Do you wonder how many people notice small errors? It’s one thing to misspell a word here or there, but what about a consistent misspelling? Or when you use the wrong word entirely?
I know authors and editors all comb through books several times to make sure things are error-free, but I also know sometimes things sneak in at the last moment.
Readers, I hear, mark out the wrong words and spell them correctly if it bothers them. I’m actually not one to do that. I don’t usually mark up books at all. If I read them often they begin to get soft on the bindings. (I’m a paperback sort of girl – I only get hardcovers on sale.) Still, I enjoy the story even if a typo sneaks in. When something becomes riddled with errors it becomes painful to sort out the story, which is why we proofread at all.
The weirdest thing I ran into with books I’ve purchased – I have one book that repeats about 50 pages. I don’t have 50 pages, and I have yet to call the publisher and ask after them. (Shame on me.) I don’t read it often enough to wonder what happened in the missing section, but it intrigued me that the book made it to the shelves that way.
I have been over my book 50 times, and still find small things. The old trick of reading out loud helps. I can’t imagine getting to press with fifty duplicated pages, but I better not laugh; it could still happen.
Due to time constraints, I am not as careful with my blog, but I should be. Thank goodness for readers. They often e-mail me and I am able to make corrections.
drtombibey.wordpress.com
Wow the 50 repeated pages is kind of bizarre.
I notice errors but am not one to mark up books. I’ll only do that when it’s a book that I have to read for school and the teacher requires us to annotate. Sometimes I want to get the red pen out though, if there are many errors. Working as a copy editor had a small part of causing that though.
Hehe now I’m going all MPD on you in your blog. Oops! *waves at ducksouppit*