Friday, September 16, 2005

professionalism

hey, authors: if you want to be taken seriously, get a friggin' copy editor. publishers: same thing.

i just started jill soloway's tiny ladies in shiny pants (soloway was a producer/writer of six feet under, and this interview made me want to read her book) and dude, do you know how many typos/instances of bad grammar i have caught? at least seven. and i'm only on page 18. when "it's" was used as a possessive for the second time in two pages, i had to put the book down. i'm not sure i can read it without being exasperated when there's an egregious misspelling or apostrophe abuse on every other page. at least not when i'm all cranky and ouchy, for sure.

NEXT!

3 comments:

pinky pinkerson said...

if you ever see a bad its or it's in my blog, please tell me immediately.

i do my best to avoid even using them, because "its" just looks wrong to me no matter what.

too bad though about that book - i've read some good things about it. but i know what you mean about typos spoiling a book.

Alicia K. said...

to be honest, i really didn't like her lengthy introduction's writing style either. it's all ranty about women and sex. maybe the chapters are funny and anecdotal (everyone is comparing her to david sedaris) but the intro was the pits.

and i don't mind typos or whateverin blogs-- i mean, i know i have typos often. but in things that in theory have an editor! creamery != creamy, for instance. it's just lame.

Anonymous said...

i'm so glad i'm not the only one.

i can't *stand* the its/it's thing. oh my oh my oh my. and several other things that also drive me nuts. preach it, sister!1 (;