Plea from Sonya
Dear Todd,
I’m hoping you may have the influence required to fix something. Last week I downloaded a Kindle version of The Dragonriders of Pern. It’s been probably twenty years since I last read them, but I did practically memorize that first trilogy as a teen. Anne’s Dragons were my favorite fantasy place. Thus, while reading the Kindle version I’ve been angered by a sloppy editing job. Character names, place names, sentence structures, substitutions of words that don’t occur in the English or Pernese languages…it’s a copy edit that fixed nothing and created more errors than I can stomach as a devoted Pern fan.
F’lessan actually hushed Jaxom by saying, “Sushi!” That is just one example. What Masterminer Nicat’s name became was unpronounceable.
I’m just a lowly author who was inspired by Anne’s works. No matter what I say to Random House, they would never fix this. I’m hoping a word from you just might get them to have somebody actually read the books before changing words.
Thanks for listening
Sincerely,
Sonya
Dear Sonya,
Wow, I wish I had that power! Oooh, boy, would I get a bunch of stuff fixed then!
As near as I can tell, however, you’re almost wishing for a super-power.
You are not the only one who has spotted typos in eBooks. Some of my favorite books I simply cannot read in eBook format because the formatting’s sooo bad.
However, I do believe that if you and others write in to Random House and tell them — if enough people tell them — then they’ll fix it. It’s not a question of one voice, it’s a question of enough voices.
I will also add that sometimes it’s not an issue with the eBook but with the eBook reader (I mean the electronic device, not the person). In your case — with the “Sushi!” — I suspect it’s not so but sometimes it is (I know from having self-published some things myself).
In any event, I hear your pain and feel it!
I can only re-iterate that writing and complaining to the publisher is probably the best and only course of action that’ll work.
Cheers,
Todd