Few things are more satisfying than opening, for the very first time, your very own self-published book. In beautiful black ink on creamy white pages are your wise thoughts, your clever phrases, your contributions to society, your. . . YIPES, a typo!

Right there, like a giant spider on the kitchen curtain, is a typographical error for all the world to see. Unfortunately, unlike a spider, it won’t go away. Indeed, soon you find it has multiplied.

There’s a misspelling on one page, incorrect punctuation on another, and a missing word elsewhere, all mute testimony to the absence of a copy editor.

Take, for example, a self-published book describing how to save money when buying a car. Here is the first sentence of the book’s second paragraph: "American’s have never been taught how to buy, sell, or trade a car."

That errant apostrophe is the first of countless errors throughout the book, compounded by the overuse of exclamation points (sometimes three in a row), overuse of boldface, overuse of... well, you get the idea. However valuable this book’s information may be, its credibility is compromised by the semi-literacy of the text.

Clearly, the authors are not trained writers. But even if you are an experienced writer, you should not try to copy edit or proofread your own book. First, you bring pre-existing knowledge to the work; phrases and concepts that you take for granted may be unknown to your readers. Second, you can’t accurately proofread your copy because your eyes sees what your mind expects it to see; that’s why a magician can make a card disappear even as you stare at it.

Don’t expect typesetters or printers to proof your copy; that’s not their job. It’s up to you to engage a copy editor to correct the manuscript before it is typeset and a proofreader to ferret out errors in the typeset page proofs.

A copy editor not only corrects errors in spelling, syntax, punctuation, and so forth but also imposes uniformity of style, cleans up the occasional roughly written sentence, and eliminates repetition. A good copy editor knows the difference between who and whom, less and fewer, healthy and healthful, and anxious and eager.

Strictly speaking, proofreaders simply ensure that the typeset text matches exactly the manuscript. But proofreaders can also back up copy editors, changing "for awhile" to "for a while" and eliminating "hot" in "hot water heater."

Ideally, the copy editor and proofreader are different people; practically speaking, one good professional can do both jobs.

Full time pros can be found in Literary Market Place at your local library, the Yellow Pages ("Editorial Services"), or the job line of the Independent Writers of Southern California (213-464-1666). Some charge by the page or the project, most by hour ($35 to $75).

If that’s too much for your budget, call your local college or newspaper; a graduate English student, instructor, proofreader, or reporter may be available for, say, $20 to $30 an hour. Or you can check with your friends and neighbors. Even an amateur proofreader at $10 an hour is better than none at all.

Other wise, youll end upp with sentinces that look like thes!!!