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

  • From: "Kim Loftis" <kll2277@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:37:22 -0400

I absolutely agree.  Being thorough in one's proofing is of the utmost 
importance.  I read every word of the books I proof, so that I can be assured 
that I've done my very best as a proofreader.  That makes me very proud.

Obviously, we all make mistakes once in a while, missing an error or two 
perhaps, but pages upon pages of such errors, and books riddled with them, are 
inexcusable.

Kim


From: Tim Syfert 
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2012 9:26 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: The job of a proofreader is...


As a proofer, I always read as I proof and remove the scannos I find. A proofer 
should always do this; otherwise, they have no business proofing! That book 
shouldn't have been put in the collection.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2012 8:14 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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