Ack! I found a typo in my book! Now what?

By Andrea Schmidt

Almost two decades ago when I was a communications designer at a large public institution, my job was to design books with huge print runs.

Although our team had a comprehensive review process in place, one day we discovered an unfortunate typo in one of the printed books. One of the web links was wrong! A link that led to . . . nowhere. Each and every one of the tens of thousands of printed books had to be destroyed. Ack!

No matter what niche or industry you’re writing in, writers everywhere want to present final published work at the highest standard possible.

Especially when the final responsibility for your book’s quality rests on your shoulders (as it does for independent authors), it’s natural that the thought of typos in your book can lead to nail-biting.

But worrying about typos is completely unnecessary as long as you a) put steps in place to minimize typos, and b) learn what a typo really is (it’s not what you think!).

4 guaranteed typo-busting strategies

Before I address how to prevent typos and barring that, fix them after publication, you might sleep better knowing that there will be typos, because there always are! Even in the first editions of traditionally published books!

To get your work as typo-free as possible before publishing, here are four steps you can build into your self-publishing workflow.

Step 1: Learn how to self-edit. 

Self-editing is a hugely valuable skill for writers. Learning this skill will serve you for the rest of your writer life.

Step 2: Hire a professional copyeditor before the book is formatted. 

If you do nothing else, please do this.   

Step 3: Recruit multiple pairs of eyeballs. 

Get as many eyeballs on your writing as possible before making it public.

Send out PDF advance review copies to as many people as you can think of who might be interested in your book. I promise, you will be amazed by how many typos your reviewers find, even when you think the manuscript is perfect!

Step 4: Proofread the book again after formatting.

New typos always show themselves after formatting.

And finally, here are a few more unusual ways you can minimize typos in your manuscript.

Now that you’ve taken extreme action to ensure your book is polished, here are a few more tips to help as you move forward.

What to do about typos after publishing

Now that books can be printed on demand with really low minimum quantities, the stakes are much lower for typos in self-publishing.

Simply put, print-on-demand makes it really easy to upload replacement files with corrections — so keep track of them. Publishing coach Debbie Horovitch recommends keeping a list of necessary changes and planning to republish with a new edition in six to 12 months.

Simply put, print-on-demand makes it really easy to upload replacement files with corrections -- so keep track of them.Click to tweetSelf-publishing platforms allow you to upload new versions of your book when you need to.

With Amazon’s KDP, that process is free.

With IngramSpark, each time you replace a file, it costs you $25 (unless you can find one of the codes that are sometimes floating around, or join ALLI which offers an IngramSpark code with your membership).

What is a typo, really?

Still . . . it helps to keep typos in perspective. I believe they are tiny reminders to be kind to ourselves.

We are humans and we make little mistakes sometimes.

It’s not a reflection on our worth.

Recognize the ways that perfectionism hurts

Accepting that there will always be at least one typo helps perfectionists in particular. After all, perfectionism is a form of fear: fear of not being good enough.

The very idea of typos can feel especially painful if you mistakenly believe your work is you. It’s not.

When you are publishing a book, you’re making yourself vulnerable. Be kind to yourself!

Move ahead with your dreams with courage and confidence. I’m proud of you!

What’s your typo philosophy? Do you believe “good is good enough,” or do you strive for perfection? Please tell us in a comment!