Just a quick post after the monster that was Typesetting 101, but I wanted to capture this feeling while it’s fresh. I was skimming my print-submitted text to find a page to screen grab for that post, and I noticed a typo. And I freaked. Now, I know that this print run is small (110 copies) and that I can resubmit the files for the next run at a small charge but, man, did I feel bad. I felt bad because all of the people who have bought the book now have a “defective” copy, and they are the people who are supporting me now when I need it most. I felt bad because I pride myself on my attention to detail. I felt bad because my proofreaders (Mark and Julie) also pride themselves on the quality of their work, and I know they’d feel like they let me down.
Basically, I was freaking out and very pissed at myself.
Turns out it wasn’t a typo, and I’ve just been staring at this screen for so long I was seeing things. In my defence, the word “eighth” does look damned freakish if you stare at it long enough (never mind that my spellchecker would have caught it – thinking that was just adding to my sense of failure).
So, now that my heart has stopped hammering, I can reflect on the situation. I know there’s going to be at least one typo in the printed book. There has to be. I’ve seen them in traditionally published books, so I know that even professional teams of proofreaders miss things. The point of this post, and the question I want to ask is, at what point do you say “I’ve done everything I can to ensure I’m shipping a tested, quality product?” How much proofing is too much?
At what point can you let go?
Tags: Printing, Proofreading, Spellchecking, Typos
It’s much more difficult for the creator of a work than it is for the reader. I have an artist friend who just won’t leave stuff alone – to the point where the action of ‘fixing it’ runs the risk of ruining a work. Not the same with proofing though – as a misspelt word is wrong no matter how you look at it – the tricky bit is with revising a work.
With proofing – you do your best, throw it at lots of people, do passes for sense, passes for grammer etc. – and yes, something may still slip through. If you have the opportunity between print runs to fix it, then great (there are authors who don’t even bother with that).
But if you want to actually rewrite something (or repaint, or re-edit), then beware losing the raw edge of your first instinct. By all means polish, but don’t risk removing the patina – think George Lucas and just say no.
Mark
That of course should have read ‘grammar’
M
I guess the cutoff point has to be a business decision; set a deadline for delivery to print, and do everything you can to ensure top quality before then. I guess I could rely on reader feedback to spot typos, an then fix it before the second printing, but that introduces the concept of beta books, which is somewhere I don’t want to go…
The word that gets me is “which”. I spent about four hours one day at work absolutely convinced that “which” is just a mismatched jumble of letters masquerading as a common word.
As for typos in a book… I’m going crazy reading the latest book in a fantasy series I’ve been reading: The Gathering Storm, part of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, now Brandon Sanderson. There seems to be a typo every 10 pages or so. It is driving me nuts.
I’m surprised “which” hasn’t been Americanised to “wich”
You’ve highlighted the problem though; if you see a typo (even one) in a “published” book, you feel like the quality is lacking in some way, so I should be aiming for the same high standard you expect from a mainstream book.