Survey Results! (Your biggest reading pet peeves)

Thanks to all of you who responded to my survey question:
What’s your biggest reading pet peeve?

The Fussy Librarian conducted a similar survey of his subscribers and I wondered how you felt about the same questions.

I’ve tallied up your results — each and every one of them, whether you commented here on my blog, in reply to my NewsFlash, or on my Facebook page.

Without further ado…. Here are your biggest reading pet peeves:

Reading Pet Peeves

You can click on the image to view a larger version.

Interestingly, more responses were garnered for the “Other” category. Among your most common “Other” peeves were: plot too slow or boring; violence; animal abuse; characters lacking in depth; tedium; religion/politics coming into play without necessity.

When The Fussy Librarian conducted his survey, the top complaint was a plot turn that doesn’t make sense. That was also one of your top complaints, with spelling and grammar errors right up there near the top, too.

I strongly believe that typos and errors multiply in the dark like these pests, which I’m told can survive a nuclear holocaust!

Bug

Most of us who are serious about our work spend a lot of time and money weeding out those pests, but somehow they hide in the corners and crevices and pop up after we think we’ve killed them all. Our proofreaders and editors and software spellcheckers are great exterminators, but I suspect there’s an evil villain at play here, don’t you? One thing’s for sure: if someone ever manages to get rid of every last one of the little buggers, we’ll all be thrilled!

I read all of your responses and take each and every one of them to heart. Thank you for helping me to write more of what you want and less of what you don’t want.

So tell me — how did your pet peeves compare to the group results? Are your peeves among the majority? Or are your pet peeves more like, shall we say, outliers?

Meanwhile —

Caffeinate and Carry On!

Diane Capri

p.s. Are you a member of the Diane Capri’s Exclusive Reading Group mailing list? It’s FREE! Just CLICK HERE to sign up and refer your friends, too. You’ll be glad you did, I promise. Can’t wait to see you there!

 

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4 Responses to Survey Results! (Your biggest reading pet peeves)

  1. judy March 31, 2015 at 10:23 am #

    Some times the book is just to long or to short.
    Some times just to much sex
    If I can’t get into a book, I read the first couple of chapter and a couple in the middle and a couple at the end.

  2. Pat Simmons April 3, 2015 at 10:41 am #

    I have a concern, I am unable to buy your books, I tried to buy them at Barnes&Noble, and I don,t know where else to get them, I enjoy the Willa Carson series. ps I am a winter Texan, regards Pat

  3. gydancer April 8, 2015 at 8:31 pm #

    Confused about the “I always read to end” category. If that’s a pet peeve, don’t “… always read to end”….easy fix, that one. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

    My peeves fit in pretty well with the majority – grammatical errors and spelling, and explicit sex.

    About those “bugs”……I too notice that no matter how many times I proof read my work, when I come back a week or so later, there those critters are – they were not there before, I swear!

  4. Susan April 9, 2015 at 6:45 am #

    Diane,

    Somehow I missed the survey and did not reply. I’m interested in the responses of other readers, however, so thank you for sharing in this follow-up, and with a colorful pie chart no less ;-}

    It depends on the book/series which of the peeves might bother me the most, but one thing I have noticed. I am a retired librarian/teacher who also has spent many an hour proofreading student papers, and also editing the work of both professors and students as well as editing brochures and handbooks, as well as my own newsletters and press releases.

    What I have noticed is this – obviously spell check has its limits, but I also believe that a less well educated/well read crop of editors and proofreaders has entered the workforce. Sloppy errors such as the difference between peaked and piqued, may and might, people who lay around on the sofa or in the sun, etc.

    Especially for authors and publishers of series, the pressure to publish must be daunting, but that doesn’t excuse a lack of knowledge of the language in either the author or the editors and proofreaders.

    That said, I guess I’ve grown accustomed to these kinds of errors and manage to skim past them, even as I note them.

    Enjoy your work so much!!

    Regards,
    ~Susan

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