CMOS 16 CHANGES, #3
Another change from the 15th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style to the new 16th edition refers to commas used with question marks or exclamation marks.
CMOS 16 CHANGES, #2
The new edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has a nicely laid-out hyphenation guide (in chart format) for compound modifiers (7.85). Most of the rules are the same as before, with one notable exception: colors.
CMOS 16 CHANGES, #1
I received my preordered copy of the newest (16th) edition of The Chicago Manual of Style right before leaving to teach at the Montrose Christian Writers’ Conference last week. But I’m back now, and ready to dive in and find out what’s changed. I’ll be posting on this blog some of the things I discover. […]
DANGLING MODIFIERS
When you start a sentence with a modifying word or phrase, the next thing in the sentence is what must be modified by that word or phrase. A “dangling modifier” is a phrase that does not clearly and sensibly modify the appropriate word.
Cutting the Fat, Part Two
Following on the heels of last week’s column, here are more ways you can tighten your manuscript.
Cutting the Fat in Your Manuscript
To tighten your manuscript, do what I call a Scissor Edit. Cut out everything that doesn’t absolutely need to be in the manuscript. The tighter the writing, the more publishers—and readers—will like it. Here are a few ways to cut. Look for more next week!
Publishing Options
Want to get a book published? There are several options available today: 1. Commercial (royalty-paying) publishing 2. Subsidy publishing 3. Self-publishing 4. Do-it-yourself printing 5. Electronic publishing
Commercial Publishing
Standard book publishers receive far more manuscript submissions than they could possibly print, so considerably more proposals are rejected than accepted. Most publishing houses focus the majority of their promotional efforts on previously published authors who already have an established fan base. This makes sense–after all, publishing is their business and they need to make […]