Category: Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing

Guest Post: Ask the Book Doctor about Quotation Marks

Grammar advice for the self-publishing author:

Q: I am editing an article for a periodical and cannot find anything in my grammar books or copyeditor’s guide that addresses this issue. There is a sentence in quotation marks that lists within it the names of several songs. I am confused as to whether to use single quotation marks around the names of the songs or to use double quotes as you would usually do with a song.

A: Single quotation marks are used to indicate quotation marks inside of double quotation marks. Because the sentence is in quotation marks, any items within it that would have quotation marks around them would have single quotation marks.

Examples: “John, did you say ‘Thank you’ to your teacher?” Mary said, “I loved the Tommy Edwards song called ‘It’s all in the Game.’


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Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing), and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more “Ask the Book Doctor” questions and answers at http://www.zebraeditor.com.

Self-Publishing

Self-publishing Writing Tip: Ask the Book Doctor on Quotions

Q: I have a question about quotation marks. I know the punctuation goes inside the quotation marks when writing dialogue, as in: Ray asked, “What about quotation marks?” What happens when they’re used in titles, though, as in this example: Three very different styles are represented by “Nude Descending a Staircase,” “The Scream,” and “The Mona Lisa.” The punctuation (including the serial comma) doesn’t look right inside the quotation marks. I tried it outside, though, and it looked even less right. Which way is right?

A: The answer is not going to be what you expect. If you are writing a book and correctly following the guidelines set forth in The Chicago Manual of Style, the titles of works of art will be in italics (underlined in manuscript form), rather than in quotation marks, so the punctuation point is moot.



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Bobbie Christmas, book doctor, author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing), and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Visit Bobbie’s blog at http://bobbiechristmas.blogspot.com/. Read more “Ask the Book Doctor” questions and answers at http://www.zebraeditor.com

Self-Publishing

Self-publishing Advice: Ask the Book Doctor

Writing advice for the self-publishing author.

Q: I use three periods in my dialogue a lot to indicate pauses of speech, interruptions of words, etc., but I haven’t seen this in many books. I keep trying to limit myself or use other means of communicating, but I don’t know what to substitute them with. Are they okay to use? Can I use them a lot? What are some alternatives? Below are some examples:

“Goodbye, brother.” John took her hand and squeezed it. “We have to go. I’m sorry…I’m just,…I’m sorry we couldn’t save you.”

“Matt…what did you trade for them?” He looked up, tried to smile, and was about to give an excuse, but her disapproving stare made him look down again.

A: Although three periods (called ellipses) can represent hesitation in dialogue, so can a comma, and the two should never be used together, as it was in the first example. In the second example, a simple comma would suffice. “Matt, what did you trade for them?”

The use of ellipses for hesitation (not for interruption) is acceptable, but like any creative writing device, it should not be overused, which is why you won’t find the device used too often in good literature. Use ellipses only when hesitation is vital to the dialogue, as it was in the first example. Use a dash (sparingly) to indicate interruption, as in the example below.

“I’m sorry, but I—”
David scoffed. “Sorry? Don’t give me any of your excuses.”


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Bobbie Christmas, book doctor, author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing), and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more “Ask the Book Doctor” questions and answers at http://www.zebraeditor.com.

Choosing a Publisher, Self-Publishing

Self-publishing in the news

Self-publishing pioneer, Lulu, recently pulled planned $70 million IPO, which has generated some discussion as to the future of this long standing service provider. As book publishing continues to push through its current industry-wide revolution, does this suggest that the early, free models are loosing viability?


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