Sometimes my mind goes faster than my fingers can type as I write. Typos ensue. Mostly I catch them in early drafts but sometimes I introduce new ones during revisions. Even with beta readers and professional editors/proofreaders, some slip by and make it into the published version of the book.
I was on a deadline for Fire, so some of the editing and proofreading were done simultaneously. That yielded some interesting data:
As a data guy, this shocked me. With four sets of editorial eyes on the manuscript, how did so many errors make it through? I have a few thoughts:
- As editors read, they grow fatigued by errors. I hear them thinking, “How many mistakes can this idiot make?” The earlier part of the book was cleaner. The deeper we got into the book, the more tolerant the proofreaders became.
- The proofreaders became enthralled by the story, and were pulled along, forgetting their task. (This is my favorite hypothesis.)
- No one catches everything. In the future, I’ll plan better and allow for sequential reads. Proofreader 1, correct what they find, Proofreader 2, correct, Proofreader 3.
- Have Duncan Bennett do a final read through.
The upcoming novella, OrcLand, is coming along well. It’s a Will and Feral adventure. It will clear up some things deliberately left fuzzy in Fire. We’re hoping to have it out in time for ComicPalooza 2023 in Houston. That’s Memorial Day Weekend for those wanting to come by and buy books or have yours signed. The backdrop for the booth arrived and looks great.
I’m also considering other items to sell at the booth. T-shirts come to mind. Any suggestions?
The backdrop for ComicPalooza.
Duncan Bennett is a very good one, based on the graph. He’s an asset!
“With four sets of editorial eyes on the manuscript, how did so many errors make it through?” So many errors… I think that’s really impossible if they’ve thoroughly read the manuscript. I’ve worked as a proofreader for a legal textbook publisher, so I think we’re pretty strict about typos, misspellings, etc. The process takes three readings, and the fourth one is just spot checking.
But you see, proofreaders get paid by the page or by the hour, or maybe by the book or the whole project, so they need to work faster to get more stuff done. In our case we had our quota of pages for the whole day. In proofreading, the faster you go, the more errors remain unnoticed. So, slowing a bit down helps.
Yes, I think T-shirts for fans would be great. Also baseball caps, keychains, notebooks, or any small souvenir items like bookmarks.
I wish you well!😊
Thanks for the suggestions! I thought about offering a bonus if no errors were found post-publication.
That’s why I, as an editor, do the first pass front-to-back, then the second pass back-to-front, and the third/fourth passes, I start in the middle and work outwards…to avoid that scenario and catch more typos and such! 🙂
Good advice! Thanks for reading and commenting.