How one can miss typos in a favorite story

 I reread books. Until I started getting daily emails listing multiple ebook bargains, I reread books far more often than I read new ones -- and even now, I reread favorite books between new ones, and at the end of the day when it's time to quiet my mind. I have no good estimate of how many times I've read the books I especially like. And yet sometimes, as just happened, I find that on my seventh or tenth or dozenth reread, I suddenly notice typos. Even, sometimes, many of them. (And less anyone jump to an erroneous conclusion, these are almost always traditionally published books, largely because I've been collecting and hoarding books since long before indie books became readily available.)

As I finished the latest reread in which this happened, I wondered how I had managed to miss all those typos so many times. And I have a pretty good guess as to why.

This latest book is part of a long-running series, and is the culmination of key character and plot threads. Anyone who's followed the series is likely to find it especially gripping and absorbing -- and in the end, satisfying. Such a reader is, accordingly, too thoroughly immersed in the story to notice that inessential words aren't what the reader expects, or that something is off about the punctuation, or that two words are run together. These are no more significant than a master oral storyteller's occasional throat-clearing or rare momentary stutter. In a way, the reader's ability to ignore typos is a measure of the book's success as story.

On a related note: I've known for years that authors need other eyes on their work, because the author knows what should be there and is therefore likely to miss what's actually on the page (or the screen). There are tricks an author can use to minimize the chance of missing errors, such as reading the book aloud, reading it backwards, and reformatting it with different font types/sizes/colors -- but the more readers also look at it before final publication, the better. The minor epiphany I describe above suggests that ideally, where feasible, some of those readers should not be special fans of the author's books, and in particular not readers committed to any series the book may be part of. And where an author can't arrange, or can't afford, to recruit such non-invested readers, that author had better double up on editing tricks like those I've suggested above.