Replies

Strange. I wonder if they changed publishers.

There is usually a copy of it page by page, with lots of reviews and editors to sign off on the page...I bet that the Internet influence on publications have changed all that? No pasting of pictures or hard copy advance copies?

I guess that is the future (current) way of all printing.

The books should be returned to the printer and reprinted correctly, or did they not pay for editing?

Strange. I wonder if they changed publishers. . . . I bet that the Internet influence on publications have changed all that?

You win your bet. I am a novelist. Once upon a time, there was a whole process to printing a book. There was manuscript acquisition when ab acquisition editor would read your manuscript. If it wasn't too bad, or even if it was pretty good, acquisitions would send it on. Depending on the size of the publishing house, a decision to buy would be made by some kind of boss, or a committee would decide.

The next step was for the editor assigned to getting the book out would work with the writer to do re-writes. Sometimes re-writes were extensive, perhaps chapters and chapters, or a page here and there. When the editor was satisfied, he or she would sent it on to copy editing. The copy editor--who were the intellectuals of the publishing industry--would then go over the entire manuscript, checking for grammatical errors, and correct them. If there was a major problem, the editor would send it back to acquisitions.
Once copy editing was satisfied, the manuscript was scheduled for typesetting. A designer would work the magic to make the book cover and dust jacket distinctive, and select the type faces for the coverings. Usually, but not always, the book was set in Times Roman.

When the type was set, copies, called galleys, were run off and forwarded to the book editor, who would send a copy to the writer. Once all signoffs were completed, another copy was sent to the proofreader who was responsible for reading the manuscript to be certain Ts were crossed, and Is were dotted, spellings were correct. Once that was done, the book was okayed for printing.

These days, even the major houses are beginning to skip various steps because editorial staffs have been downsized.

But, these days, there is an entire cottage industry of self-publishing. E-book manuscripts are knocked out by the writer who also then edits his own copy, chooses fonts, completes the PDF himself or herself, and assembles or pays to have assembled the e-book components.

One pair of eyes doing all of the visuals of the book, copy editing of the manuscript, then proofreading of the pre-print copy is really inefficient. For the same reason a singer cannot tell he's singing off key, a pair of tired eyes will look at the same error or erroneous fact three or four times and completely miss it.

I'm not telling you that American civilization will end because the publishing books, one of the most precious things our society does, is deteriorating. I'm saying that this is what's going on in American publishing. It's not likely that it will be fixed in the next few years because of the economic drain caused by the spending of trillions of dollars, some of for Michelle Obama's vacations, done by our country will hamper the size and number of things we can do well. Perhaps for decades.