This is my favorite of your posts so far! Probably because I just finished the final round of edits on my new book. But you left out the group that's even worse than copy editors: proofreaders. At PRH/Waterbrook, they send it to a couple of proofreaders AFTER all the copy editing is done, and then you have to deal with their "I didn't follow this," or, "You lost me there," comments. I had one that absolutely didn't get any of my humor, in chapters where the humor made the whole point... frustrating. My wife and I realized that the manuscript has to be readable by everyone, so some proofreaders need to be of different educational and cultural backgrounds than the writer.
At the end of the project, all the edits make the book "just right" for as many readers as possible. Grateful for editors! (And even proofreaders)
I love this post! Thanks for a peek into the kitchen of how book sausage is made. I have a hyper-critical eye/ear when it comes to reading a book, article, story (or even a comment on a Facebook post). I often wonder how something made it past layers of copy editors and proof readers. When I got my first book published the editor suggested two punctuation edits and said, "this is the best manuscript we've ever received..." I guess I didn't know how high that praise really was. Thank you!
This is my favorite of your posts so far! Probably because I just finished the final round of edits on my new book. But you left out the group that's even worse than copy editors: proofreaders. At PRH/Waterbrook, they send it to a couple of proofreaders AFTER all the copy editing is done, and then you have to deal with their "I didn't follow this," or, "You lost me there," comments. I had one that absolutely didn't get any of my humor, in chapters where the humor made the whole point... frustrating. My wife and I realized that the manuscript has to be readable by everyone, so some proofreaders need to be of different educational and cultural backgrounds than the writer.
At the end of the project, all the edits make the book "just right" for as many readers as possible. Grateful for editors! (And even proofreaders)
Thank you for another great post!
I kept meaning to get back to this one. Really great. I’m not an editor in any stretch of the imagination but I love the substantive part.
I love this post! Thanks for a peek into the kitchen of how book sausage is made. I have a hyper-critical eye/ear when it comes to reading a book, article, story (or even a comment on a Facebook post). I often wonder how something made it past layers of copy editors and proof readers. When I got my first book published the editor suggested two punctuation edits and said, "this is the best manuscript we've ever received..." I guess I didn't know how high that praise really was. Thank you!