Is this the publisher's printer making mistakes? Or were these mistakes simply not caught in the editing phase? Just curious.
When There are Mistakes in Books...
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I think mostly, it's just not caught in the editing phase. Some are obviously so, such as the book I read, where the author decided to use German phrases for the first 20-odd pages, but unfortunately got very few of them correct.
And then there was another one where the author constantly used "You have another think coming" instead of "You have another thing coming." The first time I thought it was just a typo, but as she used it about 20 times in her novel, and they all were wrong, it got really annoying. Now admittedly, that could be the editor not knowing the phrase, or the author. It just depends.
All in all, I'd think the printer making mistakes would be obvious (as in, the page print is light, therefore a comma might not have made it in due to low ink or some such thing). Just my thoughts.
I like that, "You have another think coming." I only wish it were true!
Reminds me of someone who told me the other day that they were raised saying "pass mustard" as opposed to "pass muster"...
I'm 90% sure that the actual expression is, "Another think coming," and it's just been perverted into 'thing.'.
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Yup, I'm obviously just an idiot. I will amend my thoughts to "you have another think coming" simply sounds stupid, instead of stupid and wrong.
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I definitely think it's an editor thing. What really bugs me is when authors do a series of books and change the name (accidentally? I assume) of one of the characters by a letter from the first book to the second. T'ton to T'ron or vice versa I'm not sure. How do you mess something like that up??? LOL
Yes, I agree that "you have another think coming" makes much more sense, but "thing" is commonly used, so it isn't really a mistake.
Using either phrase 20 times or more in one novel, however, most certainly IS a mistake, IMHO.
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I've seen punctuation mistakes, and once a spelling mistake. I'm also curious to know if those are the author's or the publisher's fault.
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As somebody who just went through a really humbling copyedit, I can tell you that you would NOT BELIEVE the number of mistakes that leap into copy. I think they crawl in there when neither editors nor author are looking. Like grammatical gremlins.
Seriously, going through this experience has made me realize how difficult it is to do a totally thorough proofread of a 300-page book that gets repeatedly revised by different people. Although some things are just sloppy (I've got my characters' names down, for Pete's sake), it is very possible to just miss stuff. At this point, I've read Evernight so many times that my brain is convinced I know what it says -- which is a really difficult position to proofread from.
Seriously, going through this experience has made me realize how difficult it is to do a totally thorough proofread of a 300-page book that gets repeatedly revised by different people. Although some things are just sloppy (I've got my characters' names down, for Pete's sake), it is very possible to just miss stuff. At this point, I've read Evernight so many times that my brain is convinced I know what it says -- which is a really difficult position to proofread from.
Mistakes
There's never a way to know for sure who makes the mistake. Depending on the mistake, it can be the writer, it can be one of a couple of editors, it can be a fact checker, or it can be the typesetter.
But I think the writer is always ultimately responsible. It's his book, and he gets the last look at it. When galleys arrive, everyone else has had their turn, and the writer gets last crack. If he doesn't catch mistakes then, he has no one to blame but himself.
There's never a way to know for sure who makes the mistake. Depending on the mistake, it can be the writer, it can be one of a couple of editors, it can be a fact checker, or it can be the typesetter.
But I think the writer is always ultimately responsible. It's his book, and he gets the last look at it. When galleys arrive, everyone else has had their turn, and the writer gets last crack. If he doesn't catch mistakes then, he has no one to blame but himself.
Mistakes in any piece of writing longer than a couple pages are inevitable. I once worked for a major newspaper, and the copy editors had a competition each year when the new edition of the AP Handbook came out to see who could find a typo in it first. It never took more than an hour to find one...and that's supposed to be the spelling/grammar bible!
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Like ClaudiaGray has said, once you read your own writing enough, then you're going to assume things are okay when they're not, because you know what it should say. I definitely don't think all mistakes are ultimately the writer's fault. Sure, the writer gets to look at copies, but so do the editors and all the people who are supposed to find those mistakes. I think it's stupid to go blaming people, especially the author, for some mistakes. No, they shouldn't have happened, but pointing fingers isn't helping.
And even when he gets it perfect there's still room for gremlins.
I bought two books, both from Doubleday, where the proofreading was perfect. Unfortunately, one was missing a middle chapter entirely and the other jumped from page 60 to 215, went to 221, off to 86, back to 61...
My mother, thoroughly Scandinavian woman she was, used to utter this phrase all the time, usually when I, as a teenager, did something stupid.
caw
I have actually caught it quite a bit in books. One I just read even had a person say "just call me Ruby", her name was not Ruby - it was her Mom's....
I had this happen with a paperback I bought for a lit class last semester. Fortunately, the other copies at the bookstore didn't have the same problem, so it was just a matter of exchanging it. Unfortunately, I'd already jotted notes in the margins of the first copy.
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Somebody else has probably already said this, but that particular phrase isn't wrong at all -- it's in common usage in some places. Like where I'm from. "If that's what you think -- you have another think coming!" Hear it all the time, and I wouldn't hesitate to use it that way in a book. In fact, I'm sure I have.
As to genuine typos and such, many are simply missed, no matter how many passes the author and editors take at the manuscript and galleys. You can know something too well -- which is why they also have proofreaders who aren't familiar with the book do a pass as well. But, still, we all miss stuff.
It never fails. The book makes it into print, and I'm scanning pages, and at least three typos jump out at me as if printed in bold red ink.
Wild. And maddening because, hey, too late to change anything by that point. Though if I catch it in the hardcover edition, I make a note to change it in the mass-market -- and hope I don't lose the note before those galleys arrive.
Well, when I was growing up it was "you gotta 'nother thang comin'." It's a wonder I can think straight at all. (smiling)
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When there are mistakes in books, I see them and they drive me a little bit nutty. Yes, as mentioned before, it's damn tough to catch them all. That's why the editor reads it so many times, and then the next editor reads it so many times, and the author pitches in, and you do whatever it takes to get them all. It can be done.
Back in "the Golden Age" (cue sad string music), books were published without mistakes. But now the publishers have found that one of the easiest way to cut costs is to say, "Aw, screw it, close enough, Paris Hilton fans won't notice because they can't spell anyway."
So, it's a damn shame I see them all, isn't it? I haven't read a typo-free manuscript in years.
Back in "the Golden Age" (cue sad string music), books were published without mistakes. But now the publishers have found that one of the easiest way to cut costs is to say, "Aw, screw it, close enough, Paris Hilton fans won't notice because they can't spell anyway."
So, it's a damn shame I see them all, isn't it? I haven't read a typo-free manuscript in years.
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