[bksvol-discuss] Re: The job of a proofreader is...

  • From: "Kim Friedman" <kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:05:43 -0700

Hi, Sandi, if I were proofreading a book you've submitted, I would still
read every word of the text. I wouldn't skip anything. I'd also email
you if I had questions about the text. It's great when meticulous
submitter and meticulous proofreader work together to make sure the book
is a pleasure to read. Regards, Kim Friedman.

-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sandi Ryan
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2012 7:47 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: The job of a proofreader is...


Hi Ann and All,

I agree with you about the duties of a proofreader but, as a scanner,
I'd 
like to add my two cents about scanner duties, too.

If you're scanning a book, you are the person who first offers the book
to 
the collection.  Someone, with or without a copy of the book you submit,

will have to read through it and decide whether you've done a good job.

When I scan, I scan the book as quickly as possible, making sure every
few 
pages that everything is going well.  Then I sit down with the book,
move 
page numbers to the top, strip the headers, put title, chapters, etc. in

appropriate fonts, make sure ellipses and dashes conform to Bookshare 
format, and read the book to find and correct scannos.  Even if I am
holding 
the book for a proofreader I know is meticulous I do these things.
There is 
still plenty for them to do, but I try to let them proofread for
pleasure 
more than to find my pesky errors.  Many errors can be found and
corrected 
quickly throughout a book.  Those that can't I find by reading every
word in 
the book.

Do I love every book I read?  No, but I've found a lot of books I really

like that I wouldn't have picked up except to put them in the Bookshare 
collection.  I've learned about lots of things, and I truly love the
work I 
do.

Scanning each book takes me two days to two weeks, depending on the
length 
and the pleasure factor.

Hopefully, when a proofreader gets one of my books, he or she can do a
quick 
read-through and feel comfortable that the book is ready.  But I count
on 
the proofreader to make sure I haven't missed errors.  The purpose of
two 
people touching the book is making it as near perfect as possible.

Okay, I'm out of the closet!

Sandi

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ann Parsons" <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2012 7:14 AM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] The job of a proofreader is...


> Hi all,
>
> I'm writing because I just sent off a quality report about a book I'm
> reading.  Oh, I'm going to finish the book, it's part of a series I'm 
> reading, but I have a really hard and knotty question to ask
volunteers.
>
> Here it is, folks.  Is it the job of a proofer to actually *read* a 
> book,
> or can a proofer get away with checking title and so on, and then just

> pushing the book through?
>
> If you answered that you thought you could get away with just checking
> metadata, you'd be wrong, wrong three times over.  This book I'm
reading, 
> Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon, has a wonderful title page and
front 
> piece.  Then, I started actually *reading* the blessed thing.  Well, I

> wasn't reading it, my DTBM was.  Anyway, this book's quality was only 
> good.  There were a million scanos including the mangling of the main 
> character's name.  Do you know how aggravating it can be when your
main 
> character, mentioned about ten times per page has her name mangled
five 
> out of those ten times?  Scannos like 'ff' for 'if' and garbage chars
at 
> the end of pages.
>
> <frowning darkly>  There is no excuse for this kind of sloppiness.  
> Why do
> you think it takes me weeks to proof a book?  It's because I actually
read 
> every, single, word in the whole blessed book!  I have allowed a book
to 
> be sent up after reading half or  so of it, but only once.  That was 
> because the scanner was known to me, the book I had read so far had
been 
> aeror free, and I knew that the quality would be the same throughout!
If 
> I proof, I read.  All this stuff could have been easily fixed!
<grrrrr> 
> Sorry for ranting guys, but I devoutly hope that my rant has stopped
any 
> lazy proofers in their tracks and caused them to reexamine their work.
>
> Ann P.
>
> --
> Ann K. Parsons
> Portal Tutoring
> EMAIL:  akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> web site:  http://www.portaltutoring.info
> Skype: Putertutor
>
> "All that is gold does not glitter,
> Not all those who wander are lost."
>
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