Proofs

[Helene]

I was in Powell's in Portland yesterday, and I bought the uncorrected proof copies of Teachout's book on Balanchine and the new bio of Fonteyn.

My question is for the publishing gurus among us: how likely is it that content (rather than spelling, punctuation, etc.) will change between the uncorrected proof and the final version? Or does this vary greatly from book to book and/or publisher to publisher?

[Farrell Fan]

My guess is that it's highly unlikely content would change. The uncorrected proofs are what reviewers usually have. Of course, my experience with publishers was in the Pleistocene era.

Incidentally, I recently bought online at an antiquarian bookseller some uncorrected proofs of my first novel, published in 1971. What made it interesting was that the galleys were inscribed -- not by me but by a reviewer, the late Jerre Mangione, to an acquaintance of his. He'd given me a terrific review at the time, in the Chicago Sun-Times, so I was surprised at some less than complimentary notes pencilled on the proofs.

[Alexandra]

In my experience, proofs are the last chance to correct small errors. The writer has to pay for changes (unless they're printer's errors) -- a specific fee for each change -- and any change must fit on the page. This matches the experience of two friends of mine, one also with a university press and another with a major commercial press.

In my case, there were quite a few small errors (and some never got corrected!) that may have resulted from misreading of my handwriting on the copyedited copy. There were a few very odd errors -- dates that had been changed to be incorrect -- thqt I changed back. I did make several substantive changes. I had forgotten to put in two things that could be squeezed into a sentence or two; I took out a paragraph on a page wherre that could fit. There were also two sentences that I decided weren't clear, and I changed them, and there were two things that I had learned since finishing the book that had to be squeezed in. But proofs aren't the place to rewrite.

One of the proofs to my book turned up on ebay once (a friend the link to me, thinking I'd want to buy it; I didn't!) with a blurb suggesting that proofs often had the real scoop, things that had to be changed because of legal advice, etc. I doubt that would be true for most proofs; it certainly wasn't with mine (any questions of that nature were worked out during editing).

The quick version for American publishers is that the author submits a manuscript. In a university press, that manuscript is sent to several "readers" who are experts in the field for comment, and to make sure that the materiall is solid and meets the standards of the press. Then the writer prepares a final manuscript, which goes to a copy editor. Then the writer gets to undo the damage done by the copy editor (mine changed every Danish word to German, for example) or make any changes; you are not encouraged to rewrite, but an editor might say, "this sentence really isn't clear." This final manuscript gets corrected and that's the proof. The proof gets corrected and proofread. Once, long ago, it would be proofread many times, but no longer, which is how a typo, or punctuation error often makes it to the printed page. As Farrell Fan said, this is sthe copy that gets sent out to reviewers so they can skim it and decide whether or not they want (or can) review it. They're honor bound NOT to review the proof, because it may contain errors. It's also sent out to critics, or other people who might be seen as experts on the subject matter, for "back of the book" blurbs, mini advance reviews.

Helene, I hope you'll check a few places and see if there were changes, and tell us!

[Herman Stevens]

As Farrell Fan said, this is sthe copy that gets sent out to reviewers so they can skim it and decide whether or not they want (or can) review it. They're honor bound NOT to review the proof, because it may contain errors. It's also sent out to critics, or other people who might be seen as experts on the subject matter, for "back of the book" blurbs, mini advance reviews.

Really? I review American / British fiction for part of my living and I usually work with advance review copies, which are pback copies made from the final proofs. If reviewers were to wait for the 'official' copies they would be too late. And I happen to know my own books (fiction) are invariably reviewed from the loose sheet proofs, which I encounter occassionally, too (it makes for rather comfortable reading - you don't have to hold the entire book, but just a page it the time).

I am afraid reviewers as a rule don't feel too honorbound to check proofs against the finished book, and they're usually right, because substantial changes do not occur at this stage. I could imagine there are fact-checking desk editors at make-or-break media like the NY Times etc who do check the quotes in the reviews against the official copies.

The downside of the copies you purchased, Helene, is there are no indexes at the back, and no photo pages (my copy of the Fonteyn is a advance copy, too), and the paper used may be not as good as the finished product.

[rg]

most of what's been said is to the point.

i know from personal experience and example(s) that the chances to make changes AFTER bound galleys are released is not extensive; my understanding is that the opportunity is there to make changes so long as they don't change pagination; at the time bound-galleys are out the index is being prepared.

if there is a real gaffe i suppose money is no object to getting the correction made, but sometimes such bloopers aren't caught until the reviewers have their look at the books.

in one instance i can note specifically, in an autobiography of one of Balanchine's most beloved ballerinas, Balanchine was said to have been born in Tibilisi, but whatever the cost, someone caught the error and the book came out naming, correctly, St. Petersburg as the balletmaster's birthplace.

i try to check finished copies against the bound galley volumes i get sent on the odd occasion. sometimes the mistakes i note are found and corrected, and other times, not.

re: the fonteyn galleys mentioned here, i've yet to check for corrections of the errors i noted as i read the bound galleys i was sent.

essentially tho, for better or worse, there is often not great difference between the uncorrected proofs and final printings.

[Mel Johnson]

It used to be very expensive to work changes even on unbound galley proofs. That was because we were in the age of solid type and the whole type matrix had to be broken up and done over, sometimes for three or four pages on either side of the change. Changes to a BOUND proof had better just to be punctuation, or some other small matter, because the book had been composited, and breaking the book could break the bank, as far as production expense was concerned. Now, it's easier to do, what with offset and other printing techniques that don't require major fiddling with hardware.

[Helene]

Many thanks for all of the responses! My main concern was that I'd post and cite a story that didn't make it into the final published version. I'll be sure to sneak into a bookstore and verify the official version before I post. The proof was a lot lighter to carry from Portland than the hardbound version

[Herman Stevens]

The proof was a lot lighter to carry from Portland than the hardbound version

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But you may want to xerox the index at the public library (if and when they get a copy) to make the book a little more accessible.