DC Conspiracy[dots pattern]

11.01.2006

The Small Presser, #23: "Mind Your Ps and Qs"

It's been nearly half a year since a new installment of “The Small Presser” has appeared, mainly because I thought I had pretty much covered everything I could cover. But, lo and behold, something has reared its ugly head!

This spring, I edited Dr. Dremo #3, an on-going jam anthology created and published by the D.C. Conspiracy. I also had a chance to look at another D.C. Conspiracy book that was in production at the time (Shear Terror), and I noticed that contributors were not paying attention to critical details.

An editor’s job goes beyond simply laying out pages and making sure everything is in order before sending it to print. A good editor will proofread the book and look for spelling, grammar and style mistakes (or at least farm it out to someone who will do this). It’s a bit harder to do when you’re compiling an anthology, but it’s crucial to ensure that there’s a flow/consistency to the work as a whole.

While editing Dr. Dremo #3, I expected to spend maybe an hour or two just perusing the text to snare any renegade typos. I ended up spending about seven hours fixing numerous spelling, punctuation and style errors. This is not a good thing. I realized that few people actually proofread their work before handing it in. Well, they should—you should! Fewer errors in final copy/art have been scientifically proven to reduce stress in editors!

In all seriousness, there are two major gaffs common among small pressers that drive editors nuts. First, as I mentioned, creators who fail to proofread their stories before submission. My personal pet peeve is punctuation. For the love of Dremo, people, learn to properly use commas and apostrophes! Using them incorrectly can completely change the meaning of the sentence. Here’s a simple example: “Kill Bill” and “Kill, Bill.” The former means to kill a person named Bill; in the latter, a person named Bill is told to do the killing. Yeah, it’s picky, but it’s important. Attention to details shows professionalism.

My second pet peeve: Contributors not following specifications (specs). When I compile an anthology, I give specific details in terms of page count, resolution, page size, etc. But I don’t overload the instructions—I know the limited attention span of comic creators (20 seconds)! Despite short bullet points to convey the specs, people still screw it up. They give me 200 dpi, even though the specs say 300 dpi. Or they give me a 4-by-4 inch image space, though the specs say that the art must be proportional to 5.5 by 8.5 inches.

And it’s not like I send the specs to contributors only once. Nope. I typically send it out three to five times, and always include them in a paragraph at the end of any e-mails.

I’ve been compiling anthologies for about four years and there are always at least two people (sometimes more) who can’t/won’t follow directions.

What’s the big deal? Well, first, contributors ignoring the specs damage the look of the book. Consistency is lost. And readers notice!

Second, potential contributors who submit work to more prestigious publications will be disappointed when their work is tossed out. Some editors refuse to work with contributors who can’t follow specs. Think about it, all that hard work down the drain because someone couldn’t be bothered with some basic specs.

Matt D. at 4:16 PM  |  link to this   

4 Comments

Salient points, Matt. I know I'm a jerk about getting grammar right but I messed up on the resolution for my files twice now and have only myself to blame if the end result isn't as clear as it could be. Lesson learned - the hard way!

Blogger Chris at 11/01/2006 5:21 PM   

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Blogger jaime at 11/02/2006 3:45 PM   

Excellent topic and good points Matt. I agree. I too have learned the hard way. My latest work "Claudette" still has 2-3 typos that chortle "tee-hee hee-heee-heeeeee". Even though select readers claim they miss them, I do not (However, only after the print!).

But yes, spelling, punctuation and style is very crucial. But for the typo and punctuation challenged (me included on occasion) it also takes eye practice. I would even go so far as to recommend a calming eye exercise. Try this one:
Read challenging and verbose books slower than you would normally read them, i.e. classic lit; scientific periodicals or journals.
In the end you might even get so good that you spot a typo or punctuation error in a classic!

But as far as specs are concerned, I am a winged cherub. *tra-la-la-la-laaaaaaa!* *strums on harp*

j

Blogger jaime at 11/02/2006 3:50 PM   

you grumpy old man! Just stretch their art to fit the specs. Artist's love that, right Chris?

Blogger Jacob at 11/03/2006 9:52 PM   

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