If there is one constant within the world of publishing, it would be that typos happen. It doesn't matter how many times you go through a piece of written work, there will always be something that's missed. You could have six different sets of eyes on it, and things still slip through. And the longer that piece of writing is, the more likely that errors get missed.
To complicate matters, you might have the cleanest copy on the planet, but errors creep in during typesetting too. At every stage of the writing/editing/publishing process, there is an opportunity for an error to be introduced—and for that error to get missed.
It happens.
I'll be the first to grant you that when a piece of writing is riddled with typos and grammatical errors, it's frustrating to read. However, I have said it time and time again: if a story is gripping, most readers will be willing to overlook the odd typo or grammatical error.
As writers, we need to accept that typos WILL happen.
As editors, we need to accept that we're NOT perfect.
However, there are some people out there who are Grammar Nazis from hell and will publicly shame you for making innocent typographical errors. It's because of these jerks (and that's what they are) that many writers and editors despise the idea of blogging. They're afraid that their writing might be torn to shreds because of those innocent mistakes. But what the Grammar Nazis forget is that mistakes happen.
The production schedules for a blog are tight. Certain steps within the editing process are sometimes missed. The thorough care that we give our novel writing is not given to this short piece that is going to go up on the web within hours. Newspaper articles are much the same in that respect. Mistakes creep in, it's the nature of the beast. But when the public shaming starts…
***Breathe… Just breathe…***
I think it's time to put reality back into the blogging world and remind a few editors that we're only human.
