I overlooked a few minor errors in Akeldama, and those errors have grated on me since I noticed them, both because I'm a perfectionist who despises making such mistakes, and because I honestly thought I got them all. Even as I make some corrections, I just know I'll miss something.
But yes, I'm about to submit a correction to Akeldama. Why do you care? After all, shouldn't that be what every author does? Yes, but since I haven't yet reached the bestseller list, the copies that are out there with these errors may eventually become collectors items themselves.
I know it's terribly conceited to say such things out loud, as if I'm bragging on my eventual success, but someone has to be successful, so why not me? And should that occur, the copies that aren't error free, limited though they may be, could end up being like the 1922 Wheat Penny or the "Inverted Jenny" postage stamp. Knowing that I'm going to correct these errors has actually made me somewhat wistful about the copies I have.
Of course, if my writing career goes nowhere, or goes only a few steps down the road, then these rare editions will mean little. They'll be conversation pieces for those few souls who bought them, but since the general public won't know or care who I am, the books will just be something cool to note if anyone picks up one. However, if I do eventually become more than I am now, they might create some buzz. Imagine(yes, this is in the realm of fantasy, but just go with me) a first print edition of The Shining where Stephen King accidentally called the main character Jack Torrence a couple of times instead of Jack Torrance. Or a copy of Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone in which JK Rowling switched the "i" and "o" in Hermione in some spots and spelled her character's name as "Hermoine." Any chances some collector would like to have that due to its scarcity after correction?
All of this is just fantasy speculation and a bit of indulgence, but it makes for an interesting intellectual exercise. It remains in the realm of fantasy for now due to two reasons - 1) I'm still a nobody, so no one cares if I have some errors in my work, and 2) since I'm still a nobody, there aren't a lot of copies out there, making this a more rare find should my books become more popular after correction. And that's one of the keys to this whole thing - if I ever gain popularity, first edition mistakes will be much more common with the increase in print numbers, so it won't matter. However, the low numbers now make those errors much more scarce. If things take off, they grow more valuable.
Imagine creating something of value from a mistake!
But yes, I'm about to submit a correction to Akeldama. Why do you care? After all, shouldn't that be what every author does? Yes, but since I haven't yet reached the bestseller list, the copies that are out there with these errors may eventually become collectors items themselves.
I know it's terribly conceited to say such things out loud, as if I'm bragging on my eventual success, but someone has to be successful, so why not me? And should that occur, the copies that aren't error free, limited though they may be, could end up being like the 1922 Wheat Penny or the "Inverted Jenny" postage stamp. Knowing that I'm going to correct these errors has actually made me somewhat wistful about the copies I have.
Of course, if my writing career goes nowhere, or goes only a few steps down the road, then these rare editions will mean little. They'll be conversation pieces for those few souls who bought them, but since the general public won't know or care who I am, the books will just be something cool to note if anyone picks up one. However, if I do eventually become more than I am now, they might create some buzz. Imagine(yes, this is in the realm of fantasy, but just go with me) a first print edition of The Shining where Stephen King accidentally called the main character Jack Torrence a couple of times instead of Jack Torrance. Or a copy of Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone in which JK Rowling switched the "i" and "o" in Hermione in some spots and spelled her character's name as "Hermoine." Any chances some collector would like to have that due to its scarcity after correction?
All of this is just fantasy speculation and a bit of indulgence, but it makes for an interesting intellectual exercise. It remains in the realm of fantasy for now due to two reasons - 1) I'm still a nobody, so no one cares if I have some errors in my work, and 2) since I'm still a nobody, there aren't a lot of copies out there, making this a more rare find should my books become more popular after correction. And that's one of the keys to this whole thing - if I ever gain popularity, first edition mistakes will be much more common with the increase in print numbers, so it won't matter. However, the low numbers now make those errors much more scarce. If things take off, they grow more valuable.
Imagine creating something of value from a mistake!
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