I’m not lying to you: I used to be a merciless reader. A single typo could be enough to distract me from the story, and a grammar error would make me cringe. After all, we have always been taught not to judge a book by its cover but to be unforgiving of its grammar.
Independently published works? I would absolutely turn my nose up to all of them. I wasn’t willing to take any chances and only picked the absolute perfect and the best.
Until someone I care deeply about gave birth to her beloved brainchild. It was profoundly meaningful to her to see her book published, a project she had poured many years of her life into.
I’m not going into too many details not to bore you, but I’ll say it was also an act of bravery. Writing in a non-native language, she saved money for over a year to hire editors – only to be duped by some freelancers who ran her text through an AI-powered writing software without reading a single word.
Despite feeling insecure about the language, she decided to publish independently. The other option was to hold back the story indefinitely until she set aside enough money to hire a professional editor and risk never sharing it. However, she was confident that the story was good and let it go out to the world, imperfections and all.
I’m glad she did. Sure enough, the book is raw and contains many idiosyncrasies and some mistakes; that is, her linguistic fingerprint is non-standard English, so to speak. Of course, professional editing would have been a plus for the book. She’s been taking her fair share of harsh criticism, though. Still, for me, the story is worth every bump and rising above them became easier with the turn of the pages.
Should We Judge a Book by Its Flaws? The Beauty of Imperfect Indie Reads
It’s true that we readers have to ‘work harder’ not to be put off by errors, but sometimes the raw, unpolished voice of an indie author is an inherent part of the charm and authenticity of their work.
For centuries, good writing equalled polished writing, but is it really so? The world of fiction – like everything else in modern times – is evolving at light speed, so, maybe, it’s time to reevaluate what ‘good’ means: whether polished writing is enough or essential and, most importantly, what we might be missing when we dismiss a book for its imperfections.
For centuries, good writing equalled polished writing, but is it really so? The world of fiction – like everything else in modern times – is evolving at light speed, so, maybe, it’s time to reevaluate what ‘good’ means: whether polished writing is enough or essential and, most importantly, what we might be missing when we dismiss a book for its imperfections.
For centuries, good writing equalled polished writing, but is it really so? The world of fiction – like everything else in modern times – is evolving at light speed, so, maybe, it’s time to reevaluate what ‘good’ means: whether polished writing is enough or essential and, most importantly, what we might be missing when we dismiss a book for its imperfections.
Lessons from Literary Giants: Famous Authors with Flawed Styles
In order for evolution to happen, often rules must be broken. More than a few authors around the world have done that, and their stories resonated so deeply that we now revere them because of their quirks.
If you don’t believe me, you can take a look at William Faulkner, whose long, winding, and complex sentences, dense prose, unconventional punctuation, and shifting perspectives were considered challenging, to say the least. Or James Joyce and Irvine Welsh for their rejection of standard literary English and their prioritization of authentic voice over conventional clarity.
Let’s not forget the women writers like the wonderful Zora Neale Hurston – whose characters speak in dialects that defy grammar – and the brilliant Brazilian author Clarice Lispector, who challenged traditional narrative structures and wrote famously unconventional prose. And since we went worldwide, even Dostoevsky was criticized for having a more raw language.
You may argue that those were not mistakes as they were done deliberately and not for lack of language skills, unlike when so-called ‘unprepared’ people ‘pretend to be authors’. But let me ask you: could you tell the difference if the text came without the writer’s name?
You still don’t have to open up to independent books, but…
When you do, you become part of a bigger cultural shift. Independent publishing is growing, and traditional publishing is shrinking. The latter has been facing challenges and adjusting, not always with a corresponding improvement in quality. Although not as often as it happens with independent fiction, I have found more typos and errors in recently published books, probably due to rushed deadlines and pressure on editors and proofreaders. I have also seen an increasing number of complaints on social media regarding this issue.
Besides, not all indie works are unpolished: those independent authors who can afford it spend high amounts of money – which they may never recover in sales – to get the perfect book out. The quality of those, in terms of language correction, is par with traditional ones.
In any case, when you read an indie book, you’re not just consuming a product. Many flawless books by famous authors are so commercial-driven that they turn out hollow of meaning and emotion. Indie authors have creative freedom and can remain true to their stories. Most aren’t trying to impress – they’re trying to connect. Their narrative feels real because they write from a place within their hearts and soul, and not only from the mind.
It’s worth noting that I am not saying to celebrate errors and even less that they are what make those stories special, far from that. Some books are just under-edited or poorly executed, offsetting the value that might exist in their work.
What I propose is to give a chance to a literary space that offers distinct perspectives. Allow yourself to be uncomfortable, and you may be unexpectedly surprised.
Perfection doesn’t guarantee great fiction. Emotion and humanity do.
Post Scriptum
Before you say I invented it, the indie author I talked about at the beginning of this article is Mizz Mary, writer of The Anyones Trilogy. She first published all on her own, but now The Anyones is sheltered by the house – it’s Subliminal Tales’ first book, actually. You can find it here.
In addition, I’m leaving below some links to famous works of the avant-garde authors I mentioned: