I would be better employed in ending you...

[BookBint]

Greetings all, it’s been a while.

BG: I’m an editor at a publishing company, specialising in history.

Just before Christmas we sent the page proofs of a book to an author who I’m going to call TG (Total Git). It is a book about mediaeval archery, and TG is a total archery nut, makes his own bows etc. That in itself is no problem, except that he can’t really write and is an all-round idiot. I didn’t edit the book myself, UberBoss (a publisher who is my immediate boss) did it in a great hurry because we were swamped. We figured that we’d pick up any little errors once the book had been paged (put into a Mac programme, made to look like a real book etc).

However, one thing I did do was tell the designer where to put the pictures (each is given a number and that number is typed into the Word document near the paragraph where it is relevant). Because I hadn’t read the book, I placed the pictures by going by the image names the author had assigned. Therefore, if a picture was called ‘14a ARROWSMITH CHAPTER’ then I gave it the official number and keyed it into the chapter called ‘The Arrowsmith’. Pretty straightforward, no? No.

Just after Christmas UberBoss gets a seriously angry email from TG. Top of his list of complaints is that most of the pictures have been put in the wrong place. ‘Why has a sea battle picture been put in a chapter on artillery??? It should be in the chapter on warfare!’ ‘Why has a picture of a crossbow been put in the Arbalastier chapter, it should be in the chapter on crossbows!!!’ I go through all the pictures he originally sent us, and sure enough, the sea battle picture is labelled ‘3a ARTILLERS CHAPTER’ and the crossbow pic is called ‘19c ARBALASTIER CHAPTER’. This was true for all 26 of the pictures he was complaining about. His screw up, not mine.

Now all this I could take; I’m used to dealing with eccentric morons. However, it was the several insults to my poor self which really annoyed me. Chief amongst these were the lines: ‘BookBint would be better employed in putting pictures in the right place than trying to edit my book’ (which I didn’t), and ‘hopefully she can be more careful with this important book’ (which it isn’t). He also accused me of several misspellings of technical words, which I wouldn’t have dreamt of messing with even if I had edited the manuscript. Naturally I went and had a look at the original Word document he sent us, and found the errors already there.

There is also the small matter of him being a moron. He dated an Anglo-Saxon burial to 1242 (it turned out to be 925 AD). He was out on the dates of over 50 battles, often by as much as 40 years. He believes that the Hollywood version of Robin Hood is real, down to Little John and Maid Marion. I don't want to start a fratching thread on whether Robin Hood was a real person (which he really wasn't, whatever the romantics say) but Maid Marion really is total bollocks. She doesn't turn up in the ballads until a hundred years after Robin first appears.

Anyway, I had the joyful task of reading and rewriting the entire book, which has now taken me two weeks, on and off. Today I got to write him an email attaching a new PDF of the book, and incidentally listing all his mistakes in the nicest possible way. Sort of. Now I'm waiting for the inevitable explosion when he realises how much I've changed...

[artcurmudgeon]

As a recovering history geek(thats another story all together), I love well researched medieval history books(and if you have any on armour I would be thrilled to hear about them). But I think I will slap the next fantasy freak that wants to tell me how swords weighed 50 pounds and that fuller(sometimes called a blood grove) was there to make blood flow quicker(it wasnt, it was a means to lighten a sword)...

Sorry, but its crap like that makes me hate people with a passion.....

[Crossbow]

Ugh. This might actually piss me off even more than it does you. I have a degree in medieval history AND am an avid archer and fletcher (No, I'm not the author, BookBint. Put down the sledgehammer. Please?) and seeing this idiot screw up a book that I would actually like to read is infuriating. It's hard enough to get good books on the subject published without this twit making easily-fixed mistakes (not to mention the whole Robin Hood bit). And then to get mad at you for his own mistakes! What a jerk.

[emax4]

Oh BookBint, how I've missed your postings. My day is made... I'd love to see your place of employment and find his original draft framed on the "Wall of Bloopers".

[Raveni]

Before complaining (loudly) about errors, make sure that they are not your own. I'd bet that, all professionalism aside, this book will turn out worse now because BookBint won't be terribly motivated to go the extra mile for this idiot.

[Pixilated]

I do freelance editing for a local newspaper but I don't actually deal with the reporters (though most are pretty decent, from what I've seen so far). I just mark up the hard copy (or change it right on the computer) and hand it back to the other editors, LOL. Though there is one writer that I am going to bludgeon one fine day with a hefty collection of !her! !overused! !exclamation! !points!

Wait ... no Robin Hood? You mean ... for real?? Not at any point in history?!?

NOOOO! Say it ain't so!!

[earl colby pottinger]

Was Robin Hood real? Fratching material.

Was Hollywood's version of Robin Hood real? If you think so, I have swamp land to sell.

[Seshat]

Robin Hood: Men in Tights, however, is totally accurate pure history. Right down to Rabbi Tuck. And the peasants shouting "Leave us alone, Mel Brooks" is well-documented in several historical documents of the period.

... isn't it?

[MoonCat]

Now, see, I would send back a copy of his original stuff with all the errors highlighted in bright yellow or green or pink. Especially the photos. I HATE when people try to blame me for their mistakes!!

[Squeaksmyalias]

But I think I will slap the next fantasy freak that wants to tell me how swords weighed 50 pounds
Sorry, but its crap like that makes me hate people with a passion.....

I hate this, I hate this with the fire of a thousand suns!
Real swords are never that heavy and some are closer to 5lbs more or less, which is why I get credit from my sword fighting friends for carrying 5lbs of lens on me all day, some days.
I hate it especially when it's this one dude and he tells me this crap in an effort to flirt with me. Yes, I might not be in garb at faire, but I pay attention to the fighters when they talk and see that group of swords men over there? The ones I spend hours with? Yea pretty sure the ones who have a fight school know a wee bit more then you. Yea, I want to take a pommel to his head why do you ask?

[Pixilated]

Was Robin Hood real? Fratching material.

Was Hollywood's version of Robin Hood real? If you think so, I have swamp land to sell.

Only if you'll take an IOU.

I just like the idea that somewhere, way back in the mists of history, there actually was an individual who gave rise to the Robin Hood legends.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights, however, is totally accurate pure history. Right down to Rabbi Tuck. And the peasants shouting "Leave us alone, Mel Brooks" is well-documented in several historical documents of the period.

... isn't it?

I'm pretty sure I've seen the documents confirming all that ... a pile of foolscap pages with datestamps, right?

[sevendaysky]

I can readily believe that there was a Robin-Hood type person somewhere in the annals of history who did indeed rob from the rich and give to the poor. However, there is no formal record of Robin Hood as a clear, distinct individual -- to the extent of having actually existed, having a grave somewhere, et al. It's more conceivable that it was based off a person or an older myth and updated to fit the times in which the stories about him began to appear. Do keep in mind that during that time, it was entertaining for the peasants to think that someone might be such a benefactor, and thus gave them hope (misguided, of course, but hope).

That said. That author is full of youknowwhat. Don't you wish, Book, that you could fine them for every "error" that they accuse you of -- in which the error is entirely theirs and provable as such? Oh, if only.

[eltf177]

Ugh. This might actually piss me off even more than it does you. I have a degree in medieval history AND am an avid archer and fletcher (No, I'm not the author, BookBint. Put down the sledgehammer. Please?) and seeing this idiot screw up a book that I would actually like to read is infuriating. It's hard enough to get good books on the subject published without this twit making easily-fixed mistakes (not to mention the whole Robin Hood bit). And then to get mad at you for his own mistakes! What a jerk.

Agree 100% This sounds like a book I would _love_ to read, only to start pulling out hair and grinding teeth over obvious inaccuracies! I don't mind amateur writers, but for pity's sake at least _try_ to get your facts right! And amateurs shouldn't be complaining about editing, it's the job of people such as yourself to fix _their_ glaring errors! Work with them, your complaints are epic fail as they're your own fault!

Thank you for keeping such garbage from stealing my valuable book money and precious shelf space!

[dalesys]

At least the amatuers can be corrected by the editors. "Famous" authors?!

Every Michael Crichton book I've ever read has at least one howler.

Congo: C-130: "The worlds largest airplane"

[EricKei]

It sounds like a book I might have enjoyed, as well. While I am definitely not a history nut, I *am* a fan of ye olde swords and armor and such. Dad was the history nut (and major). One of his hobbies, especially when confined to the house, was to watch the History Channel just to see what they got wrong. Each time he did this, he caught at least one error that I was later able to verify. His knowledge of 20th-century weapons and battles, in particular, was, at times, disturbingly comprehensive.