WTF Friday: Good Books, Bad Editing
I don’t get it.
I am, however, freakin’ sick of it.
I won’t name names; I don’t want to turn people off of good books and excellent authors. That wouldn’t be fair. Because the authors are doing their jobs. They’re creating characters, world building, writing incredible stories.
At first, it was e-books. I’m not sure why or how, but the print versions would be near perfect but the e-book version would have doubled lines, random punctuation errors, misspellings.
Okay. Fair enough. Translation errors, hard to edit on the screen. I’ve certainly made those mistakes. Of course, I did it all on my own and one would assume publishers are paying a professional to edit.
And then, similar errors started showing up in print books. Expensive print books. Hardcover print books. Hardcover print books are a serious investment, both in cost and in storage space. I choose the physical books I buy very carefully these days: between the fantastic library system in Allegheny County and bargain e-books, there are very few books I “need” to buy. And I can handle a smattering of oopses. But when we hit a distracting number, a number that pulls me out of the story, I get some serious nerd rage.
Ever seen bibliophile nerd rage?
It ain’t pretty.
Especially when its root is inexplicable.
Do publishers not employ editors and proof readers any more? If they do, are they members of the generation who depend on grammar check (I mean spell check, sure, but…) Are there too many books? The schedule too rigorous?
Or do they think we don’t notice? Don’t care?
I notice. I care. And I’m just me. But most of my friends like to read too. And I have a huge yap. Online at least.
So. Make it worth my money, guys.
Because the nerd rage + the coffee I need to get through the day?
Ain’t. Pretty.
In one of the “Spenser” books, Spenser makes a date to meet his girlfriend in DC “tomorrow”. He does some detecting, then picks her up for dinner. I’ve reread that section dozens of times and can’t find the place where tomorrow becomes today. It drives me crazy.