How hard editing really is:

[Hardhead]

Yeah, I can easily forgive the PHB's errors. After all, it was a completely new rules system! It had the type of editing errors you'd expect from a well-edited, but complex and new book. It didn't have any cut-off sentances that are obvious to anyone reading through, it had problems because the editors didn't entirely understand the rules

Newer books, however, have the types of errors that you can only ascribe to little, no, or at the very least poor editing. They're not mechanics misunderstandings, they're just dumb mistakes anyone should have caught. But, then, editing your own stuff is hard. It's easy to miss your own mistakes.


- Z a c h

 

[Tom Cashel]

I'm a Managing Editor for a national association here in Rockville, Maryland...and I'd have to agree that RPG books and magazines--in general--contain a pretty high amount of errors.

Editing is difficult, painstaking, and often tedious (depending on the subject matter). While it is difficult to publish a book that is error-free, I mainatin that it is possible. I strive for it on a daily basis.

That being said, things can happen after the editor has finished his/her job...even after a project has gone through three rounds of proofs!

Example: just last week I got a look at a new continuing education manual we are selling. I'd spent close to six months working on that thing, trying my best to see that the final product was flawless. Long story short...after I handed off the master copy to Reprographics, they got the Introduction pages mixed up, and bound them in front of the table of contents.

Now I'm trying to convince the sales department to pull the plastic ring-binding off of 500 manuals and put them all back together correctly. "But it doesn't necessarily look like a mistake," they're telling me.

Yeah, I replied, but it is. And someone out there will notice. And then we look extremely unprofessional.

I'm not making excuses for WotC's editorial staff...they're probably overworked with the recent layoffs, as others have pointed out.

The only solution is for WotC to hire ME as their Managing Editor.

C'mon, I'm serious!

 

[Impeesa]

Bad, yeah, but at least it's not Palladium. Say what you will about their stuff in general, but I think their editing kind of stinks. Kevin Sembieda writes sentences. Which do not terminate correctly. I think that they need to hire. A new editing department.

--Impeesa--

 

[Dingleberry]

While it is difficult to publish a book that is error-free, I mainatin that it is possible.

I assume it was unintentional, but this really made me laugh.

 

[Azure Trance]

And amazingly, while I watched Blade II last week I had a startling suspicion that a line I heard was similar to a certain ENWorld members sig ...

 

[Mark CMG]

*edited for spelling*

*edited for misquote*

*edited for grammar*

*edited to give up on trying to answer correctlie*









________________________
Kreative Mouthy Blames

 

[hammymchamham]

it seems often the writers of WotC books copy and paste a simalur section of text and paste it, then forget to change a couple words. If I remember, it occurs in erratas (like Monster Manual I) as well.

 

[Paul_Klein]

Just to sort of stray off track here...

If someone were to send in a list of "errors" in a book, would WotC actually read it, and assuming they're correct, fix the errors in a future printing? Or do they only consider error-lists from their own editors?

Just curious...

 

[Tom Cashel]

I assume it was unintentional, but this really made me laugh.

Heh. Despite the claims of editors about perfection, Eris is always there to bite you in the ass. Freudian typo!