"To be or to be." That's how one of the most famous

sentences in the English language began several years ago in

a new edition of Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Six professional

proofreaders failed to catch the mistake, which received

national publicity and gave the publishing company a red

face.

Similarly, the Wall Street Journal once devoted eight column

inches to ridiculing a conference on critical thinking that

sent out a press release referring to the conference's

"world renown" researchers "in field of thinking" such as

our former surgeon general "C. Everett Coop." (He spells it

"Koop.")

And more than bad publicity was at stake when L.L. Bean's

back-to-school catalog invited people to call a phone number

held by a Virginia company instead of the Maine-based mega-

retailer. L.L. Bean paid the Virginia company an unnamed

sum of money (surely six figures) to immediately take over

that misprinted phone number. The cause: someone in the

production department who "knew" that a toll-free number

starting with "877" should really have started with "800."

Typographical errors can have serious repercussions for your

organization. Misspellings and grammatical flubs damage

your credibility, omitted words cause confusion for

customers and numbers that get printed wrongly can prevent

buyers from reaching you. Here are some tips for making

certain that your materials are letter-perfect.

* Let your printouts sit at least overnight before

finalizing them. Rereading after even half a day has lapsed

helps you spot errors you can't find when you've just typed

them in.

* Actually dial all phone or fax numbers to make sure you

haven't transposed digits or worse. It's common for people

to confuse their own phone and fax numbers, for instance.

Test URLs in the same way, and carefully examine ZIP codes

and street numbers.

* In a recurrent publication, like a newsletter, or a letter

you're adapting for a new recipient, make sure you've

appropriately changed all dates and no-longer-relevant

information deep in the piece.

* Confirm the spelling of all place names, company names and

proper names. Often the reference desk of a public library

will check atlases and business encyclopedias for you over

the phone.

* Take another look at stated prices. Missing decimal

points, switched numbers, shipping costs updated in one spot

and not another all bollix up the ordering process.

* Double-check your headlines and any corrections or

additional copy inserted at the last minute. Mistakes there

are hardest to see.

Not convinced that misspellings make a difference? Recently

in Wellesley, Massachusetts, a man handed a bank teller a

note that read: "Give me your 10s and 20s and no die pack."

Distracted by the misspelling of "die" for "dye," the teller

had to reread the note to realize that this was an attempted

stickup. Indignant, she crumpled up the note and told the

guy, "I'm not going to give you any money. Now get the hell

out of here." He obeyed, his message having failed to get

across.

About the Author

Marcia Yudkin is the author of the

classic guide to comprehensive PR, "6 Steps to Free

Publicity," now for sale in an updated edition at Amazon.com

and in bookstores everywhere. She also spills the secrets

on advanced tactics for today's publicity seekers in

"Powerful, Painless Online Publicity," available from

www.yudkin.com/powerpr.htm .