[bksvol-discuss] Re: Adventures in Proofreading
- From: Cindy Rosenthal <grandcyn77@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 18:27:47 -0800
Wonderful post,Kim ! I agree with everything you say ---and think it's
great you took the trouble to have your adventure. big smile
Cindy
On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 8:21 AM, Kim Friedman <kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Behold: innocent proofreader is reading through a nice little document
> until
> coming across something strange. What is that thing? It's a surname with
> two
> parts with a single letter, then a space and the second part of the name.
> Both parts are capitalized. I have never encountered such a phenomenon dear
> reader. Imagine my surprise. So I naturally make a nice little copy of said
> phenomenon and the fun begins! I send a message to the submitter who
> replies. Back and forth the messages fly until we've established that the
> single letter is supposed to be accented. But what sort of accent I ask?
> Being told how it looks doesn't mean a thing to me since I've always read
> Braille. I write back. Is it a tilde, a circumflex, an umlaut, an accent
> grave, or an acute accent? The response comes: the accent is not a tilde,
> umlaut, circumflex, or a grave accent. It's like the word déja vu.
> Fortunately for me, I had taken a course in French so I had a pretty good
> idea of what was wanted. Light goes off in my head and I write back: Is
> what
> we're looking for an acute accent? I am requested to show an example of the
> acute accent. Bingo! I am informed that is the very accent. Now the
> question
> arises: is said accent supposed to be for a capital letter or for a small
> letter. I end up writing again showing an acute accent with a capital and
> one without. Through much persistence, we have finally settled on the
> definitive answer: said accent should be capitalized. Sometimes
> proofreading
> requires a bit of detective work, especially if you come across a word
> you've never encountered or something like what I've just mentioned. I know
> there are those who would rather suffer the torture of a thousand cuts than
> doing any sort of proofreading. They'd prefer to scan documents which is
> great for me since I'm a scanophobe (or to be more precise, intimidated by
> the whole idea of scanning). (I would be willing to give it a try if there
> was someone there who would show me how to go about it, to know the sorts
> of
> settings I should use, and if I had a scanner which could be used with
> whatever book I might use. (The one I've got would probably do great for a
> paperback book but not for something larger. (It's a Cannon LIDE-90. (I
> have
> no idea how this one rates with submitters, but should like to know.) So I
> am perfectly contented to let others do the submitting while I do my bit to
> make sure those files are proofread the best way I know how so the file
> will
> be a pleasure to read. (I get to read the file before anyone else does and
> when I send it up, I can deliver my honest opinion about the perfidy of
> publishers leaving in typos, the great scan by the submitter, and anything
> else that needs remarking upon. (I've yet to just send something up without
> commenting on it.) So all of you who are starting out proofreading, I wish
> you much success in your endeavor to make the submitter's file look great.
> As you continue, you'll get more and more proficient, and if you're a
> deranged perfectionist, then you are the best type of proofreader in my
> opinion. You will read every single word. You will be particular about how
> many pages are actually in the file and what text belongs on what page.
> You'll want everything to look nice, and you will probably be bugged by
> publishers leaving in errors because it will offend you because you'd love
> to get rid of it if you were only allowed. You will no doubt leave comments
> and you will have a sense of accomplishment that the file is finished, sent
> up, and approved. So here is to deranged perfectionists of every stripe,
> whether they are submitters, proofreaders or those who could do both
> scanning and proofreading. Regards, Kim Friedman.
>
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