The problems with Freedom, which are reported to have affected 20,000 copies in Australia and 80,000 in the UK, were blamed on the novel’s typesetter.

The book publisher has commissioned a fast turnaround reprint in Australia and in the UK, and has offered customers a free exchange.

A spokesperson for HarperCollins Australia told ProPrint that the run had been handled from the UK, and would not comment further than saying “it is certainly a quick turnaround to get it back on the shelf ASAP”.

Griffin Press managing director Ben Jolly said the printer wouldn’t necessarily know if a reprint was due to an error.

“We do so many new versions we don’t differentiate what the content is. All that would happen is the publisher would send us a new file and tell us to print it,” he said.

According to ProPrint‘s UK-based sister title PrintWeek, the UK typesetter was blamed for the error-filled first print.

Media reports said the specialist typesetter mistakenly sent the wrong file version to the printer.

According to Franzen, the file submitted contained “small but significant changes” to certain characters, though the acclaimed author stressed that the publisher was not at fault.

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