Grammar geeks get book deal after odyssey of errors

They were slapped with probation and banned for a year from national parks. Now, Benjamin Herson and Jeff Deck are back, checking public signs for typos and polishing a book about the cross-country adventure in 2008 that ended with them convicted of federal vandalism charges.

Herson, a former Virginia Beach resident, and his college buddy have signed a deal with Harmony Books, an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, to write "The Great Typo Hunt." The book, at about 300 pages, is set for release Aug. 3 and brought the authors a $150,000 advance.

"The overreaction of the government probably helped us a lot in terms of getting this deal," Herson said. "It's one of those true lemonade-out-of-lemons stories."

He recently moved to a suburb of Portland, Ore., where he works part time at a Borders bookstore. Deck lives in a suburb of Boston and works as an editor.

The Dartmouth College graduates drew national media attention in 2008 as they corrected grammatical errors on billboards and other signs during a cross-country trip. They blogged about their findings - 437 typos found, 236 corrected - and posted photos of improper punctuation, spelling and syntax.

Those Internet postings provided federal law enforcement officials with evidence to support misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to destroy government property. Herson and Deck made corrections to a nearly 70-year-old hand-painted sign in a watchtower along the Grand Canyon's South Rim (they added an apostrophe in the word "women's," concealed a misplaced apostrophe after the "s" and added a comma in a list in the sign's first paragraph).

The watchtower was listed as a national historic landmark, and the sign, as described in court records, was a "unique historical object of irreplaceable value."

They pleaded guilty in August 2008 and were ordered to serve a year of probation, pay a total of $3,035 in restitution and post a message on their Web site discouraging vandalism of public signs. The two were banned from visiting national parks for a year.

Meanwhile, Jeff Kleinman, co-founder of Folio Literary Management, saw a story about their case and checked their blog. He hunted for Deck online and sent him a message through MySpace.

"I wrote him, 'You absolutely must write a book,' " Kleinman recalled.

Herson and Deck, Kleinman said, put together a book that delves into issues of communication and education, and they use their experiences on the cross-country trip to discuss effective strategies for teaching proper grammar.

"They're really, really gifted writers," he said. "They're not looking down on people. It's not like if you're using an apostrophe in the wrong place, you're a lesser person. They have a way of talking about it that is charming and funny and sort of uplifting."

The book, Herson said, provides a good excuse for another cross-country trip. They plan to promote the book and sign copies following the August release.

They'll probably hunt for more typos, too.

"The main difference between the first tour and the (upcoming) tour," Herson said, "is we won't be doing any self-corrections.

"We'll always get permission."

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com