Monday, June 18, 2012

Typos, Errors and &$%*-ups

I just read a post on another writer's blog whose name I will not mention because, frankly, he sounds like the type of guy you'd avoid at a cocktail party.  He was opining on the topic of readers who find mistakes in books.  His response was to (a) blame the typesetter and/or copy editor and inform the reader it wasn't his fault, (b) tell the reader to never read another of his books, or (c) offer to return the reader's money.  Oh, yeah.  I think he also advised the reader where he/she could stick his/her little red pencil.  I thought I was sensitive to criticism, but sheesh, this guy takes the cake.

Fair enough.  It's not how I handle such communications from readers, but if you want to look like a prize ass, go ahead.  Because while those typos and grammatical slips might indeed be the result of someone else's inattentiveness, it's still your name on the book and your brand that's affected.  Why in the world would you alienate readers with such a defensive, snarky response?  And why elaborate on the topic for your blog, thereby alerting the rest of your readers to the fact that you are defensive and snarky and they can expect to have their heads taken off if they point out a mistake to you.  Wow.  Just, wow.

2 comments:

  1. Some people thrive on conflict. Also, "there is no such thing as bad publicity".

    Cheers

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  2. That's true. I'm the type who finds conflict exhausting, unless there's something important at stake.

    ReplyDelete