Why are there spelling errors in books?

[BeerMoney]

Don't they have spell check?

[benfranklin]

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Don't they have spell check?

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Their our sum errs spiel cheque Mrs.

[bobman0330]

Between spell check, grammar check, and editors, there really ought to be 0 errors, or at the very most, 1 per 150 pages or so.

Publishing companies are lazy though, and no one cares enough to call them on it.

[benfranklin]

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Between spell check, grammar check, and editors, there really ought to be 0 errors, or at the very most, 1 per 150 pages or so.


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You have apparently never been involved in the production of a book.

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Publishing companies are lazy though,

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Most people in publishing take great pride in their work, and are dismayed by the slightest error.


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and no one cares enough to call them on it.

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You have apparently not read the threads here about errors in HOH.

[npc]

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Don't they have spell check?

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They certainly do, and the ultimate answer is "laziness", but it's not quite that simple.

With writing as with computer programming there will be "bugs" in anyone's writing. The more passes one takes through the document, the more defects get noticed and fixed. The number of defects tends to decrease exponentially, assymptotically approaching zero over a very long period of time.

Each of these passes takes time. A publisher (or a software developer) needs to make a decision as to when the defect rate is low enough to ship the product. This is an economic one. Typically the decision is made to do so before my own sense of aesthetics is satisfied, but that's business.

After my own book was published (not on the subject of gambling), a total of eight defects have been discovered and pointed out to me out of 100,000 words. The main reason the number is this low is because I insisted that I be allowed to take one more pass through the galley to correct typos. Two of those eight defects were spelling errors (introduced during their transcription of my revisions to the copy editing process). I'm not pleased that these were introduced, but eventually they've got to get the book out the door.

How many times have folks decided, "I guess I won't buy this book after all because I hear there are so many typos?" As long as this number is small or nil, publishers won't make additional edit passes to books.

It bugs me too, though.

[BeerMoney]

Judgement... judgment.

Its not that I care, or I don't know what they are trying to convey.. Its just how does the word end up there? When I type a word wrong using MS Word, it gets underlined immediately.

I guess my question is, is printing books still rather archaic in that they're still using old methods that don't involve computers and stuff?

FWIW, i really don't care about typos. I just wonder how they slip under the radar.

[Sykes]

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Judgement... judgment.


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Both spellings are correct.

[bobman0330]

I have never been involved in the production of a book.

My estimate of the proper error rate might be high, but it's a rare book I read these days in which I don't spot at least 2 or 3 errors. That shouldn't happen.

Hell, even the most recent Harry Potter book has a typo. With all the money they're raking in off that one, there's absolutely no excuse not to provide the highest level of quality.

And, please, don't tell me 2+2 is being held accountable for bad grammar. Have you read HE4AP? Is there a single paragraph in that book you wouldn't be ashamed to publish, if you were an editor?

[kitaristi0]

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Why are there spelling errors in books?

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Because people make mistakes.