Friday 24 August 2012

Fear: the proofreader's friend

Will the digital publishing revolution inevitably lead to a decline in editorial standards?

There are two reasons why I think it might.

One is connected to the notion of agile publishing, in which some people feel the focus should be on getting the product on the shelves (real or virtual) even if all the rough edges haven't quite been smoothed off.

The other is, frankly, about the fear factor.

The great thing about content published electronically is that it can be corrected easily and, for the most part, at any time. It happens with software all the time, and there's no reason why the typo spotted in your e-book shouldn't be corrected in just the same way.

But, of course, it's different if the book is going to print.

If you know that there's no turning back once the book has been sent off, it does tend to set the adrenaline racing when you do those final checks. The costs of having to pulp and reprint will be huge. No-one wants to be responsible for that! And it's rather nice to think that, in years to come, no-one will have to be.

But I do wonder if it gives copy-editors and proofreaders licence to be just a little less assiduous in their error-checking..?

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