The Dark Art of the Copy Edit

Hello there, loyal readers. Remember when I promised no more updates until publication? And no more updates about copy editor nerdery? Well, I lied. But at least I'm honest about my past lie. I am writing this post because I have used the darkest of copy editor arts: the reverse chapter read.

The Book is in amazing shape. The artwork is lovely, and the editing and production process runs smoothly. I recently read the book on my iPad, but not as you normally do. Rather, in order to focus on sentence structure, word choice, misspellings, and other such things, I read the book in reverse order. Kinda. I started with the Conclusion, then I read Chapter 10, then I read Chapter 9, etc.

Why?

Eye fatigue. Not surprisingly, the first Five Chapters were super clean. Of course, they are shorter than the later ones. However, eyes get tired. You can only see so many comma splices before they start to, look kinda cool. And once you've let one sentence starting with a conjunction slip through the cracks, why not let a few more in the backdoor?

The professional copy editor did a great job, however he is based in the UK. Thus, some kinda neat word confusion arouse. I speak Spanish at home and at work, so doubts about my native language crept up. Is it "forever" or "for ever"? Does "traveling" need a second "l"? Is there an "e" in acknowledgment?

Then, of course, reality hit. 99% of readers will not see said errors, and won't care. However, the book is my baby and I don't like freckles. Not even little ones. Hence, I read the book backwards. It is almost perfect.

Now that I've dabbled in the dark arts, though, I am tempted to try another super evil Sith Lord feat: the reverse read BY PARAGRAPH. By sentence would be a headache and by word is impossible, but by paragraph tempts me.

Or I could just internet-source any remaining edits to my Kickstarter backers who are getting advanced copies soon. Hmmmmmm.....