It’s no secret—I’m name challenged. I’ve an annoying habit of typing the wrong character’s name. It seems I did it again. In The Ghost and the Bride I typed Joanne instead of Joyce in two places (in Chapter 2). The file has since been corrected, yet the mistake went out to some readers.
If you are trying to remember which is which—Joanne works at Marlow House and is Danielle’s trusted employee, while Joyce cleans rental houses and has a messed up family.
I had over twenty sets of eyes go through The Ghost and the Bride before it was published—between beta readers, editor, and proofreaders. I don’t blame them for the error slipping through, after all, I was the one who typed the wrong name, and the two names are similar, easy for a reader to move over without noticing. I am annoyed with myself.
To my readers who stumbled over this error, I apologize.
However, this has taught me one thing. As much as I try—and I will keep trying—to put out an error free book, I’m not sure that will ever be possible. All I can do is try and deliver the best book using all the resources available to me.
In Coulson’s Wife, written under my pen name, Anna J. McIntyre, there was a similar error. Reviewers mentioned I had used the wrong character name in one place—yet they didn’t say where. It drove us crazy. We went through the book countless times, but were unable to find it. Using a search for the name was not a viable option, because it was one of the main characters, and his name was mentioned on most of the pages.
Eventually, a reader told us where in the book to find the error, and we were able to correct it. While I don’t believe it is a reader or reviewer’s job to proofread for an author, I must say, I am always grateful when a reader takes the time to send me an email and let me know I used the wrong character name—and where I can find it. Ummm…..by the way, my email is bobbi@robeth.com.