It is great to have a book’s first publication to view and find mistakes and typos before the major publication. To find all the stupid dumb mistakes. Usually, the first draft is an inspiration of thoughts and concepts. Then comes the grammar and spell check and then the Review and Read Aloud.
I have read papers by fifth graders that are perfect. I have read books by bigwig PHD professors that are riddled with mistakes. For me it is a concept and feeling that is always most important. Is there an archetype that I can grasp here?
Many artists and writers make up novel words. Or reuse old words and bring on new meanings.
I remember speaking to Todd Taylor from Razor Cake fanzine how he had several editors go over everything written before publication. At Flipside Fanzine we rarely had the time to edit. As said before when doing things fast and wanting to publish current … mistakes were often made or overlooked.
“Session 5B: Punk Political Economies presented three panelists. What came forth here is that “We should consider continuing to support the cracks.” I enjoyed Kathryn Heffner speaking about women fanzine publishers of science fiction writing. Briefly I can say that I learned about the history of fanzines. She talked about the community formed by fanzines and how they communicated. It is about women and resistance. My heart about jumped out of my chest. She defined so many elements of what a fanzine is all about. It is about community, friends, and a subject. The punk scene is about friends and the continuity of friendships over time. I did not hear much about this at this conference! Kathryn did tell a short story about a sister zinester who misspelled a word and made a whole movement out of it. I about jumped up and screamed hallelujah. The point being that with fanzines the information is current and was often printed up quickly to spread like a good wildfire of communication. I knew this to be true. Her talk gave meaning to my community. We need to keep writing and self-publishing.”
I don’t care if things are misspelled, or that grammar and dates are off. It makes it more valuable to collectors. Yet I understand the need to get things right. Especially when we have all that we need to do so. When I find mistakes in a pompous book it brings me boundless joy. Other wise I read over the mistakes and find the major concepts far more important then the imperfect parts of its sum.
The Seminary of Praying Mantis Publishing 