Reading the Proofs

I always look forward to reading & correcting the page proofs/galleys — the final, typeset version of  my books.  I haven’t out-grown the thrill yet. To me, that’s when a book truly feels real. And reading it isn’t a chore, except for the time it takes away from my other work.  But author Sandra Scoppettone doesn’t feel the same way about her galleys.

Having to read it again is hideous.  I don’t feel like reading it.
It’s interrupted my writing schedule.  In fact, it feels like torture
having to read it.  But this will be the last time.  Once a book is
published I never read it again.

It’s usually been such a long time since I finished writing the book that it feels as if what I am reading was written by someone else.  I enjoy it. That said, I don’t go back and read my books again, not that it’s any kind of hard-and-fast rule with me. It has just worked out that way. There are a lot more things out there that I’m interested in reading than my own work.

How do you other authors out there feel about reading your galleys?

5 thoughts on “Reading the Proofs”

  1. If enough time has passed between submission and edits, I usually enjoy it. Well, I say that giving my second novel another pass to tighten things up, but no, it doesn’t bother me to see the first one again. I may have to reread it anyway, just so I don’t sound like an idiot forgetting what I wrote when I’m interviewed.

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  2. I don’t like reading galleys and consider it one of the necessary evils of the business. If I’m really pressed for time on other projects, I’ve been known to pawn them off on somebody else, like my wife or daughter. Sometimes I think they’re more likely to actually catch mistakes than I am.

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  3. My wife won’t do it… and my daughter is too young. Here’s what I don’t get. I read the galley for errors, send’em back, and then a couple months later when the book comes out, I spot all kinds of stupid typos and miss-spellings I didn’t see before. How does this happen? Why do I miss them in the galley but they seem to be in 72-point type in the final book?

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  4. I kind of enjoy rereading my screenwriting book, possibly because I had fun writing it, and I like the snippy jokes I put in it. It’s certainly less stressful than writing new stuff…

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