Being an editor has ruined me.
Apart from being doomed in my career, being an editor has destroyed my ability to enjoy most forms of print entertainment.
Currently, I am reading a widely respected historical text on the life of Elizabeth I. I bought the book because it seemed quite scholarly and well researched, despite its “bestseller” status, and I thought it would be informative without being terribly dull.
Well, it certainly has been informative, and kept me preoccupied on a number of levels. Particularly, it has apprised me of the fact that no one actually employs editors anymore.
Apart from its staggering redundancies (honestly, I sometimes feel like I’m reading the same chapter over and over), this book is full of copy errors. Of course, it’s written by a Brit, in the standard British style, so I realize that the rules of punctuation are slightly different. That’s fine. I’m not obsessing over these things; I generally have ignored most of what, to me, seems illogical or erroneous.
But not fifty pages into the book, I've come across double commas (wrong in any style), typos, various misplaced modifiers, and unclear pronouns. Sheesh, I mean, even basic programs will correct—or at least alert—an author to these issues. No editor needed!
But, that’s just the problem. Nobody actually uses editors anymore. The advent of online media has made traditionally tight deadlines impossible. The universal deadline seems to always be “right now.”
I accept lazy copy in online content. I’ll overlook misspellings and punctuation issues on just about any website, including the big guns like CNN or People. After all, they are under constant pressure to get ever-new content up as quickly as possible. It’s not that they don’t want editors; they simply can’t wait for them.
But, you know what? There is far little excuse for a book put out by a large and, hopefully resourceful, publishing house. Perhaps an error or two is only natural—hey, we’re all human.
Yet, after one page of The Other Boleyn Girl, I dropped the thing in disgust. The comma splice, not even four paragraphs into the story, was unforgivable. It’s just lazy.
I am not, however, ranting without solutions. I’m not trying to be part of the problem here. I have a perfectly good remedy for any conscientious publisher who finds their copy fraught with errors: hire an editor, any editor.
Better yet, hire me.
5 comments:
bad grammar pisses off anyone, you just don't feel like reading the text. same w/ books that give TOO much detail on something. i once "read" (cause i ended up throwing it to the floor on frustration) that described even the most insignificant things.. it was such a waste of time.
that's really sad, for a published book. you mention that the book's from britain... are american books edited better? :) or just plain edited, period.
tina - sorry to take so long, but no, American books aren't edited any better. (The bio on Elizabeth is actually a US publisher.) I didn't mean to exclusively call out my friends from across the pond. I only mentioned Brits because I know they (well, all Europeans when writing in English) use different formating.
Noelia - lol! Was it, by any chance, something by Dickens, Melville, or any of the romantics? A lot of them were paid by the word, you know... But I couldn't agree more. Who gives a crap what material the curtains are made out of... and other such nonsense. There comes a point when your brain just can't process the details anymore.
actually, it was by Isabel Allende (known for House of Spirits). i had to read Paula (which is about her daughter) for a school report, got all the info i needed online lol
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