Q: Speaking of errors, why are there so many spelling, grammatical,
time/place errors in your books? It drives me crazy!
A:
If it drives you crazy, can you even imagine what it does to me? I and all the
editors, copy editors, proofreaders, etc. do the best we can in catching
errors, but we are all just human. Sometimes the errors are mine and they just
aren't caught by the many people who read my manuscripts. Sometimes the errors
happen after I send the final manuscript in. It's not that people don't care
about their work. Almost every person I've worked with in publishing cares
deeply about putting out a good, accurate book. But with the merging of so many
publishers, the laying off of so many employees, most people who are still
working in publishing are horribly overworked. Like any business where the
employees have more work than they can handle and are on a deadline, errors
happen. Can they be fixed? Usually. If I am told about the errors between the
printing of the hardback edition and paperback edition, I can ask that they
correct the errors. After the paperback is out it is almost impossible to get
anything changed as it costs my publisher too much time and money to do that.
So, if there's an error in one of my paperbacks, it really does no good to tell
me as there isn't anything I can do about it (for example my HUGE error in Kansas
Troubles where I call the Kansas City Chiefs a baseball team! Hey, I
blame that one on my husband, Allen, who is from Kansas and did read the
manuscript. It slipped by him completely! I personally know nothing about any
kind of ball team). I realize that errors are frustrating to many readers out
there (especially English teachers), but it is something that is beyond my
control. Trust me, no one hates seeing an error in my books more than I do. I
feel compelled to say one more thing about this. There have been some readers
who actually scold me for these errors and tell me they will never read one of
my books again because of them. That saddens me greatly and I hope that this
explanation helps them see that to stop reading an author you enjoy over some
mechanical thing the author has no control over is heartbreaking. (P.S. I now
know the baseball team's name is the Kansas City Royals!)
What are your thoughts?
