It’s easy to get to step one, or is it?
Step one, just get the words and writing right. I recently completed a unique project proofreading a large, comprehensive booklet for a client. It’s a useful resource for the community (they produce several such guides). My job was to both flag basic corrections like spelling or grammar, and to offer wordsmith or alternate text for flow and readability. Most projects can benefit from outside eyes, completely unfamiliar with the content. It was highly collaborative and, together, we helped bring their work to the next level. Thumbs up!
Where you would expect excellence.
Oddly, in a short period of time, I came across two professional pieces of communication - and found typos! Opposite of the above example, where it was a small team, these other folks have a network of proofreaders and editors. One was a marketing guide published by a highly reputable organization (they misspelled a word) and the second was a memoir from a very famous actor/entertainer (there was a punctuation mistake, plus an incorrect word was used to describe an unnerving experience - intimated appeared instead of intimidated).
Huh. I felt my shoulders slump a bit. Is this all even credible?
There is the content and then the delivery.
It’s so silly, both the marketing guide and the memoir are great. I felt I got a fine brush-up on the pro-tips and the book is a peek into a famous celebrity’s rise to greatness. I’m so hooked. But these missteps let a tiny crack of doubt seep in. Is this their level of excellence? Though, I feel more lack of confidence with whomever is saying “good to print” over the creators of the material itself (I still dig the actor…but now have a pause with the publisher).
The rest of us.
So many websites have poor wordsmith, outdated info and, yup, typos. When that happens, often I’m out. Sure, I’m tough here - and I will be the first to admit, it has happened to me. Bleh, how many times have I re-read something after the fact and found an error!? More than I like to say. So, I will take my own advice here: get someone else to read your stuff. Often for me it’s my husband. He is a superior writer and master of words, so I figure he is the perfect sifter for me. You may have a similar confidant or colleague - tap into that resource. While the masses out there may not care about or even notice the errant typo or wrong word - some will.
Why lose anybody?
(published 2022)
