You read a book, you liked it but you find a typo, who do you tell, the author or the publisher?
There is a X thread going where an author complains about a reader contacting him and pointing out a typo in his book.
It never fails: you publish a book and within weeks the emails come in: “Hey, I liked your book and all, but on page 257, there’s a typo that I want to call your attention to….” I don’t understand this impulse to contact authors in this way.
I thought I’d weigh in both as a self-published author and a newly minted indie-publisher.
The conversation and argument seems to be that the author can’t do anything about it and that this should be sent to the publisher. He is angry that the reader did not make the effort to look up the publisher and contact them directly about the typo.
He says he is happy to engage with readers about the content of the book, but find the pointing out of typos to be rude, not good form and just not the thing to do.
As a self-published author who has a very minor readership any reader engagement is for me a great thing. I can’t imagine complaining about it. The reader even said they liked the book, they are being helpful and supportive and the author is miffed because it is not their problem.
Is there a clear divide?
This is a divorce from the writing and the book as two separate entities and not to be confused with each other. Sorry, but from a reader perspective they are the same things. More than that, the writer is the big name on the book, not the publisher, in the mind of the reader they are the responsible person.
But this author does not want to take responsibility for the book, only for the ideas and the writing.
Maybe it is easy for me to say because as a self-publisher I can go and make the changes to the manuscript and re-upload new version within minutes. It is fully my responsibility to manage.
Not being able to fix typos and such in ebooks by big publishers when the technology to do so is readily available is a stuckness in a frame of mind that does not serve the author or the reader well. It is an attitude that is not keeping up, stifled out of the ability to be flexible and respond.
What is the motivation?
Most people find that corresponding with corporations is a dead end, speaking in the void of a black hole. Nobody is going to hear or respond. By the author, they have a vested interest.
A person who says they liked a book and then points out a typo is exercising the same kind of human decency as a person who says: you look nice but there is a bit of spinach stuck in your teeth. Following logic then you should respond that that is not your problem, tell my dental hygienist.
As I am starting out as an indie publisher I will come to the point where this will be my problem as a publisher. What would be my advice for authors? Thank the reader for caring enough to make the effort. Then pass the information on to me as a publisher to fix.
By the way, working with a digital, print-on-demand, small batch production process as we are planning for Simile Press means this is something that can be fixed before the next copy goes out. Nothing major to live with for the next six years until we sell out of the print run we ordered from China because honestly, that may never happen.
But I digress…
But back to the main point. A reader read something and liked it. They had nothing bad to say about the content. They liked it. They’d like to recommend it to other people and think it would reflect badly on the author because there is a typo. Fixing that would make the book better. Why not tell the author?
This whole thing seems elitist, as if the author has to be protected in their precious bundle of thinking higher thoughts while the lackeys at the publishing house are responsible to dust off the shelves and water the plants.
It also seems pretty ungrateful. I would love for readers to contact me and engage about my work. For any reason, even if you got a copy from Amazon with a creased cover, tell me. I might not be able to do anything about it but I can ask you if you liked the story.
Who owns the typo in the end?
Nobody cares. Somebody liked your book. Thank the reader.