[Hitch]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

But the client still has the original source. Can't he edit that, or have you made too many manual changes to make it become PDF, ePUB, and MOBI? (which would be lost if client started again from his source)

S/he could, but then we'd have to reconvert the material to the output formats--PDF, ePUB/MOBI. We do our PDF work in InDesign, and of course we do the eBook work in HTML. There isn't any viable way to get edits from, say, a Word file--like somebody uses track changes--to an ePUB. Not automatically or in any fashion like that. Once the ebook is made, the edits have to be done by human hands. Ditto the production files in InDesign, for the print interior.

Originally Posted by CRussel

Ah, my poor Hitchness. You truly have my sympathies!! <snippage>

In some ways, we were fortunate that we learned in the days before eBooks, where it was easy to understand how making changes impacted the printed page. But it also was because we were professionals, taking our role in the process seriously, and doing our best to not make our laziness or carelessness create extra work for others in the process. Which made it a lot easier when we finally hit the _really big error_ that required re-writing four paragraphs completely. (Not our fault, they changed the software at the last minute because they couldn't get a feature to actually work.) Because we had good credit with the publisher we were able to make the changes and not have anyone come unglued. And because we understood the dynamics of the production process, we could do it in a way that, while a RPITA for everyone, did NOT walk the pages even a little. Took some creative re-writing, but we did it.

In some ways, I miss the "good old days," when authors had to understand what it took, for the publishers to make edits. Now? S**t, now, they think that because you can open Word and make changes and hit "save," that's how EVERYTHING works. It's sooooooooooooooooooooo frustrating. And all the other things that authors had to learn/do, back then?

Things like hiring proofers, or bartering for those services, via a critique group or writer's group? Or, hell, using a writing group AT ALL, to improve one's writing skills? Pah, I laugh at your naivete, to think that that's still the way. Pah!, I say! We don't need no old-fashioned stinkin' writing skills, I tell ya.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Mind blown. Now I can understand maybe 1 or 2 errors getting past everyone but hundreds.
I don't recall seeing proofreading as one of your services.

Yup, hundreds. I think I said this--we had a client with >2K errors. TWO THOUSAND? How do you miss two THOUSAND errors?

I dunno, man. I just don't know. I was so beat up today, I actually left the office "early" (at 1:30, having gone in at 5:30) and laid down and slept for a few hours. In the middle of the day. Sheeeeesh.

Hitch