Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Mistakes in recently published fiction books

209 replies

Danascully2 · 23/11/2025 16:52

Has anyone else noticed poor proofreading in published books recently? I'm not talking about the finer details of colon vs semi colon etc but words in the wrong order, or in one case the same sentence twice in a paragraph (I'm confident it was an error rather than some sort of artistic choice). My 8 year old could have spotted them. I understand it's tricky to proofread a whole book but I presume it is somebody's job to do just that (editor?).
Or have mistakes always slipped through occasionally and it's just chance that I've had quite a few recently?

OP posts:
HierarchyOfMugs · 23/11/2025 16:57

I noticed this with a kindle book recently. The sentences were mixed up or truncated in a few places. I wasn't sure if it was just the kindle edition - but I would have thought they'd use the same text for a modern edition (unlike older books which are scanned to create a kindle copy).

Danascully2 · 23/11/2025 17:04

Interesting, I haven't read a kindle book for ages. Mine were hard copy ones from library or passed on from a relative who buys from high street shops. So definitely not any sort of self publishing or anything.

OP posts:
EmeraldRoulette · 23/11/2025 17:08

If they were published in the last 10 years or so, then yes. As far as I'm aware, people don't really employ proofreaders anymore.

Also there will be many people in editorial roles who won't spot errors and who are under huge amounts of pressure to speed read.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

CurbsideProphet · 23/11/2025 17:08

Yes I have noticed this in a few books recently -spelling mistakes, missing words. I get all my books from the library so they are from the main publishers. It's one of my annoyances of life, like a dumbing down of society.

Fifthtimelucky · 23/11/2025 17:17

I used to spot them all the time on kindle but hadn’t gone back to reading old fashioned books.

It’s not just typos (for want of a better word) but books that clearly no one has given a sense check.

The worst one I saw recently was a book set in Scotland. I noticed three mistakes but the worst one was describing an old oak tree as having a thick canopy of leaves in the week before Christmas when there was deep snow on the ground.

Danascully2 · 23/11/2025 17:31

Ah that's a whole other area of mistakes, I was thinking more of the 'typo' sort of issue (but quite obvious ones).
On those lines I was a bit frustrated recently about a book which overall I enjoyed but which had a long section based around someone getting a sleeper train from King's Cross to Yorkshire. I might be wrong but as quite a regular train user I am fairly sure there are no sleeper trains to Yorkshire (apart from anything else it only takes a train about 2 hours from kings cross to York....).

Yes oak tree leaves in snow would be annoying although I might easily have missed that. It's always fun looking out for the inappropriately lush foliage on the bake off Christmas specials which must be filmed in the summer but I understand they can't do much about that on TV! (Sorry for the spoiler for anyone who hadn't noticed).

That makes sense that there aren't proofreaders anymore, that would explain the typo sort of errors. I don't really know anything about the publishing process.

OP posts:
Danascully2 · 23/11/2025 17:35

I can fully believe that the books are managed by someone under lots of pressure from senior managers. And we would be laughed at if we took a book back to a shop and asked for a refund for this type of reason. So I suppose there's not much in the way of consequences.

OP posts:
RudolphTheReindeer · 23/11/2025 17:35

I saw someone post on here a couple of days ago saying their work as a proofreader was drying up because people are using AI....

darksided · 23/11/2025 18:03

I work as a proofreader and editor and have longstanding contracts with several publishing houses, however it is true that a lot of houses are now using AI to edit to keep costs down, and I would assume that’s what’s happening here.

OldSchoolCasualty · 23/11/2025 19:32

I've noticed it a LOT on Kindle books, there is a button to report an error, but who knows if anyone checks it. It takes you right out of the book!
It's started happening in print books now, spelling mistakes, repeated words, mis spaced wording.
very disappointing!

MIAMNER · 23/11/2025 19:42

Author here, books published by trade publishers absolutely still go to human proof readers (who spot typos) and copy editors (who would have caught the oak leaves). Any attempt to completely replace with AI would have us authors up in arms, although obviously we all rely on MS word, spell check etc. Some mistakes are inevitable, my proof reader says we aim for 99.99 perfection. Corrections are often made to subsequent editions post publication, so it’s worth hitting that button! AMA

Cornishmumofone · 23/11/2025 19:42

I report the errors that I notice in Kindle books. They go to a customer service dashboard and are then forwarded to the author/publishing house. If a book has too many errors, it may get taken down.

Wonderbug81 · 23/11/2025 19:44

For some context as someone who has been traditionally published by a big publisher in the last 10 years, staff at publishers are incredibly stretched at every level (unless they're working on celebrity/big hitter authors). In theory books will be reviewed by both copy editors and proofreaders before publishing, but the quality varies massively.

This problem is getting worse as publishers become more and more stretched (or move to AI which at least right now isn't as robust).

DuckCootLoon · 23/11/2025 19:56

I mostly read ebooks and have also noticed far more typos /spelling errors. Things like a UK edition using American spellings/words, or just wrong word bare/bear etc. It's very distracting.

HonoriaBulstrode · 23/11/2025 21:07

I report the errors that I notice in Kindle books. They go to a customer service dashboard...

They show up on the author's/publisher's Kindle dashboard - but a mainstream publisher with a long list of books on Kindle isn't going to be checking and correcting frequently.

I self publish, and I did have a few minor typos reported in one book (very few, not more than four or five as I recall), and I did correct them. They were the sort that wouldn't show up on spellcheck because the typo made an existing word - massage for message, for example.

I find factual errors - like the oak tree in leaf in winter - even more annoying than typos or printing errors, because it shows a lack of care by the author from the start.

Another Scottish example - two characters in Scotland going for a walk before breakfast in January, with no mention of it being dark.

In another book, a character travelling north out of London from Victoria, and in the same book an RAF officer with the rank of Major.

And in yet another book, a character living in London in a street that didn't exist at the time the book was set.

Do your research, authors! It's easy enough now with the internet.

Namechange8623 · 23/11/2025 21:22

Yep, I read a lot of children's chapter books with my 9-year-old and frequently spot errors, mainly missing or repeated words, eg " was was".

We've turned it into a bit of a game where I tell her there's an error on the page and she has to spot it!

RollerSkateLikePeggy · 23/11/2025 21:29

I agree. The plot errors actually annoy me the most and I also report them on kindle. I probably do one every book!

Silverbirchleaf · 23/11/2025 21:32

I read a book fairly recently where they referred to WPCs, years after the police force stopped using this term.

fruitbrewhaha · 23/11/2025 21:32

Im in a book club and it my job to find the mistake. Sometimes a plot error. Not always but often I find one.

Silverbirchleaf · 23/11/2025 21:33

Can I be the first to mention the Waitrose in Tunbridge Wells, when there isn’t one, in Richard Osman’s ‘Thursday Murder Club’ book.

WarrenTofficier · 23/11/2025 21:35

fruitbrewhaha · 23/11/2025 21:32

Im in a book club and it my job to find the mistake. Sometimes a plot error. Not always but often I find one.

I've spotted the error in this post, I assume it's deliberate to test us😉.

HonoriaBulstrode · 23/11/2025 21:51

Can I be the first to mention the Waitrose in Tunbridge Wells, when there isn’t one

That is so easy to check .... though I suppose one would argue that T Wells is the sort of place that ought to have a Waitrose.

Customerisnotking · 23/11/2025 21:53

I’ve previously worked as an editor, so I’m attuned to spotting errors, but I think the number of mistakes seems to be increasing. I read a Sarah Morgan book a couple of years ago that seemed as if it were a first draft that no one had edited; it was littered with typos and continuity errors. I was so put off I’ve never read another of hers since (and I do enjoy a cheesy romance).

I found a rather glaring error in a Pinch of Nom recipe book for chicken curry that failed to instruct readers to return the chicken to the pan. I wrote to the publishers, who gave a reply equivalent to the sigh an overworked waitress in a greasy spoon would give if a customer complained that they don’t offer a healthy option.

I despair of companies who are outsourcing to AI to the detriment of their customers. I also worry for future generations who aren’t learning the basics and who are becoming dependent on unreliable technology. (My colleague can’t even write a simple letter without ChatGPT.) I think it’s really worrying. I’ve definitely come across AI hallucinations (while looking for a holiday). l’ve also managed to challenge ChatGPT so much that a reply was simply one letter and nothing else!

It’s many years since I worked in publishing (a small company with in-house proof-reading); it would be interesting to have a current insider’s view.

EmpressaurusKitty · 23/11/2025 21:59

HonoriaBulstrode · 23/11/2025 21:51

Can I be the first to mention the Waitrose in Tunbridge Wells, when there isn’t one

That is so easy to check .... though I suppose one would argue that T Wells is the sort of place that ought to have a Waitrose.

That reminds me - one of the Thursday Murder Club books mentions the growing number of Lidl home delivery vans at Coopers Chase.

WarrenTofficier · 23/11/2025 22:01

I was amazed at the glaring continuity error in the Strike novels. I would have assumed that if anyone would have the financial/publishing clout to have everything triple checked it would be JKR.

Swipe left for the next trending thread