Not God’s little Acre

June 14, 2013

Last week, I posted a link to a review of Acre, a self-published baseball “fable.” The reviewer wrote, “I’m not going to give away the plot points, other than to say to know Acre is to love him.”

With all due respect, I guess that reviewer didn’t let things like language, punctuation, and attention to detail to get in the way of that love.

I downloaded the Kindle sample of Acre and found it just riddled with typos and sentences that just seemed to cut off in mid-

Yeah, like that. And not just once, but several times within the first few sample chapters. That’s the equivalent of trying to listen to an LP that keeps skipping (kids, ask your parents) and distracts too much for me to slog through it.

In the first chapter, the author writes that Joe DiMaggio’s “fifty-six game record (a hit in fifty-six consecutive games)…” came in 1951, as did Ted Williams’ hitting .408. Those feats actually occurred, as most baseball fans know, is 1941, as America was on the verge of entering World War Two. And Williams hit .406, not .408. Am I being too picayune, or do such things really matter? I think if you’re going to refer to real events, you should get them right. (See below for my mea culpa.)

Before self-publishing became so wide-spread, it was viewed upon as the ugly stepchild. Not to generalize too much, but the general consensus was that taking such a step was the last chance for writers whose work was considered not good enough for established houses. But with the way things have changed in the industry over the past few years, even established authors have taken to that route. TV critic Alan Sepinwall self-published The Revolution Was Televised because he wanted more creative control; it was eventually picked up by Touchstone.

Not sure where the fault lies for the production of Acre. Is it the publisher, in this case Acorn Book Services, for not vetting the project (the author’s name is even misspelled on the copyright page — unless his name is actually “George Johnso.”)? Maybe there’s a menu of service and the author couldn’t afford or didn’t feel it necessary to go for “the proofreading package.” Ultimately, he has to take responsibility. The fact that he’s a retired teacher just makes matters worse.

I know I’m guilty of a few factual errors in 501 Baseball Books, as several alert readers have pointed out, which embarrasses the hello out of me, for all the chirping I do about the transgressions of others. And as much as you look it over there are always a few typos that sneak through. But this presentation for Acre is really beyond the pale.

 

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