Bestseller Seal has a typo....argh!

[Troy]

Since May of this year, I've been sharing this bestseller seal. I this time I simply never noticed the type it contained!  This morning I read an email from a bestselling author alerting me about the typo.  They did so almost reluctantly not wanting to bother me in the event I was already aware of the error. I was not and just the day before I began using the seal throughout the site--an effort that I now have to invest valuable time to correct.

 

Of course as soon as the error was pointed out it jumped out at me like some sick magic trick.  Oh brother...

 

 

 

[Troy]

Well the seal has been corrected. I'm going to do some extra promotion for authors who use the seal on their website or marketing materials.  I have not decided what yet.

 

[Cynique]

Being detailed-oriented is very important.  Sometime when we read fast, our eyes trick us and fill in missing letters or words. Misspellings or typos are unprofessional.  You learned that the hard way.  But it was a valuable lesson.  

[Mel Hopkins]

On 9/4/2017 at 8:21 AM, Troy said:

Since May of this year, I've been sharing this bestseller seal. I this time I simply never noticed the type it contained!  This morning I read an email from a bestselling author alerting me about the typo.  They did so almost reluctantly not wanting to bother me in the event I was already aware of the error. I was not and just the day before I began using the seal throughout the site--an effort that I now have to invest valuable time to correct.

 

Of course as soon as the error was pointed out it jumped out at me like some sick magic trick.  Oh brother...

 

I hate when that happens... fortunately, for us our brains process information extremely fast.   

[Guest Wendy Jones]

It is hard to see one's own mistakes. Having two or three others look at whatever you are sending out helps.

 

Times style (the magazine, not the NYT) proof reading, which I learned when I was a proofreader for a year, requires two people.

One person looks at the copy of the material and reads it aloud, while the other person looks at his/her copy of the material while listening to the reader.

I tried this recently on a book-related project. It was tedious, but we caught several errors that way. 

[Troy]

Thanks Wendy.  I never did proof read the seal.  Basically if someone gave me something with my name misspelled I would assume I would notice that without formally prooffing it.

 

Similarly, I just took it for granted that something that had five words on it, the name of my company, would stand out but alas it did not... and I never occurred to me that I had to slow down and actually really look at.

[MAFOOMBAY]

It at least brought back memories, you spelled it the same way my grandmother used to pronounce it!