Clips with typos?

[Kritter47]

I recently wrote a story I am pretty proud of, and I want to include it in my clips file.

Problem is there's a typo in the story. I'd referred to a team by it's nickname, and the desk changed it to the city name but left half of the city name out. Something like this:
Original - "Rednecks second baseman Earl Screwball..." With the school being the East Valley Rednecks
Ran - "East second baseman Earl Screwball..."

It's pretty noticeable, since the school is called East Valley every other time.

Now, it happens, so I'm not all that worked up about it. I've made much worse mistakes they've saved my butt on. But can I include this story in a clips file that I pull from to send off to other papers? I don't want to write an explanation for the typo on top because that's just making excuses, but I really do like the story and the typo is incidental and about 3/4 of the way down the story. Still, it makes me nervous to pull out for future use.

What say you?

 

[John]

I wouldn't worry about it.

I recently had a game story win a press association award and there was a typo -- were instead of we're -- in the first quote.

Then again, I'm not a sports editor, so I could be wrong.

 

[Billy Pritchard]

I also won an award for a story that included a doozy of an error, although it was not a libelous one. I didn't even realize I had made the mistake until after I won the award and it was pointed out to me by a no-doubt jealous co-worker
Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about a small typo-type mistake. Then again, I'm not an editor either ;D

 

[slappy4428]

I would delete the one that talks about "****s on goal..." fool me once...

 

[chazp]

I think John is right. I had a typo in one story that once won an award. Having it in your clip file, could be another story. Just be prepared to blame the desk if it comes up in an interview.

 

[fishwrapper]

I'm learning:

Typos=awards.

 

[Chi City 81]

I think John is right. I had a typo in one story that once won an award. Having it in your clip file, could be another story. Just be prepared to blame the desk if it comes up in an interview.

Yes, blame the desk. I'm sure the hiring editor will respect that.

 

[chazp]

I'm learning:

Typos=awards.

[blue]Yes, but they have to be outstanding typos to get noticed and grab the hardware.[/blue]

 

[Ira_Schoffel]

In general, I would never send a clip that has a typo. Think of your clips as your chance to make a first impression. (Would you show up for a blind date with a wrinkled shirt or ketchup on your sleeve?)

Chances are, those clips and your resume are going to determine whether you get an interview. Why would you risk blowing that opportunity for one story ... is it really that much better than anything else you've written?

Now having said that, the example you've described doesn't exactly sound like an obvious typo ... it might be in your town. But the editor of another paper is just going to think that some people call that school "East" for short. So it might not be the end of the world, but if it really is obvious, I'd probably scrap it. (And then send it in for an award.)

 

[expendable]

Unless it was first reference, I wouldn't worry about it. If I were an out of the area editor reading that, I'd just go on the assumption that "East" was another locally accepted name -- even if it was called "East Valley" throughout the rest of the piece. I'd think twice about blaming the desk though.

 

[Shawon Dunston Checks In]

Kritter,

I have to agree with those who said this particular example probably is harmless. That said, if you have a clip with a major, obvious typo, I would not send it unless it's far and away the best thing you've ever written.

Back in college, we used to call typos "clip killers."

 

[KJIM]

Problem is there's a typo in the story. I'd referred to a team by it's nickname,

I don't know if I'd worry about the typo as much since that could have been someone else's fault, but be sure you use it's/its correctly in your cover letter. Errors there do make a big, big difference.

 

[SCEditor]

I know this is completely unrelated, but I recently had a job opening at the paper I'm at now. You'd be amazed -- really amazed, I'm tellin' ya -- how many people have errors in their cover letters. Of the 80 resumes I received, I'd venture a guess that 20 of them, at least, had an error in the cover letter or resume. I'm not proofreading these things for missing commas, I'm talking about errors that jump out of you. Hell, I've got an easy last name and at least 10 of the people who applied couldn't get that right.

Clips with typos? I'm not sure. If it's something glaring, I wouldn't send it, but it sounds like something most editors, upon reading your clips, wouldn't notice. Then again, if you've got some other outstanding clips without errors, you may want to go with those.

 

[Barsuk]

I know this is completely unrelated, but I recently had a job opening at the paper I'm at now. You'd be amazed -- really amazed, I'm tellin' ya -- how many people have errors in their cover letters. Of the 80 resumes I received, I'd venture a guess that 20 of them, at least, had an error in the cover letter or resume. I'm not proofreading these things for missing commas, I'm talking about errors that jump out of you. ...

Wow, those are big'uns!

 

[SCEditor]

Excuse me. Out "at" you. Not out "of" you. I proofread my cover letter a little better than I do my posts on here.

 

[SCEditor]

And believe me, I know mistakes happen. I once applied for a job where everything was fine in my cover letter, resume, clips, except for one thing. Throughout the letter, I refer to the newspaper as only half its name. Instead of, for example, "Podunk Times-Bugle," I referred to it as the "Podunk Bugle." I never got a call back, and I shouldn't have. Like Ira said, your clips, resume and cover letter are your first impression. If you're looking for a job and they want somebody who can write clean, accurate copy, or design clean, accurate pages, they're going to find somebody who can, you know, spell things right on their cover letter. Or I would think.

 

[bigpern23]

And believe me, I know mistakes happen. I once applied for a job where everything was fine in my cover letter, resume, clips, except for one thing. Throughout the letter, I refer to the newspaper as only half its name. Instead of, for example, "Podunk Times-Bugle," I referred to it as the "Podunk Bugle." I never got a call back, and I shouldn't have. Like Ira said, your clips, resume and cover letter are your first impression. If you're looking for a job and they want somebody who can write clean, accurate copy, or design clean, accurate pages, they're going to find somebody who can, you know, spell things right on their cover letter. Or I would think.

I once put a clips package, including a paper-specific cover letter, in the wrong envelope. I got a reply from the editor that implied he liked my clips but couldn't get past the fact that the cover letter was addressed to an entirely different person and didn't seem to have much to do with his paper. Never got a reply from the other paper which received the clips package intended for him. Whoops. Lesson learned.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

When I was a young writer, it was not uncommon for SEs to ask at a job interview or on the phone before a job interview, "How heavily are you edited?"

I felt like saying, "Can't you tell from my clips?"

If the copy is flawless, chances are it's a very good desk's work. Some writers turn in perfect copy, but they are rare.

 

[Kritter47]

Problem is there's a typo in the story. I'd referred to a team by it's nickname,

I don't know if I'd worry about the typo as much since that could have been someone else's fault, but be sure you use it's/its correctly in your cover letter. Errors there do make a big, big difference.

*snerk* You win.

I know how to use them. Typing early in the morning is just not my forte. But heh.

 

[audreyld]

And believe me, I know mistakes happen. I once applied for a job where everything was fine in my cover letter, resume, clips, except for one thing. Throughout the letter, I refer to the newspaper as only half its name. Instead of, for example, "Podunk Times-Bugle," I referred to it as the "Podunk Bugle." I never got a call back, and I shouldn't have. Like Ira said, your clips, resume and cover letter are your first impression. If you're looking for a job and they want somebody who can write clean, accurate copy, or design clean, accurate pages, they're going to find somebody who can, you know, spell things right on their cover letter. Or I would think.

I once put a clips package, including a paper-specific cover letter, in the wrong envelope. I got a reply from the editor that implied he liked my clips but couldn't get past the fact that the cover letter was addressed to an entirely different person and didn't seem to have much to do with his paper. Never got a reply from the other paper which received the clips package intended for him. Whoops. Lesson learned.

I once copied and pasted the body of a cover letter onto new letterhead. Only, I didn't just copy the body.

So, my letter read like this:

Dear Jason Voorhees,

Dear Michael Meyers, I ....

It was basically a letter inside a letter, and included the references to the original paper I had applied to.

Dumb, dumb mistake. Needless to say, I never heard back from them...