There Is No Perfect

We have all read books and discovered those errors that made it through editing or typesetting and found their way into the final product, even books by the likes of Stephen King and James Patterson. It happens. No matter the quality of the editor, the publisher, or the writer. Mistakes happen. So, when I had a comment on one of my Facebook posts asking authors if they liked for people to message them about mistakes they may find, I was shocked when someone posted that their manuscript was perfect. I had to see it for myself. So when I clicked onto Amazon and opened up the sample chapters of two of this person’s books.

And there I found her claim was false. There were mistakes. A couple of words had missing letters that changed the word completely while in other areas there was some incorrect or missing punctuation. Mistakes. Perfection had not been attained once again.

The idea behind my post was to see who wanted to improve their work and who didn’t. The best part of being an Indie author is that we can go back and fix our screw ups. It takes nothing to upload a corrected version to an eBook distributor. Furthermore, we should want to be perfect. I want to know if there is an error in my manuscript. I don’t want to walk around with my chest puffed out and head feeling all proud, like this lady was, if there is something that needs fixing. I only look silly at that point and no one will take me serious.

If I don’t know where my mistakes are, I can’t grow as a writer. I felt bad for this lady because she missed an opportunity for growth. I want to learn. I want to stretch as a writer and, more than anything, I want to strengthen my craft.

With that in mind, I have started a new thing on my website. Under the section for Books, you will read:

Robbie wants his books to be the best quality he can make them, so if you find a mistake, whether in grammar, spelling, or even formatting, use the contact section of this site and let him know. If the mistake discovered is a legitimate error, we’ll send you one free eBook of Robbie’s of your choice. We do this in the hopes of constantly improving the final product and we appreciate your time and help accomplishing this.

So, if you read something and find that I messed up, let me know. Let me know nicely, but let me know. As long as it’s not something done for dramatic flair or to help the dialogue, you’ll be rewarded with a eBook of mine of your choice. Why are we doing this? Because we all make mistakes and I want to know what mine are. Thanks for knowing I am far from perfect and reading and enjoying my books anyway. I appreciate you, the reader.

As a side note, arrogance is never becoming on anyone. Stay humble and continue to learn, even if you already know it all.

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Until next time, keep chasing your fantasies!