Editorial Checkpoints

Sometimes, despite an editor’s best efforts, a mistake is printed. A few people may think, “Oh well, editors are human, after all.” But for most, typos have a lasting effect.

At a minimum, a typo can smudge the reputation of the publisher or website where it was published. Readers often will not trust the credibility of a text if there are obvious typos. Such readers may not buy products with typos, thus decreasing sales and profits.

Typos can also interfere with search engines that look for a string of specific characters. If a word is misspelled, the text may not show in the results. This can be especially damaging to an online publication’s readership.

Often typos occur because editors are pressured into choosing quantity over quality to meet publishing deadlines. When typos do occur, it is important to explain to a concerned superior that fewer typos would occur if editors had more time to work on pieces of if a second editor reviewed the pieces.

At Editorial Inspirations, to reduce the number of typos and errors that are published, we include multiple checkpoints. On average, each piece that is edited will be reviewed three times. Depending on the level of edit or the extensiveness of the edits made, some pieces will be reviewed several more times. Each review will focus on particular errors, but also look for the errors that should have been corrected in a previous review. This process has worked for us for over fifteen years.