Can be taut

Please humor me while I indulge in a small rant.

The following are just two examples (unfortunately, there were many) from a recently published book that suggest subpar or nonexistent copy editing.

"He reached her, his face taught, a look of concern."

"Galen inoculated us when we he took us."

Argh. Mistakes in books annoy me.

Does it really matter? Why do I care?
Honestly, this type of carelessness makes it difficult for me to enjoy a book. (Yes, I am persnickety. I've earned my nom de plume.) Errors jump right off the page at me and interrupt the flow of the story. They color my perception of the work. I have a hard time forming a highly favorable opinion of something that seems tossed off. Why not invest the time/money to hire a competent copy editor and ensure that the work reaches the public in the most polished state possible? I'm not familiar with the inner workings of the book publishing industry, so I don't know if the blame rests with the writer or the publisher. Frankly, I think it's embarrassing for both. Not everyone cares, it's true; but some of us do, and we notice.

Effective writing and editing are often thankless jobs. Believe me, it's the rare person who will stop and say, "Wow. There are no typographical or diction errors in this Annual Report. The phrasing is wonderful and the message is delivered clearly and concisely." It's much more probable that someone will take note of the typo on page 12.

In closing, I want to point out that this complaint is specific to books and other mass-market reading material. Everyone makes mistakes, and I'm the first to forgive the occasional slip. However, if you're going to print tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of copies of a book, I think it's important to make sure it's as close to perfect as possible.