2. Graham, I agree.

3. Here’s another perspective on typos, albeit from a self-published author, not a copywriter:

http://www.johntreed.com/HTWPtypos.html

But that raises an interesting point. I feel that as a writer, I need to proof blog comments and even emails more carefully, including the casual ones. I guess it’s like one of those people from “What Not to Wear” being caught in sweatpants — tarnishes their image.

~Graham

As we’ve determined, it happens to the best of us, though truth be known, other than also misspelling “oopportunity” as did Alan, I can’t see another typo. If there IS one, shows my eyes are going and maybe I do indeed need to hire proofreaders from here on out… That said, while none of us wants to have a typo even in our blog comments, the stakes aren’t quite as high here…

PB

“Easy and risk-free (this time!) for me to frame this type of situation as an ideal oopportunity to solidify a relationship by showing honesty, integrity, professionalism and client-first prioritizing.”

Alan, did you say “oopportunity”? I think you did. Alas, the irony. (Heehee! I think you just coined a phrase! Or should I say, coined a word?)

Ten years ago I was working in a high-intensity corporate law firm. (No, I am not a lawyer… I just look like one.) One night I was working with this one associate who was poring over a one-page memo that was going to be the cover for a package we had to get out. If he found the *slightest* thing wrong with it, we had to fix it. (Well, *I* had to fix it.)

I was amazed. At the time, I thought he was a little crazy.

Now, ten years later, I am amazed at my former amazement.

I can’t recall what kinds of things he was finding, partly because it was a long time ago, and partly because I can no longer process the concept of “typographical indifference.”

–Interesting discussion. Can’t argue with your logic, but I think it does depend on the severity of the typo. In this case, a stray comma wasn’t worth mentioning. But a glaring one? That gets a bit dicier… And if the client did discover it, I’m afraid I’d have a problem saying, in essence, “Well, Mr. Client, since I don’t plan to become perfect anytime in this lifetime, I accept some will get through on occasion. Such is life.” Not sure that would land well… But, fundamentally, you’re right. We do the best we can and cross that bridge when we have to and hopefully only on very rare occasions…

PB

–

Not to belabor the point, but I had a book published a few years ago and it was proofread a million times – each time a draft was written, plus the final version before printing. A few months after it was published, I noticed a word was missing on one page. It was a relatively minor error and didn’t change the meaning of the sentence, but I was totally shocked that it slipped through. I thought it was omitted during typesetting, but, nope…the word was missing all the way back to my original first draft, some four years earlier. No one ever noticed it – myself, friends, proofreaders, the publisher – we all missed it! And to this day, it still bugs me!

John Paul

Interesting discussion. Can’t argue with your logic, but I think it does depend on the severity of the typo. In this case, a stray comma wasn’t worth mentioning. But a glaring one? That gets a bit dicier… And if the client did discover it, I’m afraid I’d have a problem saying, in essence, “Well, Mr. Client, since I don’t plan to become perfect anytime in this lifetime, I accept some will get through on occasion. Such is life.” Not sure that would land well… But, fundamentally, you’re right. We do the best we can and cross that bridge when we have to and hopefully only on very rare occasions…

PB

And while Bill, I agree with you that typos ARE common these days AND in this case, it’s NOT worth bringing up, I DO think we need to be proofreaders as well – whether it’s us doing it or hiring someone to do it. I say it’s one of the many things that add up to being well compensated as a writer: you’re turning in stellar copy that the client doesn’t have to go over with a fine-toothed comb. It’s all about making the client’s life easier and this is just one of the ways we do it. And the difference between a copywriter like me, who has an error slip through only once in blue moon and one whose copy routinely has a handful of them IS a big deal in the eyes of a client – and I think that’s as it should be. Here’s the thing: there are a lot of ways to put yourself ahead of the pack, and this is one of them, and the best part about it, is that it’s an easy one to achieve, given the investment of a little extra time or money to get it right.

PB