Publishing a book is extremely exciting. I was so thrilled to finally have completed Jaden Baker that I couldn’t wait to have it published. I had several people read through the book searching for errors, and I read through it at least seven times before publishing it. But catching all the errors is just impossible. A few guys emailed me when the book first came out and said they’d spotted a couple of errors. Let me address that first.

Writing and publishing my book is like a contractor designing and building his dream mansion by hand. He’s constructed it, installed the electronics, the plumbing, put all the final touches on the paint–by himself. To him it’s perfect. Then someone comes along and says “Hey, you missed a spot. I just thought you’d want to know so you could fix it.” That’s what it’s like when someone emails and says, “Hey, your book has a few typos and errors. I thought you’d want to know.” Um… not really. It’s terribly frustrating. You work, you work, you work, the project is your baby, and then someone comes along and says, “Oh, by the way, your baby is flawed. You should fix it.” AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Yes. So, when I was emailed that the book had errors, I decided to hold off on making the corrections (it costs me a sum of money to resubmit the text for the printing system), I’d wait six months, read through the book, find ALL of the errors with my fresh eyes, fix them, then resubmit the text to Ingram for the paperback printing.

Jaden Baker was published on March 15, 2011. It’s now September 20, 2011. Six months later. I’ve already read through a paperback copy and left a little sticky note over every error I found. Most are unremarkable, a needed comma here, a comma needing deletion. Some are more stumpy, like inconsistent word usage (for example, sometimes I have it written “entry way” and others “entryway,” similarly “brain waves” and “brainwaves”). I’ve come across a soft return where there shouldn’t be, a few uncapitalized sentences, and wrong words (“blacked” when it should have been “blocked”). Our brains typically skim over such errors, filling in the correct word for the wrong one–it’s how these errors escaped the eyes of multiple people reading it multiple times. Also, let me just say it, Jaden is endearing. I remember him sucking me into his ways as I was writing the story, often times making me laugh and shake my head, wondering why he did the things he did. He’s impossible not to love, and I found myself getting caught up into his story and…missing him. I miss him so much.

But that’s not the point of this post. The point is, a revised edition is coming soon. The eBook version will be corrected immediately, as there’s no cost to submit a new version of the electronic book. The paperback will take a tad longer to change over. What I need from you are the errors you found. I want to make sure I already found them in my purge. I referred to this in the post The Error Game way back in March. I want Jaden to be as perfect as possible, and that means finding every error I can. Now is your chance to tell the contractor he missed a spot and not get hit by a thrown brick. If you found an error in the book, please refer to it in the comments (so I don’t get repeats).

How to Leave the Error

If you read the paperback, give me the page and line number (Example: Page 304, Line 21). That’s it.  You don’t need to type the sentence or say what you think the error is. If it’s a wrong word, a missing word, a typo, whatever, I’ll see it once it’s called out. Count lines from the top of the page, not the bottom. Please, no comments on where you think a comma should or shouldn’t be.

If you read the eBook, it’s going to be a little more complicated. For a Kindle you can give me the location (I have a Kindle), then give me as little as possible so I can find the correct passage. The first few words of the sentence will do (Example: “For those receiving it…” and I’ll find the error). Same goes for the Nook book or iBook. Give me the first four to five words of the sentence where the error lives, and that will be enough for me to find it.

There are Errors?

Oh yes. It’s possible you missed all of them as you were reading along–our minds fill in the blanks. And if you spotted some and decided to keep them to yourself, well I just love you that much more. But they’re there all right, hopefully for not much longer. If you’re wanting to purchase the book, don’t fret. You can either wait for the newly revised book, or just get it now. Really, the errors aren’t that glaring, just small ones that, if you see them, you can think of me painting my mansion all by my lonesome–they’re bound to happen. Some people are highly analytical and/or grammatical experts, and can’t help but see everything and be annoyed by the errors. If you’re that person, please leave what you found in the comments so I may fix it.

So let’s go. Get out the errors. Leave the little buggers in the comments!