Everyone has run across indie books with errors. It reflects poorly on the author, the book and on indie books in general. Some readers may tar all indie books with the same brush after experiencing one too many of them that haven't been edited. Editing is not the same as running a spellchecker! The reasons can be seen in my review of Solutions America by John Ndege which is the subject of this blog entry. A professional editor would have been a really good investment for this book if Ndege wants to be perceived as producing a quality product.
I was initially interested in Solutions America due to the author's history and experiences. I thought he might have some unique observations. That's why I requested his book from The Bookplex. Unfortunately, I have to tell you that the process of reading Solutions America was challenging for all the wrong reasons. My review can be found below.
This book by a Ugandan author with a background in banking
in his home country represents a different perspective. I can see how John Ndege’s experiences have
led him to his outlook on America’s political and economic systems. Although I
have numerous disagreements with this author, I was interested in what he had
to say about the positive impact of Ronald Reagan’s policies on the third
world, and I thought that his observations about immigration issues were
particularly valuable and cogent. I did
think that Ndege doesn’t have a good understanding of the American political
spectrum. His idea that the extreme left
of the Democratic Party was responsible for drafting the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act will amuse left of center readers who favor the single
payer universal health care plan of Europe and Canada.
This book’s biggest flaw, however, is lack of editing. Ndege
actually states that he didn’t think the book was ready for publication. It’s very probable that he went against his
better judgment in order to air his arguments before the U.S. presidential
election this November. He should have
hired an editor and delayed the release of this book. An editor could improve the book’s coherence
and professionalism. I normally don’t
comment about editing if there are a few spelling errors here and there, but in
this case the volume of errors is egregious.
It’s particularly noticeable that all words spelled with two letter L’s
have had one L removed, leaving a space in the words. I believe there was an attempt to use a
spellchecker early in the manuscript. My
evidence is the substitution of incorrect words for correct words that are
evidently not in the spellchecker’s dictionary.
One example was the substitution of “Shiatsu” for “Shiites”. Having an incorrect first name for President
Herbert Hoover probably isn’t a result of spellchecking, but it’s nevertheless
an important error. There are also missing words and grammatical errors. At some points in this book, I had to pause
for a moment to make sure I understood Ndege’s original intention. Clarity is so important. Readers should not have to struggle to grasp an
author’s meaning. I also think that the
outline structure further contributes to the impression that this book is a
rough draft that isn’t really finished.
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