Typos. The mere mention of the word is a writers nightmare. We pour over our work, hire editors, send to every family and friend we know and yet these horrible beasts seem to randomly crop up out of thin air becoming an embarrassingly glowing emblem on an otherwise pristine page. So what is an author to do?
Today, I discovered (and signed up for) a wonderful new tool to clean up my old posts written in haste (and yes, there are typos…) Welcome my knight in typo-free armor: EditMob.com, a crowd-sourced typo correction project.
The EditMob Project is free while in BETA. (as of May 28, 2015) No CC info required.
So check it out — you have nothing to lose by typos. TRY IT FREE
Self-editing and credibility
Have you ever been in an exciting part of a book and then hit a wall? Typos are like bumps in the flow of our work. It causes the reader to hesitate. Too many typos and you’ll lose the reader completely.
During self-editing, passages you have read dozens of times become a familiar fog. Misspelled words you know how to spell are inexplicably skimmed over. Unfortunately, the reality is that the first thing readers will notice isn’t your “carefully crafted message”, but the misspelled word.
The following slide presentation by B.J. Fogg of Stanford University shows how typos affect credibility. These slides are part of a two-week curriculum on web credibility. There is also a step-by-step lesson plan that goes along with this. Contact bjfogg@stanford.edu for more info.
The Benefit
It’s never enjoyable when someone points out our failings, especially a typo in an article or (horrors) novel. Yet, people who take the time to report errors to you, are undertaking a great service. Now, I’m not talking about the trolls that harshly hang your non-perfect carcass on a stick in the town square for public ridicule, but readers who enjoy your work and understand that sometimes, errors happen. We all want a cleaner, more polished read so should appreciate these notifications, no matter how embarrassing.
*EditMob is a “sign up on approval” basis.
