So, I had an author ask me to read and review their work. Nothing major there. Here’s the thing: this is the first time I’ve dealt with really inadequate editing. Incorrect verb conjugations, commas where periods should be, characters that are introduced without explanation of who they are; these are just a few of the things I’ve encountered in the first two chapters.
The advice I’m seeking is: how have any of you let an author down gently before? Obviously they worked hard, and I don’t want to be mean, but I also don’t want to keep reading something that’s this hard to understand. Thanks in advance for any and all advice!
Reading Minds 
Well, I’m going to be keeping an eye out in what others have to say about this because, unfortunately, I’ve never found a diplomatic way to do this… Sorry, it’s not that I haven’t found a way, it’s that you never know how sensitive someone is.. I had an author I had to make some suggestions to, and I was very nice on it… And I was told that I didn’t ‘understand’. So, honestly, I don’t know I there is a diplomatic way.. But, hopefully someone else has a suggestion. The only thing I can say is that we can’t make everyone happy and it’s better to be honest.
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Yeah. It’s not gonna be fun, but it needs to happen. 😕
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Well, if you don’t get any good advice, let me know what you did and how it went! (if you don’t want to do it publicly, contact me through my contact page!) I’m curious how it goes and what you went with!! Good luck! 👍👍
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Thanks!
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I’ll give a stab at this as an author, Michelle, but since I can’t speak for all authors, it’s still up to you how you proceed. I think that authors need honest feedback, or we can’t fix errors, learn, and grow. And there is nothing worse for our careers than having poorly edited books out there. I have another friend who reviews books, and I like her policy… if a book is so poorly edited that it’s unreadable, she lets the author know privately the gist of the problem(s) so that the author can take appropriate measures to improve the work, and she doesn’t post a review. She only posts reviews on books that she finishes, and those are always honest. Hope that helps. 🙂
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Thanks so much for your thoughts. I definitely am planning on a private message as delicate but honest as possible. I guess I just need to suck it up and do it. Being a grown up is hard!
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It sure is, because not everyone will appreciate your time and thoughts. But the serious writers will. 😀
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