Premature Publication or Poor Proof Reading?

[McMurphy]

McMurphy:
While we are all entitled to our opinions, this seems to me to be a bit of an overreaction. While I wouldn't say she is the best author out there by any means, I can't imagine why one grammatical error (which could, in fact, be the fault of an editor, proofreader, copyeditor...etc.) would cause you to attack someone in such a tone. Do you have some sort of personal grudge against her?

The only overreaction I see here, is yours. No personal grudge, just a comment on the ego, which like comments have made about this author and a handful of other authors throughout the years by various members. I am a bit surprised by the sudden reaction to this random one.

I agree that one grammatical error would not justify such an opinion of Rowling, and that is not the relationship being expressed here. My opinion, should I agree to entertain your bout of moderation derailment of the thread, is generated by repeated interviews. I must point out that my initial post in this thread was actually pointing out that hardcover editions frequently have small mistakes corrected later in paperback editions.

May I remind you that it is okay at Chronicles to state other than positive comments about random authors. None of us, as far as I know, are being paid by Rowling to promote her work.

Now, back to the subject at hand....

...I must agree with the notion that it is hard to tell if it is the author's mistake or someone else's mistake down the publication pipeline. In this case, the umbrella name is Rowling, so most people would associate the grammar mistakes with her, regardless of how inaccurate that may or may not be. But she is almost always credited with the literary successes of the syntax, so it doesn't sound like such a bad deal in the end.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

In this case, the umbrella name is Rowling, so most people would associate the grammar mistakes with her, regardless of how inaccurate that may or may not be. But she is almost always credited with the literary successes of the syntax, so it doesn't sound like such a bad deal in the end.

Absolutely true, and a very good point.

Still, for those who are pondering the question in the thread title, there are a variety of different explanations. (Also, I think it may be comparatively rare for corrections -- other than corrections of facts -- to be made between the hardback or trade paper and the mass market editions, now that it's just a matter of changing the size of the font and doing a little computer reformatting, rather than typesetting the whole thing from scratch.)

 

[dustinzgirl]

McMurphy:
Do you have some sort of personal grudge against her?

I think she looks like a troll on crack, personally, but other than that she's fine...



I think its important though to remember that copyeditors and typesetters and editors are just that, editors---thier job is to catch as many mistakes as they can, but the author is the one putting thier name on the books and the author's job is to make sure there are hardly any mistakes.

I remember my drama/lit prof in my freshman year was pissed because he was having a textbook translated in Africa and he had to spend the whole summer down there with an editor and a really bad translator, he had to go through the translated copies with the translator and make sure that it made sense, which was a pain apparently. Of course, its a little easier now, this was back in 1996.

 

[McMurphy]

Random question for anyone who can answer it:

When readers send grammar or small spelling mistakes to the publisher, do they actually keep note of it, or is it a "we'll keep that in consideration" approach?

In relation to editors versus writer editing, I recall a time one of my professors related to the class a tale when he was pleading with editors to keep his punctuation intact because it was purposely askew due to the build of the short story. Even though he sent several communications to the editors, and they seemed to respond positively, they had gone ahead and "corrected" his punctuation.

Not that I think that was the case in the subject heading of this thread, but it does seem to fit into the discussion, nevertheless.

 

[Joel007]

I seem to remember pTerry insisting to his editors that "Mr Vimes" was to be spelled "Mister", and having to explain why, even though if they'd read the few lines around the word it would have been obvious.

(As in "Put down the crossbow and turn around slowly mister")