Proofreading: Going beyond spell check

Back on the soap box about proofreading.

I recently read a novella. It had all the poor quality hallmarks that I have, unfortunately, come to expect from an independently published book, which proclaims that the author had no one proofread her work before taking it public. I saw:

• She woke from a comma.
• Her sister sang like a cannery.
• The meeting ran latte.

Y'all can stop laughing now.

Spell-check is not an adequate substitute for proofreading. Each of the incorrect words above is correctly spelled. Unfortunately, because the words are so blatantly wrong, they confirm the author's incompetence.

I really, really, really try not to make errors like that. Sometimes I do. The occasional error is expected; we're human after all. But when content is riddled with references to a patient's "comma," then what might have been tragic becomes laughable.

Proofreading is important, folks. Get that fresh second set of eyes to look at your manuscript before going live with it.