Quote:
Originally Posted by SomeSteve
Perhaps writers concerned about others altering their creations should preface their books with Schopenhauer's malediction:
"My curse on anyone who, in future printings of my works, knowingly changes anything, be it a sentence, or even just a word, a syllable, a letter, a punctuation mark."*
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A few celebrated, super high earning, authors could do this.
Self-published authors could do this.
But I'm thinking that most of the authors I read, who are mid-list, or maybe low-list, at major publishers, don't have the clout, with their publisher, to do it. Heck, they can't even dictate the titles of their books. As for the likes of Dahl, he probably didn't have the clout until after he wrote most of his books.
Also, Schopenhauer's malediction would strike many readers -- including me -- as obnoxious. It could also be distracting and confusing (especially if a childen's book).
Almost all authors would want obvious minor errors corrected. Most nonfiction authors would even want substantive errors corrected, especially if by the original editor, if still alive. What many wouldn't want is changes to the values expressed in their books.