When reading a book, I find it quite fun to find typos.
With books that are professionally published (especially from those big name publishers) and the author has a professional editor, it is very amusing to find mistakes. Yes, we are all human, and I can let 1 or 2 slide, but when they have errors upon errors, I feel bad for the author because it makes a poor representation of them. Is someone not doing their job? Are they slacking on their job? Or are they trying to work on too many projects at once? Because in a professional setting, there should NEVER be a typo.
Now, I don’t really let the mistakes get to me. Because if the story is intriguing and interesting enough, my mind catches the errors, corrects them, and forgets them. Even though spelling, punctuation, and grammar are very important, if I am into a work, it is just automatically forgiven. It doesn’t disrupt the story or disrupt the flow to me. Mistakes don’t define the author.
If the writer is doing their own editing, it can be very easy to pass right over a typo. I did that just a few weeks ago while working on my zombie poem. I had written a line down, but the thought in my head was different, and when I read it back, I read what I thought I wrote, not what I actually wrote. And it took me 3 – 4 times of going over the line, to actually catch my mistake. As a writer, you are so familiar with your work, I think it makes it so damn easy to do this.
Anywho, just my thought for the day. What are your thoughts?
It seems to me that typos have increased in recent years, even by traditional publishers. And I think the public doesn’t mind that bad.
We live in a world where “speed” and “distraction” trumps all else. And I think the traditional publishers have felt this pressure to speed up publication dates, and have been pressured to cut costs as bookstores have started disappearing — both leading to less time for editing and fewer editors looking for typos!
That’s just my take!
Totally agree!