What It Is (posts below left; rate sheet, client list, other stuff below right)

My name is Bob Land. I am a full-time freelance editor and proofreader, and occasional indexer. This blog is my website.

You'll find my rate sheet and client list here, as well as musings on the life of a freelancer; editing, proofreading, and indexing concerns and issues; my ongoing battles with books and production; and the occasional personal revelation.

Feel free to contact me directly with additional questions: landondemand@gmail.com.

Thanks for visiting. Leave me a comment. Come back often.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Copyediting and Proofreading Harry Potter

No. Not me. The only interest I have in Harry Potter is that I'm glad it interested a generation in books, and a few members of my family are mighty interested in the books and movies.

We also have a British first edition of one of the books that I think was purchased in Germany in 2000 when one of the series came out. Interesting thing, from what I understand, is that one of the chapters ends differently than the US edition, and there might even be some chapter titles that are different, or a couple of chapters in different order. Huh? Well, whatever.

Anyway, I've linked below to a story about the woman who proofread the first few in the series and copyedited the last few. It's only mildly interesting, but I figure that a mention of Harry Potter might draw a little blog traffic. Shameless whore? Present.

Harry Potter haiku anyone? I'd be at a loss . . . except to use it to riff on publishing and money and myth -- and my wife wishing she could have seen Daniel Radcliffe in Equus.

http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x911070733/Riverton-woman-says-copy-editing-Harry-Potter-books-was-top-secret-job

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may want to check the value of that first edition you own. A first edition of the first book sold for a lot of money.

moi said...

I've never read a single one of these books. Seen the movies, though. And, please! Check that first edition value!

darkfoam said...

the leaky cauldron
youthful butterbeer drunkards..
thestrals lead them home ..

czar said...

Marsha: Thanks. I read the article you linked to. Looks like the big money was going for the first edition of volume 1, when they only printed 500 copies . . . and those were advance copies to libraries and such, before anyone realized what a behemoth this was going to be. I suspect that our own particular edition is worth pretty much what we paid for it, but you never know. I'd guess that by 2000, even the first print runs were in the 6 figures. But a U.S. collector might have an interest in the British version.

Moi: I think I saw one of the movies. Maybe. From what I understand, one would be hard-pressed to make much sense of the latest one without having read the book. But you're not the typical viewer. Re: the first edition . . . we have a bunch of old Pokemon cards sitting around somewhere. I guess I should be cashing those in to pay for the kids' college educations. Man, there were so many people who thought they'd be able to do exactly that. What I wish I had was the Beatles' autographs that my mother scored when she ran into them at a NYC hotel in 1964. Now there's a tale of woe.

Foam: I trust you inherently, but if that's a Harry Potter haiku, the meaning is lost on me entirely. I have no frame of reference for it whatsoever. Maybe I'll run it by the Czarina or my own Harry.

czar said...

Foam: My own Harry -- the one who helped on the haiku judging -- has decoded for me:

"The Leaky Cauldron is a bar, butterbeer is the drink of young wizards and witches, and thestrals are creatures that guide carriages and can only be seen by those who have witnessed a murder, so yes, it relates to Harry Potter."

Mystery solved.