Does anybody have any experience with submitting feedback on error(s) found in Modern Chess Openings (Nick de Firmian)? Or - maybe better yet - is there a way to access a known list of errata? I’m specifically referring to MCO-14 ('99), which I recently purchased.
I was working with a specific line and came to a move entry that is obviously a mistake - it is not even possible in the position at hand. I believe I know what the right move entry should be, but am not certain. Thus I want to inform the author and/or publisher about the error, both to help fix it in future editions (if not already done so), but also to find out - or make sure - what the correct entry should be, for my own knowledge.
I suspect that given the high popularity of this text, combined with the immense amount of data contained within, that there are bound to be a number of such errors - some even surviving from edition to edition. I do not know if this particular item has been submitted and/or fixed, obviously. I spent a little while “googling” the author/book name/publisher, but came up empty-handed as to where to look/submit.
Thanks in advance for any advice and/or links, references, etc. that you can suggest.
Its difficult to get errata fixed in a book. With today’s technology it would seem simple to just go in and fix something prior to the next printing cycle, but the fact is, the lions share of books are printed in a single run. Multiple runs are very *expensive to do. Its better to run more books than you need, and have some end up on a discount rack, than it is to do another print run.
Then if the author/publisher decided to update the book, it would have been several years since the last print run, and by then, they’d already have a newer version of the book in the works.
*Its the way the industry is set up. After a publisher gets a book done, it has to be prepped for printing, which is a pretty expensive endevor. Its way cheaper to save the printing plates for additional runs, just in case you need more books, than it is to revamp a book for small errors. At best additional print runs could have a sheet inserted with errata on it, but nowadays, if a publisher is even interested in errata, they’d prolly just have it online, and thats pretty rare for anything other than technical manuals.
If a publisher doesn’t do thier own printing, which covers most/all small publishers, then the book has to go to a seperate business that specialized in “prepress” of taking electronic files and turning them into printing plates.
James,
Thanks very much for your reply.
I was not wondering so much about the printing mechanism, however, as asking if there is a place/site/email/mail address (etc.) where I can send notice of a discovered error, with two intentions: in the long-term, helping the author and publishing team correct it (probably for MCO-16, and beyond, as 15 is already out); in the short-term, obtaining the correction for my use. I asked about any existing errata list for MCO-14 in the hope that this item might already be included, which would immediately accomplish both.
Absent that, I am looking to inform them (maybe Nick De Firmian himself) of the error, and request the corrected information. I couldn’t find any way to do that.
Tom Griffin
If you go to a library, in the reference area, they can help you locate a book that has addresses of various authors, or at least a way to find out the address of a particular author.
-Not their home address, but some address you can mail correspondence to. Its often the address of thier publisher.
You might not find the book in a smaller library, but at a university, or at a large metropolican library.