Okay, point taken that the threads regarding pet peeves in grammar, syntax and punctuation are a teensy bit A-R. That being said, however, could someone actually justify finding these stupid errors in published books?
“loose my job.” “…in the throws of passion.” People who peddle their bikes constantly, yet seem never to sell one–what’s up with that? Stupid, easily corrected errors abound in a work that the publishers expect us all to pay cash money for.
Perhaps I could overlook the above–hey, it’s a tough economy, it’s cheaper to use spell and grammar check than to hire proofreaders, what writer bothers to correct galleys in this day and age, whatever. Is it too much to ask, though, that the publisher PICK A FONT AND STAY WITH IT? Random paragraphs in a slightly different font size, or a slightly different font. How professional is this, anyway?
I want the proofreaders back, dammit, and I want some pride in craftsmanship, no matter how small or insignificant a publishing house might be. Matter of fact, I want the smaller ones to be BETTER than the big corporate monsters, just to show 'em.
And I want publishers to study up on homonyms, fachrissakes…
Gaming books are full of this sort of thing. The collector’s edition of R. A. Salvatore’s “Icewind Dale Trilogy” is terrible about it. And ‘Foundation’ was ruined for me because I bought a version that had typos all throughout it.
Yeah damnit! I want a proofreader too! I’d keep him in the closet, I’d name him Gimp and make him dance for me when he wasn’t proofreading.
Dance for me gimp, dance for daddy!
Umm seriously however, as I boldly cut through the haze of utter exhaustion and the sugar rush. When it comes to publishing, lots of wierd shit happens. Sometimes you include an older document in what you send off to get printed up, and sometimes nobody notices that the printer got totally fucked for 2 or 3 thousand copies.
This sort of thing drives me absolutely bugfuck – I have a mild obsession about orthographic and grammatical correctness. I had a copy of Silverlock, one of the most entertaining books I’ve read, which had so many blatant, awful typos I ended up taking an eraser to it and correcting it myself.
What really cheeses me off is when a textbook for which I have shelled out an unGodsly amount of money has typos. If I can be forced to afford a hundred dollar book, the publisher can afford a competant proofreader!
(Of course, having said that I’m mildly obsessed with spelling and grammar, I know that there must be a mistake or two in this post somewhere, no matter how many times I reread it. )
I have been reading through the Wheel of Time series recently (don’t flame me, ok?) and they are the worst edited books I have ever seen.
Not only are there silly typos and gramatical errors, but in Book 3, a character is described as already in bed when she is really halfway across the world. Good at catching inconsistencies there, bucko.
My all-time personal favorite was in a book on forensic psychiatry - “grizzly” murders, instead of grisly. I had this sudden picture of the police, outfited in those stereotypical great white hunter outfits, stopping the passresby and asking “Have you seen a bear?”.
With the percentage of the population that actually bothers to read continuing to decline, I say “dream on.” Of course, eventually, the populace will be too illiterate to notice thse sorts of errors - problem solved!:mad:
Well the book that sparked the current grumpiness is Gumshoe Gorilla written by Keith Hartman and published by Meisha Merlin Publishing Inc of Atlanta GA. The “peddle” gripe was from an old paperback edition of Spinrad’s Songs From The Stars . Pulphouse and Dark Harvest are notable offenders as well.
Seems to me if you’re going to start a publishing company, you ought to be marginally conversant with rules of grammar and typesetting–or am I just being a bitch again?
[hijack] Yeh, I knew that “a” looked wrong, but I was running late for (of all things) a History of the English Language class, so I left it.
UnGodsly, though, stays. It’s part of my pantheistic personal massacre of the English language. It’s also how I say the word when I speak it (ditto for “yeh,” before anyone jumps on that ). [/hijack]
I fear that my two-year career as a proofreader will leave me unable to enjoy written works ever again. Rather than trying to getthe message, I’m looking for weird sentence structure, punctuation and spelling.
Language is alive, but when you’re reading it and it’s written shitty, don’it piss ya off? Dammit, I wish I got paid more, because my punctuation is impeccable. :mad:
If I ever find a publisher for my first novel, I’m looking forward to correcting galleys. It seems to me that any self-respecting writer would want his book to come out in a letter-perfect edition.
)
). [/hijack]