The no. #1 Worst Offense from Publishers
Why do I always know the answer to that question? Want to know the number one blunder smaller self- and traditional publishers make? (I can actually name the offenders, too, but I'll be polite.) Littering the books with editorial mistakes. I can't tell you how many authors (and this applies to the big overseas publishing houses, too) show me their books only to have earmarked dozens of mistakes. In my opinion though the worst mistakes are the egregious and "ew-producing" back-cover mistakes. I'll be fair, a small handful of interior mistakes I can halfway accept, but the minute I see a back-cover with mistakes galore, I am always flabbergasted. The editors couldn't even take two seconds to ensure the most-read part of the book and THE most important part of the book didn't have mistakes? The only word that comes to mind is "sloppy" ... well, I can think of some other words too like "lame," but you know let's not digress. Why does th...