will probably be overlooked. “Spring 2011” is fine. “This spring” or “next year” is useless. I don’t know when you wrote that. Does this spring mean the spring we’re in now or the one we’re coming up on? Give me a date I can work with.
RebeccaJ said on 04.23.10 at 01:57 AM • [link]
Uh oh, Sarah, I think this is Amanda’s round about way of saying your website is full of spelling errors! LOL..ok, joking.
I’d kindly point it out because it doesn’t reflect well on a writer’s chosen career if they massacre the English language and misspell words.
Wendy Palmer said on 04.23.10 at 02:05 AM • [link]
I agree the feedback is valuable. Unfortunately bigger authors can get a bit bombarded by ulterior motives - Holly Lisle gave an example in her newsletter of a guy who rather rudely tore and incompetently “copyedited” a few paragraphs of her site and then offered to do it for the rest of her writing for a fee.
I did have one incident where a reader corrected my use of punctuation with quote marks, because (see me cleverly work in example of issue) “punctuation goes INSIDE the quote marks”. In your country, yes. Not in mine. Which is obviously the correct and logical way of doing things.
So yes, feedback is great, but please make sure the spelling “error” you’ve identified isn’t colour instead of color…
robinjn said on 04.23.10 at 02:10 AM • [link]
Wendy in the case of the punctuation thing differing between countries, I think an author might want to think about which country her major audience will reside in, and tailor her website to that audience. OTOH, if the author feels strongly about sticking to the conventions that are appropriate in their own country, even if most of the buying audience is elsewhere, it might be worth a short note :)
Diana Peterfreund said on 04.23.10 at 02:22 AM • [link]
I would also offer a qualified yes. I do appreciate readers who email me about missing info on my website or comments on my blog pointing out the occasional typo. (I’m a TERRIBLE typist and my blog posts, which I admit I don’t spend a lot of time proofreading, are usually full of “hte” and similar.)
However, I also feel that I’ve spent a lot of time making sure that the info on my website is easy to navigate. I even have an FAQ running down the side of my contact page answering my most-frequently asked questions. And I still get them. ;-)
I also think it can get out of hand. I thanked a reader once who pointed out a typo in my first published book. The result? he went around telling both writers and editors that he worked for me as my “freelance editor”—convinced writers to send him their manuscripts, and sent to me a multi-page critique of spelling mistakes he found in a later ARC (yeah, ARCs have errors, That’s why it’s not a final version.) So that’s why it’s a qualified yes. :-)
robinjn said on 04.23.10 at 02:33 AM • [link]
Okay, the guy advertising himself as Diana’s freelance editor? Skeevy.
However, as a freelancer I *have* been guilty of offering my services after I’ve established a connection with somebody. It’s a very difficult line to toe. Those of us doing freelance live and die (literally) by keeping jobs flowing. We sure as heck don’t want to spam anyone, but if I feel I really can help someone I will send them my link and invite them to go look. If they don’t like or don’t want to use my services that’s fine. The initial contact, at least for me, is NEVER with an end attempt to sell something. If I wasn’t interested in helping by giving away advice, I wouldn’t do it. But I guess I don’t see a real problem with a “by the way, if you do want help, I do this for a living and go check out my stuff, maybe I can help you out.”
Cara McKenna / Meg Maguire said on 04.23.10 at 02:59 AM • [link]
I say yes, send that e-mail! Definitely consider sugar-coating it a bit, maybe open with, “Let me say first, I love your writing! Your last book was really […] so just let me know if you ever need that kidney! However, I was surprised to notice on your site…”
As a designer I have a ton of pet peeves about sites—and not because I demand that they’re flashy and swank. On the contrary, I click the close-tab button instantly if I go to a site and it opens by informing me it’s loading a Flash animation. Or worse, demands I download a specific media player. And yes, auto-playing music or video is a big no-no.
Another pet peeve I have is more petty…author sites with too much silly clutter. Too many cheesy review or award icons, three review quotes for every title, too many fonts (please, step away from the Papyrus and Comic Sans), too many colors or extraneous menu items, or menu items labeled confusingly (like is your bookshelf your backlist, or the books you’re reading?) and just about any animated .gif. Clean, people, clean! That said, HTML folks, please refrain from examining my code under the harsh light of Firebug. It ain’t pretty behind the curtain… Those torsos are only there to distract you from my woeful CSS.
Cara Ellison said on 04.23.10 at 04:39 AM • [link]
I would want to know. Definitely. Speak up!
Cassie said on 04.23.10 at 05:04 AM • [link]
Am I the only one who doesn’t mind reading a book halfway through a series? It doesn’t bother me to see previous heroes and heroines in their HEA, I would have known as soon as I picked up their book and read the back blurb that they were going to end up together. It just makes me more interested to read their story.
Diana Peterfreund said on 04.23.10 at 05:15 AM • [link]
Robinjn, it doesn’t bother me when people offer services. If I’m interested or I know them, I respond. If I’m not interested or it’s unsolicited, I know where the delete button is on my email program. :-)
And it certainly wouldn’t bother me if someone HAD done freelance editing work for me and told someone that I was a client (barring some formerly agreed upon non-disclosure situation). The reason the situation I described bothered me was because, well, that wasn’t what happened. You can email me about a typo you find—doesn’t make you my editor.
I know that most people who would email you about a typo on your site are probably like the OP or the above commenters. All they want to say is, “dude, your name’s spelled wrong in the header.” For instance, I got an email the other day from someone telling me the comment function on my blog was broken. I appreciate those kind of heads up. I just worry more about that one unbalanced person who would scroll through every page of my 6 year old blog, marking down typos. If I say on my home page that my book is out in 2009 instead of 2010, please, tell me! But I’m really not going to go to a 2006 blog post and change “hte” to “the.”
cories said on 04.23.10 at 05:43 AM • [link]
Although I have seen typos and other annoyances at author sites, I’ve never emailed anyone about it. If the typo is made on a blog, then it’s not a big deal. Broken links are annoying though as are links that land in the wrong place. I’ve learned that sometimes if an author’s site is old (not updated in the last 6 months or does not mention the most recent release even under “Coming Soon” or equivalent), I should check to see if that author has a Facebook page because usually that is kept up better. Of course, I don’t do this for new-to-me authors, just the old favs.
I have emailed authors before and am always pleasantly surprised when I do receive a reply.
Stacia K said on 04.23.10 at 06:40 AM • [link]
Personally, I’d want to be emailed about a typo on my site, but not my blog. I try to make my blog posts typo-free, but occasionally one does slip through. If I catch it I’ll absolutely fix it, but I’m generally writing blog posts pretty quickly and don’t always have time to go back. And at the risk of sounding lazy, it’s a blog post. Typos happen sometimes, you know?
But elsewhere on the site, in the static, informative content? Yes, please tell me!
And please tell me if there’s info you want on the site that isn’t there, because that’s important. The purpose of the site is to provide whatever info a reader might want. IMO it’s part of my job to provide that information (within reason; I’m not going to share certain personal info, which I’m sure is understandable). So I would definitely want to hear about that.
Ulrike said on 04.23.10 at 07:02 AM • [link]
I’ve totally given up on author websites. If I want to know what order books belong in chronologically or when the next book is due out, I check Wikipedia first. Rarely am I let down. It’s almost always more up-to-date than the author’s site, and the information I want is usually easier to find. In fact, when a librarian complained that she was having difficulty finding information about a book my daughter requested (a book from a large series, most of which the library already owned), I told her about Wikipedia, and she found the info she needed within seconds.
Authors’ blogs tend to be a much better source for info than their websites. I follow several of my favorite authors’ blogs, even though I rarely visit their sites. They are usually updated whenever there is something worth mentioning (“New book went to editor today,” “New book due out next fall,” “Old book released in audio format last week,” etc.). PLUS, most blogs allow comments, which the writer actually responds to from time to time.
Lisa richards said on 04.23.10 at 07:14 AM • [link]
I think a kind mention in an email is okay. Like you I hate going to an author’s website and not seeing a listing of their books and some info on the author. This should be a must.
I also have seen authors names misspelled on bloggers pages. I generally send them a short note mentioning it as it pisses me off to read a review or book blurb and then go to Amazon to check on it and discover after much wasted time that the spelling was incorrect. If you are going to review a book, you need to double check the title and the spelling of the name, otherwise it makes you look sloppy or uncaring.
Sharon said on 04.23.10 at 08:35 AM • [link]
The advantage of web-based material is that it usually CAN be changed with a minimum of time or cost. So I think sending a quick email to an author to alert her/him to errors is a good idea.
I just read J. D. Robb’s “Fantasy in Death” and found four errors (spelling/usage type). This from a well-respected publishing house, and an author who certainly knows when to use proceed versus precede. However, this book will not be revised and re-issued for some time, and so sending an email regarding those errors is probably redundant - either the mistakes will be picked up for the paperback edition, or my suggestions would be too late anyway. (btw, errors did not slow down my devouring of the book, which was highly enjoyable).
Bottom line - many people here have said it - online, people have a short attention span and itchy mouse finger. The more engaging, useful, and error-free your site is, the more likely people are to stay a while. I may roll my eyes and mutter about ‘pedants’ when people send me corrections or ‘suggestions’ for my site, but I usually pay attention, and fix what I can as soon as possible.
HS said on 04.23.10 at 09:13 AM • [link]
For an author (who’s trade IS words) it is unacceptable to have typos or misspellings… Likewise, as a web designer, my website should NEVER be ugly or hard to navigate!! I think a well-written “heads-up” email is appropriate.
Funny story - a fellow designer friend of mine once wrote to a company telling them that their website was terrible (He really didn’t have much internet couth). I was appalled that he sent the email; however, he had the last laugh when the company hired him to redesign the site for them!
Cat Marsters said on 04.23.10 at 12:44 PM • [link]
I say feedback is a good thing. If you’re doing your own website, and a lot of authors (myself included) do, then it’s hard to know what’s good and what’s bad about it. It’s easy to get carried away with making your site look pretty at the expense of making it useable; the reverse is also (but less often) true. Yeah, the font might be easy to read and the background plain, but it’s ugly!
I wholly agree about music on a site. You’re selling books, not albums (and actually I don’t really like auto-music even on a band website). It’s one of the things that turned me off MySpace (yeah, there was supposed to be a feature that stopped the autoplay, but it never worked for me). I don’t want to listen to someone else’s choice of music, and quite often I’m using my computer in a room with other people who really don’t want to be bothered. Or it’s late and that crappy music will wake people up. Or I’m listening to my own music. So many reasons!
I’m amazed at the stories of author sites that don’t have book info. What on earth is the point of that? Your website exists to sell your books, and that’s it. Information about yourself sells books. Links to bookstores sell books. Series info sells books. If a reader can’t easily find basic info and a buy link, then you’ve failed.
Doreen said on 04.23.10 at 01:23 PM • [link]
The original blog post that began this discussion has rotten spelled as rotton. If someone else noticed it and said something up-thread, my apologies.
Just sayin’. A post about being angry about misspellings should, itself, be free of them.
Kimberly Nee said on 04.23.10 at 02:41 PM • [link]
Nothing makes me hit the back button faster than when music comes blaring out at me. Or if I have to wait for something to load. And wait. And wait.
I can overlook ugly since it might just not be my taste - but if I have to hunt for information or fight with trying to get to the mute button quick enough, it just isn’t worth the hassle.
Suzanne said on 04.23.10 at 03:17 PM • [link]
By all means tell her, but in a nice way. The sooner that kind of thing is fixed, the better. If things are really that bad, my advice would be to vet it before posting. Have the person doing the text e-mail it for review.
Diana Peterfreund said on 04.23.10 at 03:36 PM • [link]
Ulrike, thanks to your comment, I just discovered that I HAVE a page on Wikipedia. Go figure. The information on it is up-to-date, I suppose, but it doesn’t include anything about my 2010 release (I have 5) and lists at least two of my release dates wrong. It also has no information about what order you should read the books in. In this case, you’d be much better served on my website. I wonder how one goes about getting this incorrect info on Wikipedia changed?
I think a lot of problems with author websites are a factor of authors being beholden to web designers who create static, hard-to-update pages and then charge exorbitant fees for the most simple changes—or make every change ten times harder than it needs to be. I was able to do a lot more with my site once I switched to a Wordpress platform where I could do most of the simple changes myself. Before, getting a review quote or a cover up usually took about a week and a dozen emails back and forth with my web designer (“no, you should LINK to the Amazon page.” “Link to the Amazon page of the BOOK, not just amazon.com.” “Yes, the title should be a hyperlink going to the Amazon page.” “Just like *all the other book listings on the page*, see how they all look?” “Do you want me to code it for you?”)
My website’s not perfect (and even with Wordpress, I don’t update as often as I should) but I can put up info on a new book in a few seconds and I can make it look exactly how I want.
Monique said on 04.23.10 at 03:45 PM • [link]
I’ve actually done this before. Well, kind of. I was at an author’s website and when I clicked on a link, it took me nowhere. As it was info on a book I was very interested in, I was quite disappointed. So, I double checked, looked at the code (since I know HTML) and did my best to make sure *I* wasn’t the one making the mistake. When it was clear it wasn’t me, I sent a short note to the author explaining the situation, made it a question. “Did you know?” I must say it was quite well received and I was glad to have helped.
robinjn said on 04.23.10 at 03:50 PM • [link]
Oh yeah. As a website designer I know full well that there are people out there just flat fleecing clients. They provide substandard design and milk clients for everything they need. It’s really important to see a portfolio of work, and a good designer should also be willing to provide you with references. And get the terms nailed down on updates right up front! Again, a good designer will do this. OTOH, sometimes clients make us designers crazy with constant large changes that they *think* are tiny because they don’t understand coding. Then they get mad at the fee. I happen to be a bit different in that I charge by the hour, broken down in 15 minute increments, because I think that’s the most fair way for me and the client.
These days I code my pages in CSS. This produces a page which is very easy to edit, in fact most pages can be updated in Notepad with very, very rudimentary understanding of html (H1 tags, blockquotes, etc.). And here’s the cool part. There are a LOT of free CSS templates out there that you can take and modify (or just use as-is with text changes) for your site. My favorite free CSS site on the web is freeCSS.com (http://www.free-css.com/free-css-templates/page1.php) Tons of free sites. Some of the code is better than others, but it’s a great place to start.
Jody W. said on 04.23.10 at 04:02 PM • [link]
As an author, I would want to know. I would hope the reader wasn’t snide in the telling.
As a reader, I wouldn’t bug authors about their bugs unless they were a friend or someone who’d asked me to look over their site.
Me = hypocrite.
Ellielu said on 04.23.10 at 04:34 PM • [link]
I am in a writing profession, and when my team reviews resumes, and we automatically discount any resumes with obvious spelling or grammar errors. We all make mistakes, but a professional writer of any sort should always take the extra effort to get their work edited, if possible—anything less is bad advertising and disrespectful to their audience. (That said, when I’m off the clock, I’m a lot less uptight about it. ;-)
Ellielu said on 04.23.10 at 04:40 PM • [link]
Good thing I’m not uptight when I’m off the clock because as my previous post had several errors….
JoAnn Chartier said on 04.23.10 at 04:40 PM • [link]
Wow, the stuff you learn here! Yes, tell the author, politely, abut misspellings, broken links, etc.
I do my web page myself with a very inexpensive DYI deal, and it features paintings, not books, but I have wondered about including links to buy my books. I tried putting in the publisher-provided link but it is about a thousand characters long, designed for typos, I guess. After reading the advice from the Bitchery, I am going to tackle that linking thing again. Thanks.
Theresa said on 04.23.10 at 05:16 PM • [link]
Ok, A friend just shared this with me, and it’s about proofreading, so it’s somewhat relevant. And hilarious!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OonDPGwAyfQ&feature=related
I’ve emailed an author once or twice, most recently about an important link that was broken. He thanked me, and corrected the link almost immediately. But I think I would only do this for authors who I’ve been reading and following online (e.g., via their blog).
Miri said on 04.23.10 at 05:20 PM • [link]
Form over function is a big website peeve of mine. Lots of flashy, poofy, frilly crap on a website drives me nuts. Auto play of music vids or anything really, and I’ll think twice about going back. There are a couple of author websites that I seriously cannot take design wise and as a result I don’t take them very seriously as professionals.
But, that’s just my personal taste. I’d never send them an e-mail and tell them their site makes me want to throw my laptop across the room. Beauty is very subjective and that’s one thing.
Absence of information or if the site is difficult to navigate or if the site is never updated (my biggest peeve!). Well, that’s just a failure to tend to your business.
An author’s website must contain at minimum a bibliography. After that, I guess it’s up to the author what kind of info she/he wants to put out into the universe.
And yeah, if you see a bunch of typos on a site or you’d like additional info about their work, you should drop them a friendly note drawing their attention to it.
Daisy said on 04.23.10 at 05:44 PM • [link]
I have several author sites that I visit quite regularly mostly because of the message boards on them. Small typo’s, while annoying are forgivable. Yes, make every effort to spell things correctly when you put them up, but I would rather a favorite author of mine spend more time writing/editing a book I am anxiously waiting for then to spend time tracking down every misspelled “the” on their site.
Glaring errors in the misspelling of the author’s name, a character’s name, or such on a banner or scrolling marquee, a broken link, no book list or series order - fix that immediately!
I do and have contacted authors about errors on their websites, or suggestions to make navigating the site easier and each time have been graciously received, and several times the suggested change has been made. I think it has to do with the importance of the error. General typo’s in blog content and such, well it happens - as reader’s we live with in; in print books, newspapers, magazines and now on websites, it is not necessarilary an indication of the author’s abilities in my opinion.
Major malfunctions in your book or on your website need to be corrected, and an author should be receptive to a reader who politely points out the issue.
meganb said on 04.23.10 at 07:13 PM • [link]
This is gonna be long:
Point the first: I do not need an intro page! Nor do I want one. I can mute your stupid music, but I have to click through your stupid intro page.
Point the second: Such a relief to find I am not the only one out there who hates reading out of series order, and who will write-off an author I’m considering reading because she doesn’t give series info for what is clearly a series. And no, I don’t want to read the last one first.
Point the third: As much book info on as possible on a single page, please. Summary, series info, publishing date (even if it was years ago), ISBN, etc.
Point the fourth: Pretty & Useless vs. Functional but Fugly? Fugly wins. Case in point, Suzanne Brockmann’s website. Yes, she uses too many fonts, yes it looks like it was designed by a 5th grader, but it has all the info I really need, and I’ve never noticed a spelling error: http://www.suzannebrockmann.com/
Point the fourth, subsection a: God, Julie Garwood’s website has driven me batty for years!
Point the fifth: A couple of spelling errors? Not a big deal. Tons? Not acceptable.
Point the sixth: Proofreading by a third party (and not your final audience) is invaluable. I worked for a few years as a grantwriter, and I would never have asked for money with a shoddily written grant. Authors are essentially asking for money because of their writing, right?
Point the seventh: The few times I’ve e-mailed authors, I’ve been much less snarky than I am being here, and have always received a nice reply. I generally go for the “In what order should your books be read?” tack rather than suggesting they add it to the site. Why? Because I want to know now, not next year.
Point the eighth: Damn, I forgot.
Point the ninth: @ Theresa—that clip was so funny I laughed until I cried.
I make no promises that this is the end of my list of pet peeves. All the world loves a critic, after all.
JamiSings said on 04.23.10 at 07:33 PM • [link]
You know, I’ve never known an author to be mean when contacted about their website or even a mistake in their book. (A non-fiction book I read about fairies said Marilyn Monroe was the model for Tinkerbell. She was not. Instead it was another woman who was voted the best legs in Hollywood. The author was very polite when I pointed this out to her and I’m sure in future printings this was fixed.)
As long as you’re respectful, I’m sure the author won’t mind. I’ve even known a few who seem rather grateful.
Amanda from Baltimore said on 04.23.10 at 07:38 PM • [link]
@Darlene
Did my original post come off as angry? I didn’t mean it to.
I know some authors read this site and thought they could let me know if they would mind getting a Polite Letter mentioning the errors (and the site is chock-a-block full of mis-spelled words, also things lik ethis, where the problem is obvious just a typing error).
The author I am talking about isn’t a romance writer, she writes Western and South-Western fiction. I’m going to send her a short note saying how much I like her work, and that I wanted to mention that the website could use a proofread.
Castiron said on 04.23.10 at 07:46 PM • [link]
Sharon—Go ahead and email the publisher or the author about the typos anyway. Even if they don’t get the information in time for the first paperback edition, there’s always the chance to fix it on reprint. (And trust me, even on books where the proofreader and author have gone over the whole thing carefully, there’s always some typo that they miss and that a reader spots right away, so it’s helpful for the reader to let them know!)
General to the topic: I am grateful to get emails telling me about a typo on our website, or about something that doesn’t work properly. It gives me the chance to fix it—and it means that someone was actually looking at our site!
Tikaanidog said on 04.23.10 at 08:01 PM • [link]
Me, I’d send the email to them - I found myself editing my latest facebook entry because I noticed a typo! Major errors on an author site? Major fail…..
That proofreading video is HILARIOUS! I might just have to send the link to my communications teacher - we’re currently going over the importance of proofreading in our class.
@Diana Peterfreund: ANYone can edit Wikipedia, even you :). Just click the “edit this page” tab at the top of your entry, and change away! (This is why so many instructors & teachers don’t consider wikipedia a valid source for reference papers - too many fingers in the pie!)
show57 - show the 57 errors to the page author!
Marie Brennan said on 04.23.10 at 08:23 PM • [link]
Diana—that’s absurd, that it should take so much back-and-forth to get a simple link added. I can see paying a web designer to update a site’s architecture (CSS or Javascript or a database or whatever; I’ve just hired someone for that myself), but it makes my teeth hurt to think people out there are getting fleeced for basic HTML work.
annabel said on 04.23.10 at 08:26 PM • [link]
You can change it yourself.
Wikipedia is entirely user-written and anyone can add, delete, or alter anything in any article at any time (with the exception of a very few frequently-vandalised pages, which are locked).
At the top of each entry is a tab called “edit this page”.
This is a major reason why, useful as it is, Wikipedia must be referenced with extreme caution!
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:About for more about how it works.
Ulrike said on 04.23.10 at 08:31 PM • [link]
Diana Peterfreund, the good news is, your official site is linked at the bottom of the page, so if I were looking for info about your books, I might click that. I admit, though, that I’ve had such bad luck with authors’ sites in the past that I might not bother.
As Tikaanidog said, anyone can edit a Wiki entry, but if you are editing an article about yourself, you need to take extra caution to remain neutral in your tone and presentation of facts.
Karen said on 04.23.10 at 10:34 PM • [link]
In reference to the usability of Nora Roberts website by blind users… Sorry, but my blind co-worker just checked the site and it was totally unusable. She was unable to pull up any of the drop-down lists that appear when a sighted user mouses over the headings. So she can’t access much of the data. It was one of her favorite sites as Nora is a favorite author, but it will be dropped as a site (Nora will remain a favorite author though
).
As a librarian, I was sorry to see the disappearance of the lovely Trilogies and Series page, which was printable. It was replaced with a book cover list which indicates that La Nora has written all of 10 series. The complete book list indicates if a book is part of series, but the titles are in publication order. Only the J.D. Robb titles indicate which number the book is in the series.
DC said on 04.23.10 at 10:55 PM • [link]
I personally hate when people point out in an email when I make a spelling error. I have even had on incredibly rude person correct my spelling on an email that I sent to multiple people and then replied to all just to shame me for my spelling errors. The problem is that I am dyslexic and despite the fact that I have multiple advanced degrees I have the spelling of a fourth of fifth grader. I must remind people that spell and grammar check is far from infallible. With 10% of the general population who have learning difference do you really want to take that risk of coming across as a complete ass. My strongly urge people to just to let it go when they come across spelling and grammar errors, since the English langue does not all make complete since. I don’t openly mock people when they don’t know facts about geography. Just let it go it go.
Annie said on 04.23.10 at 11:38 PM • [link]
If the problem is major (name, book titles, multiple typos, etc.), I’d send an email about it. If it’s a minor typo? I’d let it go unless you’re sending other feedback. Much as I’d prefer to be contacted about any mistakes on sites I create, most people aren’t that obsessive about it. *g*
Oh, horrifically bad author sites, how much do we dislike thee? Bad author sites are one of my pet peeves, because it’s so easy to have even just a basic site that will make readers happy and provide them with lots of information so they can buy your books. I have a flier I hand out at writers’ conferences that contains many of the comments folks have made here, but it’s like pulling teeth some days to get authors to take that advice!
Cat Marsters said on 04.24.10 at 12:26 AM • [link]
Intro pages. Do you mean the singing, dancing kind, the loading page, or the kind that says This site contains explicit info so you might wanna get your kids away from the screen? I write erotic under one pen name and non-erotic under the other, so I find it pertinent to mention the fact before the homepage.
The Julie Garwood one had a typo on the loading page.
Suze said on 04.24.10 at 03:30 AM • [link]
Auto-play sounds = “Hey BOSS! Here I am pretending to work, but I’m just dicking about on the internet NOT WORKING AT ALL!”
Or “Sorry to interrupt your nap over there, roomie! Please pay no attention to the tweeting birds and fucking noises!” Seriously, who puts autoplay porn on a website? Not a site I’d visit at work, but I don’t really want my roomie to know I’ve been there, either :(
Also, the mouse turning into little bats or butterflies? Ick.
Typos and mis’use of a’postrophe’s I can tolerate in blogs when I’m not hormonal, but wrong information, broken links, and big stuff? Send in the polite “Psst, your fly is down” e-mail. Any rational person would appreciate it.
meganb said on 04.24.10 at 04:04 AM • [link]
@ Cat Marsters—I mean pages that load some kind of animation that has no information. I’m all about the info, man (in spite of the art degree).
On your site (which I’ve been to—and hey, nice erotica, I love it), I wouldn’t consider the intro page that directed readers to your different genres a nuisance, because it actually has info.
On the other hand, Julie Garwood’s site has info, but it’s so weak and clearly secondary to the bells and whistles animation that I can’t stand it. It’s a shame because she has so much good work.
DS said on 04.24.10 at 04:47 AM • [link]
If I visit a site with noscript enabled and the first page won’t load then I am not going any further. Too many potential risks out there on the wild and woolly web.
I think I know who the “serial killer” is because I remember complaining about it as well. She had some worse anachronisms and I’ve stopped reading her.
Karen H said on 04.24.10 at 04:31 PM • [link]
I have sent emails to numerous authors about typos in their books and their websites. They have all been very appreciative and gracious. Eloisa James (love, love, love her books!) even puts up a Mea Culpa for some of her books and gives credit to readers who point things out. My favorite, though, was Lynsay Sands. One of her Argeneau books (another BIG favorite series) had a hero named Victor with a nephew named Vincent (who has his own book). I just had to write her when she mistakenly used Vincent’s name when referring to Victor because we do the same thing in my family all the time. One of my brothers-in-law, Victor, named his first son Vincent because he was always getting called Vincent when he was growing up. And now that Vincent’s grown, we’re all always saying Vic/tor when we mean Vince/nt and vice versa. She wrote back a very nice letter, too.
Generally, if you’re nice to people, they’ll be nice back to you.
Sandy said on 04.24.10 at 07:07 PM • [link]
Please, please tell her!! (Running off to check my own… lol)
Kaetrin said on 04.26.10 at 03:11 AM • [link]
@ Randi - I skimmed through all of the replies so I don ‘t know if this has been mentioned earlier. You were after authors who have a secret stash and will sell to you with signature - I recently bought a copy of The Lion’s Daughter by Loretta Chase from the lady herself. She has a stash of OOP books of hers that she sells for the MMP price plus postage. Mine arrived promptly, in pristine condition and I haz a signature too!
EmmyS said on 04.27.10 at 09:55 AM • [link]
I have to be honest, I didn’t have time to read through all of the wonderfully detailed comments, so someone might have mentioned this already. But I got a little giggle out of the fact that there’s a spelling error in the original post complaining about spelling errors:
And I would definitely want someone to point out any errors on my site - yes, I run everything through spell-check, but it can’t catch everything - your vs. you’re, its vs. it’s, etc. are all allowed because they’re correct spellings, even if they’re not the correct usage.
Oya said on 04.27.10 at 11:11 PM • [link]
EmmyS, I giggled at that as well!
I also vote for notifying people of errors, but without judgment. For example, an earlier commenter gave an example that included the term “bad errors.” Why can’t we just say “errors” or “typos’? If the author thinks they are “bad,” s/he will do something about them.
I am a terrible proofreader, so am always grateful when people point out errors as long as they don’t act as if I can’t spell, read, type, etc. They also need to recognize that English is ever-evolving and that some things we grew up thinking were ungrammatical are actually perfectly acceptable. Individual websites are not the places for your personal grammar gripes.
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