Maybe as an author you're asking yourself that question and let me give you some answers:
1. People pay money for your book.
2. You spent a lot of time writing that book.
3. People pay money for your book.
4. You think your book is worth it to be put out there.
5. People pay money for your book.
6. You want people to like your book.
7. People pay money for your book.
8. You want people to buy your new books.
9 People pay money for your book.
10. It takes you a lot of time to promote your book.
11. PEOPLE PAY MONEY FOR YOUR BOOK!
So you realized which sentence I repeated? Yeah, I think I made that clear.
Seriously, people pay money they worked hard for to read what you think is worth being out there and they will leave a review or just rate your book on whatever page. They will tell their friends about your book if it affected them in some way. And I even tell my friends to warn them not to pick up a certain book if it's full of errors.
There aren't many things that make me as mad as a poorly edited book. We all work hard for our money, we read in our limited free time and we don't want to waste that time on a book that disappoints us.
If you as an author think your book is good enough to be out there, that's great. Awesome, really. Because you've created something that might affect a lot of people and maybe even make them fall in love with reading. So doesn't your book deserve the best it can get? You spend money on a cover. You spend money on swag you give away to make people happy. You might go to signings. You do all sorts of things. But what happens when they open a book that isn't properly edited? Some might say, "Oh, whatever, it was still good." They might not mention it in reviews. But a lot of people do. And you can guess what happens to the rating and the reviews when more and more people comment on that.
I get so mad when I realize that a book has all kinds of errors in it. I mean, I paid money to read your book and hundreds or even thousands of other people did. IT IS NOT FAIR!
What would you say if you go to the grocery store and buy rice and find noodles in the carton? Would that make you mad? You bought that rice for a reason, huh? You wanted that rice. You planned a whole dish with that rice. Weird comparison? Maybe. But it's also kinda fitting. You were looking forward to something and it turned out to be something totally different.
Give your book and yourself what it/you deserve/s. Make your book the best it can get and even if it takes you two months more because editing is expensive, but it's also a lot of work for us editors and we do the best we can for your book. Invest the time to make the best of your book because that will last a lot longer than a bad book ever will.
