When I read a book and catch an error or spot something questionable in the layout, I generally overlook it—the first time. When I catch a second oops, I turn to the front matter and see who published the book.
If produced by a traditional publisher, my tendency is to overlook the errors. After all, I doubt any book is ever completely error-free. I assume I’ve found a couple of anomalies and happily return to my reading.
However, if it’s self-published, I groan and subconsciously begin looking for more mistakes. In fact, I expect to find them. Then each time I do, I moan over the lack of quality. My esteem of the book and its author diminishes a bit more each time I spot something amiss.
This is unfair. How the book was published shouldn’t skew my perception of quality. This is not how it should be, but I can’t help it. As a publisher, this might be an occupational hazard, just as I find myself mentally editing books as I read them. I can’t help that either.
Ideally, we need to judge each book on its own merits and not be influenced by who published it or how it was produced. I’m not there yet but hope to be one day.
Regardless, we need to do all we can to ensure our books are as error-free as possible and conform to the highest standards of quality. Then, how it was published won’t matter.
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Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is a full-time, career author. He’s published scores of books, hundreds of articles, and thousands of blog posts, with experience as a publisher, editor, and commercial freelance writer. A passionate wordsmith, his goal is to change the world one word at a time. Learn more at PeterLyleDeHaan.com.
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