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Message: <blockquote data-quote="w_earle_wheeler" data-source="post: 3448267" data-attributes="member: 35955">This is very true. So very true.A writer is too familiar with her own work to edit it flawlessly. After writing, re-writing, and several re-readings, the words become partially memorized. As they are read, the eyes will naturally pass over them, but that doesn't necessarily mean that your mind is "reading" them anymore.Take, for example, the study showing that as long as a word began and ended with the correct letters (most of the letters in-between could be jumbled) the reader could still understand the word at a glance.A fresh set of eyes is always needed for a professional product.In college, it was driven into our heads again and again that anything we submitted for publication should be error-free or it would immediately go into the trash. Real world experience quickly taught us the opposite, but reinforced the need for that kind of unrealistic mindset (ie, a writer should always strive for perfection, even if that goal is unattainable, because it helps everyone out down the line). The same goes for copy editors: they are told that anything less that 100% error-free text is unacceptable. In reality, even the best copy editors make mistakes.Making matters worse is the meddling of a third party on down the line. Lay-out artists and publishers shouldn't be changing text at the last minute unless they're willing to put that product through yet another round of quality control. Far too often, last minute attempts to "fix" small mistakes cause even more problems. There's nothing more maddening for a copy editor than to have her reputation (or mental health) tarnished over something she fixed but her boss ruined... but it's pretty common.Yes, proof readers and copy editors get "beat up on" in threads like these. But how many of these people being criticized are actually trained to do this job as opposed to being a wife, husband or friend of the publisher who simply has a careful eye? That's fine for a .pdf selling for $2.00, but not for a full-priced book.Bottom line: no one is perfect, so pay someone qualified to cover your ass, unless you are certain that your target market doesn't give a darn.</blockquote>

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