I just spent my last few days of summer finishing Jonathan Franzen's terrific novel The Corrections. It seemed appropriate to walk into my neighborhood coffeeshop the next day and spot a Guardian headline announcing his latest, Freedom, needed some corrections of its own. [Link: Jonathan Franzen's 'book of the century' pulped over error.]
Luckily for Jonathan, the press keeps his book in the limelight just a little bit longer, something which will make chick-lit authors like Jennifer Weiner gnash their teeth in envy. Just look at the headline, there. Did you know he'd written the 'book of the century' when it first came out in August? No? Because here it's October, and you're aware now. I smell a sales spike.
Not so lucky for the poor production assistant or manufacturing buyer who pulled the wrong book files and caused this mess. At first, I clucked my tongue at the mistake, only guessing how much it costs to pulp and reprint 80,000 books. But I can see exactly how the error could have happened, and I know I've seen this problem before. As much as this correspondent hates to admit it . . . We've all been there.
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