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Making A Great First Impression - Literally
I would very much like to welcome Cynthia Moss to Kindle Authors.
Cynthia works at Wichita State University having also graduated from there. She kindly agreed to supply a guest post on a subject that all aspiring authors should take very seriously.
Making a Great First Impression - Literally I f youve been reading the reviews for self-published authors, youll notice as imilarity among the negative ones. Over and over, it seems to come down to rammar and punctuation. Reviews occasionally even ignore the actual story plot, characters, setting, and all to instead focus on glaring errors in syntax. After the ridicule, often including grammar, reviewers frequently take potshots at the intelligence of the author. Granted, some of this criticism may just be sour grapes, but this automatic assumption that poor grammar equals idiocy is not at all uncommon. casual, conversational style. This means that proper grammar and syntax is
occasionally left by the wayside as writers attempt to imitate the way that
people really speak. Is this a bad thing? Well, thats debatable. What isnt
debatable is that an excess of common grammatical mistakes littered throughout
a manuscript detracts from a writers credibility. Even when the manuscript itself shows obvious creative promise, there are few able to squint past the poor presentation.
Simple. Its a question of money. Its difficult to find a qualified editor who
is willing to take reduced fees on a book that is priced so inexpensively that
the author must sell a good many of them in order to have significant revenue.
I believe theres also a sneaky thought that the quality of the writing will
shine through any holes in syntax and shortcomings in punctuation and spelling.
The reality is that readers usually only give an author one chance, and the
grammar and syntax of a work is much like the visual impression one makes in a
face-to-face job interview. Grammar, in this sense, is very much the
professionally dressed exterior and firm-but-not-too-firm handshake of any
literary endeavor.
scathing reviews. These reviewers have a point. Why should they trust an author with their time and money if the author contradicts his or her right to credibility with every incorrectly spelled word and inaccurate use of the apostrophe, ellipsis, and dash?
solution to aspiring and established authors. As an inexhaustible reader of
fiction and occasional writer, I have a passion for helping authors achieve
their literary vision. Ive worked with a couple of aspiring childrens book
authors, as well as numerous editing work, and I take pleasure not only in
adjusting grammatical errors, but most importantly in ensuring the authors unique voice emerges from the piece.
For
an electronic resume, pricing, and payment options, I can be contacted at:
Once again it's time to meet some authors in various stages of their development. Some have already completed their books, some are engaged in the process of writing while others are mentally preparing to take the plunge and get started. Cynthia's post is a timely reminder to us all.
Please take the time to visit the websites and blogs and Twitter accounts of this determined and talented group.
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You now have Cynthia's contact details if you want help with the essential stage of proofreading and editing.
For help with promotion using Google+ and Blogger I am making Google+eXplosion available for FREE. Please CLICK HERE TO GET ACCESS
For those of you who haven't started and are waiting for inspiration you will have to wait a long time. Perspiration precedes inspiration. For those of you without a blog or website get one and start promoting your book. Google+ eXplosion will show you how.
I will be more than happy to feature your finished book. In fact I will be delighted so get writing please .
I'm fortunate in having a good editor but I find the important thing is to leave the MS alone for a while and go back to it with fresh eyes; I do this as many times as I need to before sending it to the editor. Also, I've found that it's more difficult to spot errors when reading the MS on my PC so I print it out and go through it line by line. Mine may not be deathless prose but I hope it's correct.
Good old days Jack!
Just like to point out the grammatical and spelling errors in this post were mine not Cynthia's!!!!