book doctor – Page 3 – Self Publishing Advisor

Self-publishing Advice Guest Post: The Book Doctor on Chicago Manual or AP

Q: My company is contemplating changing from using the Chicago Manual of Style to AP Style. What are the differences between the two styles?

A: It’s a shame your company may shift away from Chicago Style. I’ve used both styles, and Chicago Style, preferred by book publishers, makes more sense to me. It relies mostly on clarity.

AP Style, created for periodical publishers, evolved from the fact that newspapers and magazines needed to save space, and, in my opinion, it sometimes leads to less clarity.

AP says to write out the numbers one through nine and to use numerals thereafter. Chicago Style says to write out the numbers one through one hundred and use numerals thereafter. AP Style abbreviates states, and it does not use the same abbreviations as postal carriers use. AP does not use a serial comma (red, white and blue), whereas Chicago Style does (red, white, and blue). Of course there are hundreds of other differences as well.

Your best bet is to read through the Associated Press Stylebook, which is much smaller and less expensive than the Chicago Manual of Style, plus it is laid out alphabetically, which differs from the numerical listings in the Chicago Manual of Style. You will probably find AP Style is easy to learn.

What’s your question for book doctor Bobbie Christmas, author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing, and owner of Zebra Communications? Send question to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more “Ask the Book Doctor” questions and answers at www.zebraeditor.com.

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Self-publishing Guest Post: Ask the Book Doctor

The Book Doctor on repeating information for the self-publishing writer.

Q: I’m starting on the next nonfiction book in my series. What’s your opinion on this issue: How should I repeat, or not repeat, foundational information for the second book? Here are some of the options others and I have come up with so far:

Don’t repeat anything; refer readers to the first book.

Use the same foundational pages as I did in the first book, but place them in an appendix at the back.

Repeat everything I need to, but repackage it in a different way with new layouts and illustrations.

Reproduce it as is in the back in miniatures, four to a page.

A: Without seeing the actual manuscript, it’s hard to answer your questions about whether or how to repeat information, but my inclination is not to repeat information at all. If folks want the information, they should buy your other book. Think marketing. I’d refer to the previous book and even include an order form in the back.

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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.

Book Doctor

Guest Post: Ask the Book Doctor

The Book Doctor talks about writing signs for the self-publishing author…

Q: In several places in my novel I have things that the character reads, such as the following:

I turn the page in my journal and write, “This is gonna be a breeze.”
I see a sign that says, “Crab Cakes and Cold Beer—1 mile.”
I sign it, “To my buddy, John, Samuel Two Guns.”
The sign says, “Please be seated.”

My critique group questioned whether or not these phrases should be in quotes.
What do you think?

A: The answer is not the same for all four examples. Specific wording of short signs or notices should be capitalized but not put into quotation marks: I see a sign that says Crab Cakes and Cold Beer—1 Mile. The sign says Please Be Seated.

If the message on the sign is long, such as “We reserve the right to refuse to serve minors, drunks, belligerent people, the shoeless, or the scantily clad,” it would be inside quotation marks.

In the two sentences that refer to what someone is writing, though, use quotation marks around what was written. The first line is correct: I turn the page in my journal and write, “This is gonna be a breeze.”

The third sentence, however, should have a period after John: “To my buddy, John. Samuel Two Guns.”

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Book Doctor

Self-publishing Guest Post: The Book Doctor

The Book Doctor sets it straight on apostrophe usage for writing on the road to publishing…

Q: When it comes to plurals for last names, which is correct? Hueys or Huey’s or Hueys’? The Robersons or Roberson’s or Robersons’? Microsoft Word always flags these as misspelled. I can never tell the difference.

A: Microsoft Word probably flags them because the words themselves, Hueys and Robersons, are not in the dictionary, plus the computer program cannot decipher whether the name is plural or possessive.

If it is strictly plural, it takes no apostrophe. Examples:
We ate dinner with Joe Huey and the rest of the Hueys.
Mike Roberson said all the Robersons are visiting next week.

If it is plural possessive, it needs an apostrophe. Examples:
We ate dinner at the Hueys’ house.
The Robersons’ dog is visiting, too.

Note that if the name ends in an s, the plural possessive for book style is to add an apostrophe and an s. Examples:
The Jones’s house is painted white.
I agree with all of the Samuels’s suggestions.

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

Book Doctor, Book Marketing, Self-Publishing

Guest post: Ask the Book Doctor

We’ve discussed how creating a blog can help organize your writing schedule, generate actual book content, and assist in ultimately marketing your published book by building platform and establishing yourself as an expert.

Guest blogger, Bobby Christmas, the Book Doctor, talks about generating blog traffic for self-publishing authors.

Q: I have started a blog, which started out slowly, but I now get about fifteen hits a day. How can I increase that number?

A: First, for those not familiar with blogs (Web logs), they are online journals. One provider of Web log space is http://www.blogspot.com. Many authors have found that maintaining a blog builds a fan base for their books and keeps fans up to date when a new book is going to be released.

I’m not the expert on blogs or driving traffic to blogs, but I will give these tips:

What are you doing to make those people go to your blog and read it now? Do more of the same.

To drive traffic to your blog, write articles or a column regarding your subject matter and include a link to your blog. Send those articles to any site that may post them.

Embed key words in your blog, words that readers might use to search for the type of information you provide in your blog.

In addition to my very basic advice, buy and read a book on how to increase visibility and drive readers to a blog. I noted 164 books about blogs on Amazon.com.

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