They range from misspellings and repetitions to grammar and formatting errors. Some are more noticeable than others. I see Facebook posts all the time about how “errorists” win when there are typos like an unmatched parenthesis. Writers and editors try to catch all of them before publication, but they’ve been slipping past for centuries, even with famous works, to the point where they’ve become the fascination that they are.
Mystical Greenwood it turns out is no exception. I spotted some after going through a copy from my first order. I’ve notified Mockingbird Lane Press and we are working on making corrections for future copies. Certainly, there is a benefit of second and third editions and so on: typos can be caught and fixed in between, although the initial copies remain as they are.
Certainly, for any writer, it’s a frustrating feeling to see your work in print with errors. But good friends have given me encouragement, feeling typos won’t be a big deal, and the overall story will outweigh them. Well, certainly classics, even modern classics, are still around and people continue to read and enjoy them. To you reading this right now, if you’ve bought one of the early prints of Mystical Greenwood, let me express my hope that you will still enjoy the story.
The simple truth is perfection is impossible, but we still try to get as close as we can. It’s fair to say that future books I will write will no doubt have some typos in their first printing. Lesson learned.
Further Reading
- Ellis-Petersen, Hannah. Go Set a Watchman books missing text from final pages after printing error.
- Heffernan, Virgnia. The Price of Typos.
- Van Huygen, Meg. 15 Famous Typos in First Editions.
Andrew McDowell 
Nice one👍
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Ahh even with several edits and numerous eyes reading over the WIPS, there are always those sneaky errors that wiggle through the nets. The odd error doesn’t detract from the story 🙂
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I read around 200 stories a year. I have never dropped a story over a few typos, I never remember if a story/book had some. I do, remember if the plot was good and above all the voice. Perfection is what every writer wants I notice. However, the beauty is in our humanity and errors, don’t you think? 😉
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Thank you for your support.
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Andrew you were the first person to welcome me to Word Press and I found your blog really useful. I have nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award (it involves a little challenge). Please check it out: https://wp.me/p8ikeM-82
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Don’t be too discouraged. An interesting story and wonderful characters, will always out shine the odd typo and error. 😊
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We tend to type sometimes without going through our work or even if we go through them, we tend to proof read 😃☺
Andrew I love your work.
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Typos are so frustrating, agreed. I am reading the omnibus anthology of American poetry put out to much ceremony by Oxford University Press a few years ago… and there is a typo in one of Longfellow’s poems… right there in a refrain that repeats like ten times throughout the poem and is the basis for Robert Frost’s first book. You have good company.
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