Author’s tale of woe……with a happy ending
Thursday 1st October was scheduled as an important and exciting day in the life and work of Lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the date of the publication for her latest book, an etymological almanac called Word Perfect.
Advance copies had been sent to bookshops all over the country. And one independent bookshop in Hastings spent the previous night packing 600 pre-ordered books so that they could post them promptly to fans who were waiting eagerly.
Dent, described in The Times on the morning of 1st October as “Queen of Dictionary Corner on the Channel 4 game show Countdown, and the nation’s best loved Lexicographer”, opened her own copy of the book at home with some dread, as she later admitted. Immediately she checked the acknowledgments section where some late changes had been made to typos (typographical errors), together with some additions.
Shock, horror. The typos were still there and the additions had not been made. Dent told The Times that ‘she was so mortified that she was forced to take refuge under her duvet’. She explained on Twitter:
“I’ve just discovered that the initial printing used a pre-edited text. I’m so sorry about this. Unfortunately lots of errors creep in during typesetting — and I am far from infallible too. Thank you for being understanding.”
On Twitter Susie Dent shares a word of the day and on 1 October she tweeted: “Today I can testify to the effectiveness of ‘lalochezia’: the use of swearing to alleviate stress and frustration.”
The book is being reprinted, and the (hopefully) correct version will be published on 15 October. The red-faced publishers John Murray Press, a division of global publishing company Hachette, apologised in a statement, adding: “We’re taking urgent steps to recall these copies, reprint and resolve this swiftly.”
This week Susie Dent re-told her horror story in “Something rhymes with purple”, her podcast with Giles Brandreth, produced by Somethin’ Else.
Brandreth advised on the podcast of 7 October that the original, uncorrected copies were potentially valuable as literary rarities and collectors’ items.
Dent blamed both a Covid-related publication squeeze that meant the book was rushed to print, and her own failure to spot mistakes in proofs she had been sent, according to a report in The Times.
What are the lessons of this story?
Check, check and check again, whether you write a book or an email – ideally emails should be re-read the next day before dispatch. I have repeatedly warned readers to check all their texts very carefully. Susie Dent, a highly experienced and expert wordsmith, admitted that she had not done that because of the rush to publish.
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Follow Susie Dent on Twitter, if only for her ‘word of the day’