AIBU to not want to help with her book?

[CynicalMouse]

An American friend is self publishing a book. It's set in Scotland, I'm Scottish, and she asked me to look it over to check if the accents are relatively accurate. They aren't, at all. I pointed this out and gave her some tips, which she completely disregarded and laughed off as she said only Americans will read it and they won't know any different. So why bother asking me?

She's now asked me for help with proofreading but I don't feel inclined to do so as she obviously isn't that interested in my advice.

AIBU to refuse to help her?

Yanbu!

Not at all
I'd tell her why too

No! Proof reading is a paid professional service and she disregarded your input the first time!

No, don't do it. Say you can't afford to give that much time for free, and send her links to some Scottish proofreaders.

No don’t do it. We pay a fortune to have things proof read and as others say she hasn’t taken your advice previously and so she can do one!

As a Scottish editor/proofreader I'd be only too happy to charge my usual rate ...

Sounds like a big waste of your time. I'd say no and tell the truth

A close relative is proofreading a novel for a friend who has only patchy knowledge of the country and historical period she is writing about. It is rather painful and there is an awful lot of tact and time involved.

From experience just say no!

Proofreading a whole novel takes ages. It’s a big favour and one she is unreasonable to take for granted that you would do, even aside from her having ignored your advice before.

I wouldn't ask a favour like that from a friend - unless we were both writing so the favour could be returned - let alone from a friend whose advice I'd previously ignored.

I'm not sure why she's bothering with an 'accent'. Better not to try to write in an 'accent' than to get it wrong. The dialect needs to be accurate but the accent is something the reader can add for themselves.

I also feel that if she doesn’t realise what a big thing she is asking you that suggests she has never done it for anyone else.

Writing in an accent can be painful if it's done wrong. I was reading a (self published) book set in Yorkshire where the Chief Inspector was written as 'ee bah gum, lad. Get thee sen t'doctors right sharpish, like'. I stopped reading it. I'm not saying a Chief Inspector wouldn't have a Yorkshire accent. Just not one from 1970s All Creatures Great & Small.

If your friend wants to be laughed at, let her crack on with it.

Send her a list of your rates...
Bill it as Mate's Rates so she feels she is getting a deal!!
Bet you don't hear a peep out of her..

Och aye I bet it's a load of auld shite. A sort of Outlander ripoff with mountains, tartan, some rubbish about first night and red haired women all called Skye?

I wouldn't bother. She's definitely not going to take your advice and forcing yourself to read it would be akin to a hate crime.

YANBU AT ALL! It'd be a complete waste of your time if she's going to ignore your advice and she sounds like a pain in the hole. Tell her if she's going to dismiss your constructive criticism to crack on and write whatever shite she wants, 'coz that's what it'll be!

Absolutely NBU.

I had this once, an American wanting help/advice about things I know about and she clearly didn't. I went to a certain amount of trouble for her; when it was published, she'd ignored it all.

Never again.

Definitely say no as it’s a professional job and you should be paid.
Does proof reading include spelling and grammar as she would presumably need someone that proofreads for an American audience, given her view on accents.

@BridStar

Och aye I bet it's a load of auld shite. A sort of Outlander ripoff with mountains, tartan, some rubbish about first night and red haired women all called Skye?

I wouldn't bother. She's definitely not going to take your advice and forcing yourself to read it would be akin to a hate crime.

I was thinking this too!

I think by asking you to read it, she's trying to make sure at least one person reads it.

I would tell her you don't have the spare time and wish her luck.

Tell her to go and stuff herself.
TBH, those books written in "Scottish", "Irish" or "medieval" dialogue are so annoying, I refuse buying them. One "lass, ye dinne ken me" or "top o'd mornin' " makes me throw up a little in my mouth. Why can't they simply write in normal dialogue? If you write a book about ancient Rome, do you also make your characters speak Latin?

Proofreading is a skilled job, it involves painstaking attention to detail and a lot of time. As has been previously mentioned you also need tact and diplomacy in buckets to deal with the authors.
It’s usually easy to tell self published work that hasn’t used a professional “reader”

I think we may have the same friend OP!

Oh you certainly can.
I accidentally bought a self published book in a charity shop.

Frankly, I deserve a medal for managing two whole pages of the utter dross.

I'd have donated it right back to the charity shop but I didn't want to be complicit in inflicting it on another unsuspecting soul.

No is a complete sentence. It's also one that's incredibly easy to proofread

No is a complete sentence. It's also one that's incredibly easy to proofread 😂

Sorry, I'm not a proof reader. I'm a (insert your occupation here).