OK to correct editor simple typos in final edited version of my story?

bluebug

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Hi. Sorry to bother everyone again. There were a few simple typos in the final version of my story. Is it rude to correct them? As someone who used to copyedit, I do this all the time to everyone without noticing. I'm making a point of being extra aware this time, and I don't want to come across as rude or patronizing or malicious in any way. Is it possible she's testing me to see if I'm going to agree to the final edited version without noticing the typos? Would she appreciate me pointing them out? Would it come across as incredibly rude? Or just plain cumbersome - all I need to do is reply saying I agree to the edits. If I go ahead and correct the typos, however, I would be attaching a different version of the document and explaining the reason. I'm just terrified of offending her in any way.

My heartfelt thanks to anyone kind enough to help me out here.
 

Maryn

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Yes, correct everything that's not right. The objective is zero mistakes, and it's not an offense to fix every single one even if they're legion.

It's not clear to me where these typos came from. Were they in the work you submitted? (We all miss a few, since our eye sees what ought to be there, not what actually is.) Or did this editor introduce errors? If so, that seems highly unprofessional and/or off. I might question how this came to be, since an editor should not be making any changes to your manuscript, only recommending changes for you to make.

Maryn, leery on your behalf
 

bluebug

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Thank you for taking the time to reply to me.

The typos were not in my manuscript, but they really are minimal (three at most; I hope it's obvious I'm trying to be vague since this is a public forum). One is simply the absence of a hyphen I would've put.

I made several changes she requested over the course of about a week or 10 days. Then she declared my story ready to be edited. The final version she sent me had several changes that improved the story, a couple changes I'd rather undo (possibly because I might be too attached to those darlings I should be happy she killed), and about three typos. She did say to feel free to bring up any questions or suggestions, but as someone who finds it extremely hard to even knock or make a call, let alone potentially offend an editor, I'm trying to make sure I don't indadvertently commit a very obvious faux pas and blacklist myself in the future.

Again, thanks very much for taking the time to help me out. Have a great day.
 

PeteMC

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You'd normally do this when you get to page proofs (assuming your publisher does proofs, they don't all), but no harm in catching them now.
 

bluebug

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Thank you very much to all of you kind folks who took the time and effort to help me out. Have a great day.
 

Richard White

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Besides, honestly, the fear of being "blacklisted" is way overblown among authors. Unless you go in with guns blazing, being a huge jerk, 99.9% of editors are human, (we don't talk about the couple of Alpha Centurians that work for a major SF publisher), and want to work WITH their authors to make a great book (aka, no editor wants to hear about mistakes in the book from the public either).
 

bluebug

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Thank you very much for taking the time and for the reassurance.