Do you think your website, marketing material or personal project does not need any proofreading or editing? This short article aims to show why hiring an editor is always worth it, no matter how short or long your written content is.
Fairly or unfairly, few things are worse for the credibility of your message than spelling and grammar mistakes, known as typos. These errors are toxic for any writing which seeks to persuade because we tend to be pretty merciless in our judgement when we do spot one.
A business, website or creative project faces an uphill struggle to win hearts, minds, purses and wallets, after people have condemned the spelling or grammar as less than perfect. The problem is typos sow doubt which erodes credibility: If a company cannot get its words right, what else has it got wrong?
The three typos below were all easily avoidable. They are reminders that nobody is perfect (not even professional editors!) and mistakes do happen. This is why it makes sense to invest in proofreading and editing to minimise the harm that simple errors do to your product, service or project, into which you invested time, effort and perhaps lots of money.
America. Amercia!
This is a good one. Back in 2012, US Senator Mitt Romney was the Republican party’s candidate to win the Presidential election that year. And he had an app for that.
Unfortunately, the first thing app users saw was ‘America’ misspelled as ‘Amercia.’ His spokesperson told reporters, “I don’t think any voter cares about a typo.”
But the error didn’t help Romney’s campaign. One Twitter user perfectly summed up why it was bad for his credibility.
2. Unholy error
Spelling mistakes have surely existed for as long as people have been writing words. Dating from the 17th century, the ‘Wicked Bible’ demonstrates how an error can be costly and fatally undermine a clear and simple message.
Released in 1631, this print-run of Christianity’s holy book contained a typo which turned God’s divine directive upside down by making it compulsory to cheat on your spouse. In the book of Exodus, the crucial ‘not’ is missing from the commandment, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’
But contemporary readers almost certainly did not believe the bible encouraged extramarital sex and the mistake was costly for the publisher. The UK’s Parliament fined those responsible nearly half a million pounds in today’s money and ordered that copies of the ‘wicked bible’ were found and destroyed.
3. Two Easy!
This one makes me laugh. If you are calling out standards somewhere else, you had better make sure your own are up to scratch. This howler reminds me to stay humble as an editor because nobody is immune from mistakes. Every day is a school day.
Yes, I do offer proofreading and editing services. Do you want quality proofreading and editing for your business or project by a native-English speaker with years of experience in publishing? That’s me! Get in touch.