So after a long day of dedicated typo-searching, Benjamin and I were ready to hit a campsite, erect our new tent, and hang out by a real campfire and talk about semicolons.
The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time will be in bookstores in August 2010. Pre-order today at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or Random House, or reserve at your favorite independent bookstore (start here). For further updates, sign up here.
The Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL)
One Little Letter
Eradication -
Typo Hunting
Written by Benjamin Herson
Wednesday, 28 July 2010 14:54
So I recently took a flight that was slightly overbooked and offered to stay behind. I was given a wonderful little voucher for $400 more travel. Unfortunately, that means I can't go through priceline.com or some such useful website to buy the ticket, I have to use the airline's directly, which I couldn't quite figure out. So I called them, got myself booked on a flight, was quite pleased with the customer service, and went to forward the confirmation to my girlfriend--so she could see when I'm coming home.
Boy was I surprised to discover I was flying out of a different airport. One little letter can make all the difference sometimes. MHT had been entered as MDT, moving my departure location from Manchester, NH to Harrisburg, PA. (Actually, because of the way the e-mail lists your first name, middle initial, and where you're flying out of, I'd first thought they'd gotten my name wrong: Benjamin D. Harrisburg. Hey, I've been mistaken for a certain President, and this wasn't that far off.)
So I had to call back. And do it all over again. All due to one tiny miskey. There are plenty of times, I'll grant you, when a typo doesn't make THAT much difference. Sure, it can reflect poorly on you or communicate something about your level of care/dedication, but it doesn't change the meaning of the word your reader can figure out. However, it's best to build the habit of catching typos whenever possible so that you are ready when that one typo comes along that can change everything. Fortunately, I managed to catch this one before 24 hours had passed, or else I wouldn't have been able to get it refunded.
Submerged in preparation for the book's release and the gigantic book tour-- only 8 days now until The Great Typo Hunt drops. We're working on a new version of the website and practicing for interviews and perfecting the show that we will put on for you at each reading venue, so it is only out of the periphery of my attention that I noticed another, perhaps final, broadside from that crazed professor in Vermont, Hosiah Templeton. Given the unusual nature of the video, it's hard to quite know what to say about it; I think I'll just let you draw your own conclusions.
So. That madman in Vermont is at it again. I discovered that he posted another video the other day trying to discredit our book. This time he delivers a rant that makes me seriously concerned for his mental health. Does anyone know what could have brought Hosiah Templeton to the precarious edge of sanity? Check out the video below and see if we should try to organize some kind of intervention.
Benjamin and I would like to present something very special to you, something that gets at the genuine core of our book. But before we do, I'd like to remind you of our Great Preorder Giveaway. You may have seen word about it on Facebook or Twitter, and we'd really love to spread the word to more people. Here's the official word:
Announcing The Great Preorder Prize Giveaway for The Great Typo Hunt! Tell the world you've preordered our book, and you're entered for a chance to win a prize!
GRAND PRIZE: 12-megapixel camera/video camera with easy upload to Flickr, Facebook, YouTube; complete with 8GB memory card -- the ideal typo-hunting companion for capturing pics of typos SECOND PRIZE: A copy of the brand-new 16th Edition of the Chicago Manual of Style -- all the grammatical guidance you'll ever need OTHER PRIZES: Typo Correction Kits, affectionate missives from the authors, etc
TWO WAYS TO ENTER: FACEBOOK: 1. Before August 3rd, preorder The Great Typo Hunt from Amazon, Borders, B&N, or your favorite indie bookstore 2. Post "I preordered my copy of The Great Typo Hunt" both on your wall and the TEAL Facebook page TWITTER: 1.Before 8/3, preorder Great Typo Hunt from Amazon, Borders, B&N, or your favorite indie bookstore 2.Tweet "I preordered my copy of The Great Typo Hunt" to @TEALJeffDeck
FINE PRINT: While supplies last. Winners chosen at random. Yes, we are excluding our moms from eligibility.
All right! So we hope that you participate. If you preordered already, you've already made yourself eligible, so go ahead and complete Step 2 on your preferred social platform. Anyhow, now here's a trailer for our book! It's The Great Typo Hunt, coming this summer to a thea-- I mean, bookstore near you! Action-packed, with plenty of explosions!
More Tour Dates than the Surgeon General Recommends
Book -
Great Typo Hunt
Written by Jeff Deck
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 19:21
Just when you thought there couldn't be any more tour dates to announce-- just when you thought that any additional stops would be a certain recipe for wrecking the sanity of Messrs Deck and Herson-- well, here you go, suckas! Here's eight more! Do you live in Charlottesville, Minneapolis, Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, Lexington, Cincinnati, or Hanover NH? You're in luck:
Charlottesville, VA Tuesday, 8/24 @ New Dominion Bookshop, 12:15 pm
That's seven indies-- eight if you count the Dartmouth Bookstore, which technically was bought up by B&N a few years ago. Without further ado, here's an interesting factoid about each one:
New Dominion: Serving Virginia for almost ninety years!!
Magers & Quinn: Not, in fact, a shop in Diagon Alley, but located in the popular Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis!
Inkwood Books: Tampa's only locally owned independent bookstore for new books!
Blue Elephant: Now located two doors east of the Dancing Goats Coffee Bar!
Joseph-Beth: Multiple locations; has an associated bistro called Bronte
Dartmouth Bookstore: Benjamin and I bought many textbooks here during our college days
That just about wraps up our schedule! Don't forget to check out our Tour section for the full list. There's only two more events that might be filled in; otherwise we are completely booked for August, September, and October.
