I've often lamented the lack of book publishing business coverage in the newspapers, or anywhere else for that matter, so I was excited today when I saw the page two headline in the Journal:
Typo Award May Spell Trouble For Author
The only problem is that on re-reading, it turned into the far less interesting:
Tyco Accord May Spell Trouble for Auditor
That's a pretty bad misreading even for a serial misreader like myself, but it goes to show why I'm so bad at proofreading my blog posts. And then it hit me. Rather than beating myself up over my special misreading talents, maybe I should get a prize for all my typos. It seems to me that Hollywood critics hand out special honors for stars with questionable taste in clothing, why not have an award for typos?
On further reflection, in the competitive field of online publishing, it may encourage a race to the bottom with intentional misspellings. But it would be fun to give a prize for typos, some of which are likely Freudian slips, that improve rather than detract from the writing. I immediately thought of a couple I've come across, but I can't justify the time it would take me to run them down for quoting.
As to the typo award spelling trouble for the author who wins it, I have my doubts. The adage about all publicity being good good publicity is true for book reviews as well as web pages, since links to a page pointing out how bad it is end up raising its value in the eyes of the search engines. Personally, I'd be thrilled to receive the 2007 blogger typo award and exposed as a hasty typer and bad proofreader in major media outlets, as long at they get the URL of my blog spelled right!
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