Typos in books

[Kiwimommyinlondon]

Just finished Everyone is still alive by Cathy Retzenbrink. Had high hopes for it but found it abysmal. Frustrating to see a number of typos in it too eg main character is Juliet and is referred to as Julie. Makes me lose faith in the book when I see that. Bizarrely, the proofreader is acknowledged in the book too 🤔 Anyone else as picky as me?

Things like your "be" and "he" issue are sometimes down to the process of converting to ebook. I'm reading a novel at the mo where instead of "quietly" it consistently has "quiedy", to give just one example.

Having said that, some publishers do seem to care more as they do spend the time and money getting someone to check, or at least skim, for these sorts of issues.

But a beta reader doesn't mean a proofreader and it doesn't mean there was a first reader (apart from the author).

Ah, ok. But I am asked to find any SPAG & continuity errors in the manuscripts and feed back to the authors and they correct the errors I've found.

Sounds like they want you to do a copy-editor's and a proofreader's jobs for free...

Oh my goodness. I'm reading one now where the name of the horse has changed THREE TIMES I two chapters. All different names. Also 'peddle' and 'peddling' instead of 'pedal / pedalling'. It's making me squirm.

Why are kindle books so full of errors? Who do you report them to? Does anyone at Amazon give a flying fuck?

But a beta reader is the first step for an author, before copy editing and proofreading. Why are you looking for errors?

It's out of copyright so it might have been scanned to sell cheaply - that introduces weird errors.

Beta readers are supposed to look at the bigger picture of a book and say what they liked and didn't like. They are not a substitute for a trained editor or proofreader!

Yes!!! So of course you won't find everything and there will be errors left. Authors need to factor in paying for good editing and proofreading.

I work in publishing. Publishers simply don't pay for decent late-stage editors or proofreaders anymore. Even on the big titles. The general opinion is that the vast majority of the public don't care (or even notice), and those that do will do the proofreader's job and point out errors for the publisher to correct if there's another edition.

It's especially difficult if you have an author who wants their manuscript to be perfect, because there's a limit on how much time (money) we can spend making corrections. I hate disappointing authors.

Self-published titles are even worse (often almost unreadable) because no-one except the author and whoever they hired to help them has checked it, and it's impossible to proofread your own work properly.

It's really sad. I have another 20+ years of work left and am depressed by the state of the industry.

One problem is that the Big 5 publishers are notoriously cheap: some pay proofreaders as little as £16 per hour. So good proofreaders will prefer to work for better-paying clients, so perhaps less experienced proofreaders work on their books. In-house staff have also been cut, and salaries in publishing have always been terrible.

Editorial in-house staff these days have far more books to work on each year than they used to, so no wonder some things slip.

You shouldn't get names changing throughout a book, but editors are human and we sometimes make mistakes... 🤷🏼‍♀️

Self-published titles are even worse (often almost unreadable) because no-one except the author and whoever they hired to help them has checked it, and it's impossible to proofread your own work properly.

A lot of my work is for self publishing authors. A lot DO use development editors, copy editors and proofreaders. They are my favourite clients.

Oh yes, they absolutely do. The good ones realise the importance of editing and are happy to pay for it.

Many don't though 😬

But a beta reader is the first step for an author, before copy editing and proofreading. Why are you looking for errors?

Because they specifically ask me to and report them back. Maybe beta reader is the wrong term?

We're finding a lot of new publishing recruits (assistant level hires) are coming to us with little to no knowledge of actual content editing. They know about the business side of things, but they've never worked on a text and they're not taught about proofreaders' marks (understandably I guess), common typesetting mistakes, things to check. We really have to start from zero, whereas even five years ago they knew a lot more of the basics.

I suspect it's because it's assumed most content editing now is done out of house.

Sounds like they are taking advantage of you!

If you have an eye for detail, great SPaG, excellent general knowledge, etc., then have you considered training as a proofreader and actually making money from it?

Is that a joke? "As little as £16 per hour"? I would kill for that salary, just reading manuscripts all day. I work in a school office for shit money and it's soooo stressful. Are you seriously trying to tell me that there are people who are paid as much as £16 per hour who do as shit a job as is described on here.

I guess you are. I see it all the time in mainstream media now. The titles at the bottom of the screen on the BBC news, or in the Telegraph. Major typos or grammatical errors, or just basic incorrect information as if the work experience person has done it.

@piedbeauty - hmmm. Food for thought, thanks. Can you train to be a proofreader alongside a full time job? It'd definitely be another string to my bow.

I do have a very good eye for detail - need it in my day job - and general knowledge. My SPaG is pretty decent and I'm never afraid to double-check on the 'trusted' websites to confirm I'm not talking out of my arse. Thanks again.

Well what was the author doing?! Part of being a good writer is checking your facts and having a good grip of grammar, surely. I can't believe what I'm reading here. If I read a book with so many errors I would assume it was just a vanity-published pile of shit and put it in the bin.

£16 an hour is about £30,000 full time! But of course this is Mumsnet where anything less than £80k is a 'shit salary' ...

I remember years ago when I was a teenager I came across a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in my local library. I remember the blurb on the back cover saying that Harry was living with his aunt and uncle etc until he was rescued by an owl and I remember thinking that’s odd as he was rescued by Hagrid, not an owl. My own copy at home had the exact same blurb except instead of “owl” it said something along the lines of a giant on a motorbike. So that was a huge typo on an HP book!

Copy-editors aren’t paid much more and it’s a very skilled job. One of my copy-editors was able to tell me that train going across a particular part of Russia wouldn’t have had the sun coming in the left-hand side windows at a certain time on a certain day.

They are, or used to be, very well-read, often erudite.

And proofreaders need to know how to use house-style guides, which aren’t always easily set out. It’s not just SPAG. Would you know the correct spacing for an ellipsis? The rules for starting paragraphs in new sections? Would you know to check whether certain foreign language words are always italicised or only for the first usage? Capitalisation rules vary from one publisher to another.
And so on.

^meant to say, copy-editors and proofreaders.

I read a book where 'vial' was written as 'vile'. Rubbish book though.

I read and article a few years ago which was about the problems in converting to ebook, particularly books in public domain. The fonts and inks used causing issues. My favourite, because I've a juvenile sense of humour, was 'arms' being read as 'anus', 'He clasped me in his....'