ANNOYING message from Amazon.

[Susanne OLeary]

I received this query from Amazon today (quoted below), regarding my book Fresh Powder.

"During a quality assurance review of your title, we have found the following issue(s):
 
Typos have been found in your book.
Example:
*loc; 1571; "I did not ‘career’ into you." The word "career". Incorrect spelling according to customer.  Unable to confirm.
*loc; "when you careered into me". Incorrect spelling. Assume it should be "careened". Unable to confirm.
Kindly, check and fix the issue.

Please look for the same kind of errors throughout and make the necessary corrections to the title before republishing it."

My reply:

OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY:

"Career": "Quick or violent forward movement. Verb "move swiftly or violently".

"Careen" 1) "tilt or keel over to one side" 2) "swerve about".

The customer complaint is unjustified as he or she is mistaken as to the meaning of the words in question. It is made clear that British spelling is used throughout the book.

I am surprised that Amazon would pass on such a complaint.

I have recently uploaded and published a meticulously re-edited version of the book.

With thanks,
Susanne O'Leary


Are readers now editing our books? In that case, shouldn't they have some knowledge of the English language?

[EllenFisher]

There have been other posts about similar issues. I started a thread a while back because Amazon forwarded a complaint from a customer that I had ten or so instances of double hyphens instead of em dashes-- hardly something that should be a concern for anyone, IMHO. I fixed them, because it didn't harm me to do so.  In your case, since it's a correct usage of the word (they probably thought you meant "careened," which is a similar and perhaps more familiar word), I would think telling Amazon it's correct should be adequate.

I agree that it's annoying, but they seem to be forwarding all sorts of silly stuff *shrugs*. Even had it been misspelled, sending a letter like this to an author for ONE typo seems to me to be a little over the top. What book out there doesn't have at least one typo?

[Susanne OLeary]

And I'm reading a book published by a big publisher (Hodder) on my Kindle at the moment.

Formatting : awful

Typos; YES

[CraigInTwinCities]

It is made clear that British spelling is used throughout the book.

There's your first mistake. Stop writing in a foreign language! Everyone knows English is American. Write in flippin' American, ya Brit!

*hacks and spits on the ground, for emphasis that I'm portraying a redneck and not a real person*

[Susanne OLeary]

There's your first mistake. Stop writing in a foreign language! Everyone knows English is American. Write in flippin' American, ya Brit!

*hacks and spits on the ground, for emphasis that I'm portraying a redneck and not a real person*

I'm not a Brit, I am a European. The story takes place in Europe and the heroines are Irish. 

[Harry Dewulf]

I sent a complain to Amazon about a book I downloaded to my Kindle from a best-selling author that was full of typos and weird layout problems. I got a polite message back from them, and two weeks later (after I had finished reading the book), a corrected version downloaded automatically. It seem they are listening to their customers. Still, I understand your frustration.

[Susanne OLeary]

I sent a complain to Amazon about a book I downloaded to my Kindle from a best-selling author that was full of typos and weird layout problems. I got a polite message back from them, and two weeks later (after I had finished reading the book), a corrected version downloaded automatically. It seem they are listening to their customers. Still, I understand your frustration.

That's good. BUT this was NOT a mistake! I would correct any mistake, of course but how can I correct one that isn't?

[Consuelo Saah Baehr]

They sent me a similar e-mail.  For a book that's approximately 400 pages, one word was mispelled and a customer complained.  Really!

[Susanne OLeary]

They sent me a similar e-mail.  For a book that's approximately 400 pages, one word was mispelled and a customer complained.  Really!

     

[Harry Dewulf]

They sent me a similar e-mail.  For a book that's approximately 400 pages, one word was mispelled and a customer complained.  Really!

At least they're asking your opinion and not just quietly editing your work...

I probably shouldn't have said that aloud. 

[Sheila_Guthrie]

I wonder if this type of emails are the result of customers asking for refunds, which they justify asking for by saying the book was "full" of mistakes, or has formatting issues? Maybe sending the emails is some kind of automated program that Amazon has?

 

[edwardgtalbot]

I looked at it as a positive when I got one a few months back. It's not like they took the book off-sale. I responded, saying that I had used a word a certain way on purpose.  I got an email back within a day or two thanking me for responding and telling me there was no need to change it.

Honestly, I can't think of a better way to handle it.  Amazon gets customer complaint, pass it on to us, we explain it and case closed. Amazon could potentially do more research before contacting us I guess, but really, who better to explain it to them than the author?

[Susanne OLeary]

I looked at it as a positive when I got one a few months back. It's not like they took the book off-sale. I responded, saying that I had used a word a certain way on purpose.  I got an email back within a day or two thanking me for responding and telling me there was no need to change it.

Honestly, I can't think of a better way to handle it.  Amazon gets customer complaint, pass it on to us, we explain it and case closed. Amazon could potentially do more research before contacting us I guess, but really, who better to explain it to them than the author?

Call me picky but I would also expect Amazon (or whoever handles their complaints of this nature) to have good knowledge of English. Maybe they could all be issued with Oxford dictionaries? That would be too much to expect, I suppose 

[MrPLD]

You can really turn the heat up on the fun when you write in an archaic style of English - brings out some howlers, wonder how many "grammar errors" they report for the likes of Shakespeare.

[daveconifer]

I'm ashamed to say that I had no idea that "career" had that alternate (for me) definition.  I learn something new every day.  I'd have looked it up before running to Amazon with it, though, that's for sure...

[xandy3]

I agree that it's annoying, but they seem to be forwarding all sorts of silly stuff *shrugs*. Even had it been misspelled, sending a letter like this to an author for ONE typo seems to me to be a little over the top. What book out there doesn't have at least one typo?

It would make more sense if it was several complaints on the same typo, or several complaints about finding to many typos.
A bit nit-picky, if you ask me. 

You can really turn the heat up on the fun when you write in an archaic style of English - brings out some howlers, wonder how many "grammar errors" they report for the likes of Shakespeare.

  I was just thinking along the same thing. 

[edwardgtalbot]

Call me picky but I would also expect Amazon (or whoever handles their complaints of this nature) to have good knowledge of English. Maybe they could all be issued with Oxford dictionaries? That would be too much to expect, I suppose 

Well. . .look at it from Amazon's perspective.  They have hundreds of thousands of self-published books. I'm sure they get regular customer complaints. I'm sure that someone does very initial checking to make sure that the complaints in question actually exist in the book.  I imagine that said person gets some leeway to not go to authors with things that are "obviously" ok.  The alternative meaning of career wouldn't fall into the "obvious" category.  Then the question is, does Amazon take the next step and have their support people do actual research such as taking out a dictionary.

From a pure cost-benefit analysis, I'd say their approach works out the best. Because it's not going to bother most authors; most will simply reply with the answer.  Out of the small subset of authors who are bothered by it, very few will pull their books or do anything except grumble.  Out of the small subset that do more than that, very few will be books that generate enough income for Amazon to care.

Is it the "right" way to do it? Almost doesn't matter, it seems like the best combination of expense and effectiveness for Amazon.

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

It is my belief (based on no evidence other than observed behavior) that the majority of these complaints are from either other indie authors or "indie" friendly readers who think they are helping.  Indies are far more obsessive about typos than the typical reader. 

[MrPLD]

What tends to bother me a lot with this sort of customer "complaint" (and this is by no means limited to books), is the "I am right, even without needing to verify", as opposed to "Maybe I've spotted something something and have a chance to expand my knowledge" - but nah, it's faster to just assume you're right than to actually check ( I get this a lot with computers, software and electronics - "There's a compiler fault!" ... 3 hrs later and lots of hatred/arguing  "Ooh, fault in my code" ).

[MrPLD]

It is my belief (based on no evidence other than observed behavior) that the majority of these complaints are from either other indie authors or "indie" friendly readers who think they are helping.  Indies are far more obsessive about typos than the typical reader. 

Do you think that indie writers have a predisposition towards cannibalism by nature of the type of person who goes the indie route, or by nature of the community in which they collaborate, or perhaps just the market environmental factors?

[LeonardDHilleyII]

Here's an interesting explanation of using career and careen at the Word Detective: http://www.word-detective.com/2009/08/24/careen-career/

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

Do you think that indie writers have a predisposition towards cannibalism by nature of the type of person who goes the indie route, or by nature of the community in which they collaborate, or perhaps just the market environmental factors?

My opinion is that the community as a whole has internalized the "indies are bad" stereotype to a degree that causes them to fixate on proving the stereotype wrong.  I don't think it is meant to be malicious.  But I think it may be counter-productive (particularly in cases like this where the person correcting the issue didn't bother to get the facts first).  

[TimFrost]

I believe it is worthwhile to publish both American and British English editions, because what looks wrong to an American reader is often simply British usage (and vice versa). I received complaints about using the phrase 'on to' instead of 'onto'. Now onto is clearly acceptable in the US, but I can still feel my English teacher's ruler on the top of my head and hear her saying 'into one word, on to two words, Frost!'

There are dozens of other examples: eg I was admonished for using 'supersede' instead of 'supercede'. Any fule kno that supersede is from the Latin sedere (and who but a Brit would understand Any Fule Kno?)!

Another (new) advantange of dual editions: you can run separate KDP promotions in each market at times to suit you, and price one market for 70% commission, the other 35%.

[wordwrestler]

On the bright side, the reader contacted Amazon instead of pointing out your "typo" in a review. I have a review that points out a supposedly misspelled word (which isn't misspelled at all) and there's nothing I can do about it.

I wonder if Amazon writes back to the customer with the author's explanation?

[scslawin]

I haven't yet published any of my work via Kindle, so I've been trying to read as much as I can before jumping in. This thread is a revelation to me. I had no idea that readers would actually complain to Amazon about issues such as spelling or punctuation. Nor would I expect that Amazon would pass them along to writers or that Amazon would actually expect writers to modify their work because of a reader complaint.

That just seems so utterly strange to me.