I’m writing this post two days before Christmas, but I’m saving it until after Christmas because it’s going to sound grinch-y. And picky. But I’m writing it anyway.
Isn’t Hyperion Books a major publisher? Don’t they have editors and staff and people who read their books before they are published to make sure there aren’t any grammatical errors or spelling errors?
I just read one of the books that was nominated for the Cybil Middle Grade Fiction award. This book was a hardcover copy of the book from the library, not an advance reading copy or a review copy. Near the end of the book I read the following: [Character in book] pushed for a marker on the sight of [historical character’s] house..
Yes, “sight.” It’s not a misprint or a typo. I make plenty of those and have no room to talk about other people’s. But where was the editor when this blatant error made it into print?
I know it’s obsessive/compulsive, but the mistake rather spoiled the book for me.
No, it’s not grinch-y or picky. In the past few weeks I’ve read two books which contained the error “poured over” instead of the phrase “pored over.” It totally ruined the flow of the writing for me, as I instantly had a mental picture of a person melting (Wicked-Witch-of-the-West-style) all over the printed matter they were supposed to be “studying intently.”
I hear you! One of my pet peeves is when someone writes “loath” (as in “she is loath to”) and an overzealous proofreader adds an e. It happens a lot.
And the use of “nauseous” in place of “nauseated.” Drives me crazy.
I agree! I was just reading something with a letter missing in it. Also, the DVD for Beth Moore’s latest study (Daniel), has a BIG typo on one of the slides towards the end of the study where we are supposed to be filling in blanks. How does one miss that?
I make typos when I’m writing quickly all the time, but isn’t proofreading someone’s (or more than one someone’s) JOB?