The other day I received an email from a reader. I was pleased to learn that she'd started reading my Haunted Library series and was enjoying it. However, she also informed me that in one of the books she noticed three instances of a name change. Not good! I wrote back and said I was happy she was enjoying the series, and I apologized for the errors in the text.
How did these errors slip by and appear on the printed page? My books are carefully edited. I go over a manuscript three times before sending it to my editor. She goes over it, makes her comments and observations. I review the manuscript and make the necessary edits and additions. Then a copy editor combs through the manuscript, now in book format, editing and questioning. Once again, I go over the manuscript--sometimes twice--addressing these issues. These are put into the text, and the manuscript is once again sent to me to read and make any final changes.
Yes, my books are carefully edited. That said, the occasional error still may appear on the printed page despite the many eyes and read-throughs. There are a few reasons why this may occur. For one thing, our brains have a way of filling in a word that might have been omitted. Also, it is the unusual author or editor who can read through a manuscript of over 80,000 words in one sitting. Which is why he or she might not notice when a detail mentioned early on in the story is somewhat different when it's mentioned later on.
Having just finished going through my copy editor's edits of Death on Dickens Island, I am grateful that she's caught some name changes and has pointed out contradicting statements. But I also know that despite our very best efforts, there will be a few errors that will slip by. For these, I apologize in advance, and I promise to be even more vigilant as I write and eventually edit the next book in my new series.
Ah, yes. The tan house that has morphed to snowy white in the next book in the series. The Ford Ranger that somehow becomes a Toyota RAV 4.
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest nightmares is the thought that Leslie, who starts out as a brave, kindly Black teenage boy, will somehow be a shrill older White woman by the end of the book.
Kathleen, I'm so glad I'm not the only one.
DeleteTo paraphrase something my friend, Liz Milliron, always says, I think typos and mistakes that survive multiple rounds of edits and proofread and still make it to the final published version should be given an award for perseverance.
ReplyDeleteLove it!! Those errors are determined to be included in the book.
DeleteI hate typos with a passion. In my author note I ask readers to contact me when they find one so I can correct it for the next reader.
ReplyDeleteJim, Being able to make those corrections is one of the pluses of publishing your own books.
DeleteSo frustrating!
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteI'm a terrible speller, so during final edits I search for all variations of a character's name. I also do a search and replace for characters whose names I've change mid-stream.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, It sounds like you're very creative and come up with many possible spellings of a name. I seem to pick different names entirely.
DeleteI was a professional editor/proofreader for technical companies, so I felt assured I'd catch anything "off" in the galley the publisher sent me. I'll never know if I missed it or some damn pub house slave did this, but the a phrase meant to be sarcastic was supposed to be "under the sheets". Instead, it came out as "under the streets". Uh, yeah, that makes lots of sense. More annoying was the name of a bird called a shrike, which I used several times. It came out as "strike". It still galls me, and as I am getting rid of the few remaining copies I have because I am now an old lady, I first go to those pages and pencil in the corrections. :-)
ReplyDeleteI can well understand why you, a former editor/proofreader, would hate to see those errors. I love that you correct the copies.:)
DeleteHugs! I hate it when that happens. I once thanked Sisters in Crime. I referred to them as a warm and close-knit group of the most generous of crime writers on the plant. The error had escaped me, two editors, and several beta readers. My husband opened the published novel and said, “plant, really. How do they feel about that?” Yes, he’d done a read through as well.
ReplyDeleteWell Kait, We are sorta a plant of some kind.
DeleteIt wasn't a character name, but yeah, I've had readers tell me about spelling errors, or left-in notes. I totally forgot something after the upload. Luckily, it was fanfiction, so a very easy fix. But still!
ReplyDeleteNot easy to change when a book is traditionally published.
DeleteIn the third book of my nine-book series someone caught that I changed the last name of a character once. Fortunately she caught it early because that particular character paid $800 for naming rights. That was the one and only time it ever happened to me. The nice thing about being indie published is the ability to make changes in a nannosecond.
ReplyDeleteYou mean it's not just me?! In one scene in my first book, the main character leaves the house in the middle of the night in slippers and returns home in boots. I still cringe.
ReplyDeleteMally, I think we've all experienced this, but sometimes we feel like we're the only writer who has.
DeleteMy 2022 book is now being published in mass-market paperback, and the new publisher just found an error that escaped EVERYONE! For years! Yeesh. I've heard it said that a perfect book doesn't exist. I'm beginning to believe it.
ReplyDeleteDarn it, Marilyn...! As a not-yet-published author, I find this a bit terrifying. Yet, I thank you for adding to my knowledge. Fix what you can, accept what you missed. Kinda sounds familiar, doesn't it? ( ;
ReplyDelete