I realize that I am still learning about all things writing and publishing. A lot of these things, I am learning on my own, so it is no wonder that, sometimes, “oops” moments happen. They’re not fun, nor are they easy, but they are a necessary step in the process.
No matter how much editing happens, errors can slip through. Just recently, I was made aware of a few formatting errors and a couple of errors involving quotation marks. The cause was Word being a tiny tyrant, wanting to do things its way. While I was originally aware of these two pitfalls, a few slipped through my filter.
I do not enjoy releasing a book that is not up to my own standards. Readers are free to quibble over the plot, characters, dialogue, etc., but I do not believe they should have to suffer through stupid formatting errors that might yank them out of the story.
This being the case, I will not only be more vigilant on future books, but I will also continue to comb through past works to make sure they are free of these issues. I’m not perfect, but I can always strive to be.
My one point of confusion is when a reader pointed out that The Call of Chaos was riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, and that a spell check pass would help a lot. The trick is, I’ve made at least half a dozen spelling/grammar check passes. The last two showed that there were no errors. While I know that spell/grammar check is not perfect, I’m fairly confident that the book, if it has any, holds only a couple.
I will say that e-book formatting is trickier than I realized. I’m learning a lot about it as I go.
I get irritated with myself when I find these “oops” moments, but criticism is a part of the process. If it’s fair and constructive, I absolutely welcome it. It can only help me become a better writer.