Thursday, September 20, 2007

Making Corrections

Galley corrections are one of the toughest things an author will face.

Many start thinking, "What can I live with?".

Truth is, you should've live with any mistake you find! Things such as mispellings and typos will LEAP off the page at your reader, just as much as a continuity error. So if YOU notice it, so will your fans. And if you see a mistake and do not fix it before the book is published, it will return to haunt you!

That said, do not get upset if you later discover you've missed something! Even Harry Potter books have typos. You won't catch everything and neither will your editor. But correct what you can now, before the book hits the market.

Because I promise, reviewers WILL find it!

2 comments:

Mike Douglas said...

This is excellent advice. Every effort should be made to perfect the writing, and there should be no settling for avoidable errors. As you say, they'll leap right off the page at your readers and reviewers down the road. If you miss something, it's not the end of the world 'cause we're all human (it always amazes me how I can proof something dozens of times and still not catch every mistake), but there's no excuse for laziness. Take pride in everything that flies off your keyboard, and take the time to fix it when it's broke before it's too late.

”do not get upset if you later discover you've missed something”
This is something I'd do well to remember myself. While I can't speak from the point of view of a professional like you, I still post my blatherings in places where I can't make changes later, and when I eventually see some bit of misplaced punctuation or whatever it just drives me insane!

Must repeat:
”It's not the end of the world.”
“It's not the end of the world.”
“It's not ...”

L. Diane Wolfe said...

That's right - once it hits ink & paper, you're too late! Fix now while you can. A couple small mistakes are one thing - blatant, obvious ones simply scream amateur! If it's work you are proud of, present it as professionally as possible.

And it's NOT the end of the world if something slips by you or your editor! Every book out there has a typo hidden within its pages. Consider making it into a game for your readers - "Find all the typos!"