Don’t Let This Happen to You! – From The Vault of Publishing Horror Stories

I’ve noticed that nothing gets fingers pointing, phones ringing, keyboard clicking, and inboxes flaming faster than errors found after a piece of writing is published. It’s bad enough if it happens on a Web site where it can be quickly fixed, but when it happens in printed material, especially in books, it’s even worse. Errors found in books can be particularly embarrassing because they are costly and time-consuming to fix, republish, and redistribute.

Often, errors pertain to using a word that is incorrect, but sounds similar to or is spelled nearly the same as the correct word. Here are some examples of common errors:

• Affect or Effect
• Ensure, Insure, or Assure
• It’s or Its
• Two, Too, or To
• Set or Sit
• Then or Than
• There, Their, or They’re
• That, Which, Who, Whom, or Whose
• Like or As if
• Roll or Role
• Quite or Quiet
• Though or Thorough
• Since or Because
• Should of or Should have
• Less or Fewer
• Amount of or Number of
• Over or More than
• Capitol or Capital

As sloppy as the misuse of any of the above examples are (and they are troubling because they tend to undermine the credibility of the author), they are not the only types of errors that can cause major concern.

Some errors involve more complex problems such as overlooked issues in:

• Grammar
• Punctuation
• Style
• Syntax
• Sentence structure
• Inconsistencies or inaccuracies in content
• Ambiguity of message
• Flow and structure of the work

And those are just possible errors that can occur. We’re not even going to discuss here some of the more complex writing issues of:

• Tone
• Structure
• Pacing
• Point-of-view, and the like.

Errors can certainly undermine a book by distracting readers from fully engaging in the content and comprehending it. Worse yet, some errors not only affect meaning, but may also offend some, and cause great embarrassment for the author.

Following are a few alarming, but real examples from my own personal vault of publishing horror stories I’ve encountered over years of editing experience. These are provided for your amusement, because after all, these happened to someone else—not you.

• “A woman was attacked at the hands of a dog.” Really?
• “Complimentary” was used in the title of a work instead of the intended “Complementary.”

Did you know that more errors are overlooked in titles and headings than in any other part of a work? We tend to brush past them and spend more time on the heavier text.

• “I should be reimbursed for my incontinence.” Should it have been “incompetence?” No, it was meant to be “inconvenience.”
• “You should speak to your manger.” Or maybe he would get more accomplished if he spoke to his “manager” instead.
• The “L” in “PUBLIC” was left out. Think about it. That was not good.
• The name of a well-known, living person who provided a quote for the project was misspelled. That would have been a real relationship problem.
• An education book written for teachers referred to “shcools.” That would have been embarrassing.

Fortunately, editors were able to correct the errors listed above, just in time, or at least before there were major consequences. These were close calls, however.

Unfortunately, such errors are not always caught in time. Thankfully, the following examples are not from my personal collection of editing horror stories. I share them with you now to strike a healthy fear into the hearts of anyone who communicates with the written word—especially those who plan to have it printed and released into the world for all to see. And, we can all be thankful if these kinds of situations have not happened to us—yet.

The Associated Press recently reported that a certain high school presented diplomas to graduates as proof of “educaiton” as documented on the diplomas. Of course, the diplomas had to be corrected, reprinted, and sent to the graduates.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that a major university press recalled and will reprint one of their spring titles because it contained more than 90 spelling and grammar errors in a book having 245 pages. When asked how much the reprinting would cost, a university official responded, “A lot.”

How do such publishing close-calls or disasters happen? They can happen in any number of ways, and I’ve seen the following causes:

• A writer made changes after an edit, and the editor never saw the document again to catch any possible errors introduced in the revision stage
• A writer made changes while an editor was editing a document, and the editor never saw what the author had changed
• The wrong version of a work was sent to print
• An appropriate, professional editor was not involved in the project
• Not enough time was allowed for the edit and it was rushed
• The work did not have enough editorial passes during the process
• An editor made a mistake
• An editor was assigned a project that he or she was not in a position to do well
• More than one editor should have been involved in that project
• The author did not adequately check the work at each stage
• The author did not closely examine the galleys before giving final approval to print

Only authors can catch some kinds of errors because of their knowledge of the subject matter, the story, or the audience. It is great to trust an editor and an editing process, but authors should also serve as another set of eyes on the work at various stages, rather than taking a completely hands-off approach to the process. Stay involved so this doesn’t happen to you.

“Bad spellers of the world, untie!”

– Graffito

Last 5 posts by Carolyn Madison

• Did Your Editor Really Say That? - July 20th, 2010
• Is It Possible to Over Edit? - June 30th, 2010
• Don’t Be Too Easily Impressed with Your “Editor” - March 19th, 2010
• Is Your Manuscript Fit for Publishing? - January 14th, 2010
• Do You Need Plan B for Your Revision Process - September 20th, 2009