So, how come I see errors by editors and proofreaders?

Ok, so we all know that you go to an editor to work magic with your words, tighten you tables and add pzazz to your paragraphs. But then you pop along to a blog, social media or another piece of informal writing … and what’s that? A typo!

Yup. It’s there, shouting at you. “HellooooOOoooo! Got this one wrong didn’t you?” *Cue flashing neon lights and horns blaring*.

Well, it’s not surprising really – after all we are only human.

Shouldn’t editors’ writing be error free?

When you hire an editor, or a proofreader, we spend our time lovingly wandering through your copy. Armed with our favourite coloured pens and a pencil or two, or, more likely these days, sitting in front of the screen (probably still clutching the coloured pen as a comfort blanket), we switch on our “editing brain” and the magic happens. Words are evaluated, sentences tweaked, typos blitzed … piece by piece the copy starts to sparkle.

Until, of course, we come to our own writing. We try to avoid errors, but like every good editor knows, writers need editors … and once we cross the line, the writer part of the brain takes over.

It’s a well known fact that the longer you work on a piece of your own writing, the closer you get to it, the less you see. You become used to the words on the page, you gloss over the odd error and the brain sees what it wants to see. Eventually, you will have re-read the piece so often that you miss the, sometimes glaring, errors. Heck, we’ve all seen those sentences doing the rounds on Twitter (I refuse to call it X) and Facebook –  misplaced strings of words saying something along the lines of “if you can read all this jumbled up nonsense you are either hyper-intelligent or a superhero”.

It’s probably a little known fact (the non-scientific kind of fact acquired by talking to people) that writing can bring editors out in cold sweats at times. You prepare a little article, read it … read it again … then re-read it. There’s a typo in there – there’s bound to be. In our profession we know that the spell checker doesn’t pick everything up (and we know that it’s our reputation on the line)… so we read it again. It’s fine, we’re fine … we will not show ourselves up. Then BINGO! as soon as you thrust your writing out into the world there is it, quietly winking at you from the page or the screen.

How do you deal with an error in an editor’s writing?

If you spot an error, be gentle and understanding (please!).

Other editors will usually quietly message the writer and let them know – privately. You can do this too!

There’s no need to be snarky, or rude, or try to get the upper hand. It won’t make you look intelligent (hey, unless we say so it’s not a ‘spot the error’ exercise) but it might make you look a little foolish. Kindness goes a long way. Obviously we know the difference a good editor or proofreader can make, but not every piece of writing gets the budget for that, or needs it. A quickly written social media post has a half-life of about ten minutes (at a guess), so we’re not going to pass it by another professional unless it really needs it. But if you do spot an error, a quick message will usually be gratefully received.

So, next time you read something written by an editor, or a proofreader, and there’s an error, or a typo, or a mis-aligned paragraph … smile your secret smile, lean back in your chair and heave a sigh of relief … yes … editors and proofreaders are human too!

*disclaimer* There’s bound to be a typo in here … there is just BOUND to be!