Good Grammar Makes Self-Published Books Stand Out

Recently, Dictionary.com ran a fascinating article titled, "Does Grammar Matter at work?" The article described Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit and founding father of Dozuki, who wrote a piece of writing called "I Won't Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar" from the "Harvard Business Review." Wiens states, "I've found that people who make fewer mistakes on the grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing-like stocking shelves or labeling parts." In reply, John McWhorter argued in the "New York Times" essay that grammar is just not indicative of intelligence or awareness of detail, and in many professions, just isn't an essential skill. - Grammarly Review

While, naturally, grammar matters more in jobs associated with writing than in other jobs, for instance a factory assembly line, I disagree that grammar has nothing to do with attention to detail. As a book reviewer, I've come across countless poorly written books the location where the grammar is atrocious. I have also seen a number of these books completely with a lack of any sort of attention to detail.

The world now has countless aspiring authors and also over a million books are published each year. If an author will almost certainly compete against all of those other authors to make his or her book stand out, using a well-written book with proper grammar, inside them for hours it proofread meticulously, is going to make a huge difference.

Believe it or not, even among authors, bad grammar exists. Traditionally published books tend to be better than many self-published books because publishers have editors to correct grammar, spelling, and also other errors. But not all publishers, editors, or authors have the same caliber, regardless of whether the book is traditionally or independently published. And a lot of an intelligent self-published author knows enough to have his book edited and proofread in order to avoid errors.

I see certain grammatical mistakes being made overall in books; frequently, I have discovered split infinitives in books produced even by major publishing houses. The best known example of a split infinitive originates from the television show "Star Trek" in its famous opening "to boldly go." Here, "to go" will be the infinitive of the verb, in order that it should not be split, however frequently insert adverbs in to the infinitive, thereby splitting it). Also i frequently see subject-pronoun agreement issues. For instance, "Everyone should decide what they want for lunch before they get to the deli counter." In this case, "everyone" is singular and so the pronouns should also be singular. Rather than "they" should be used "he," "she," or "he or she." Or "everyone" should be replaced with a plural word like "people" which will then match with the plural pronoun "they."

Like i said, such errors are frequent during traditionally published books, and well-educated people still constantly make these errors. A lot of people who complain about bad grammar won't even notice that these examples can be harmful grammar. I was amused in reading this article at Dictionary.com that one of the comments readers made-both from people who felt grammar does matter in the workplace, and those who didn't agree-many were filled up with bad grammar, and at least one person pointed this fact in her comment.

Also i disagree with John McWhorter that grammar is not to do with being detail-oriented. I'll expand a little here from grammar itself to feature spelling, pronunciation, as well as other matters related to writing and communication. I cringe after i see commercials where people use bad grammar; commercials have writers who ought to know better. Poor pronunciation also causes me to cringe; in one commercial I've seen, the business owner tells customers that his technique is "guaranteed"-only he can't pronounce "guaranteed." He thinks the start of the word rhymes with "car" rather than "care." Then a jingle occurs in which the word is pronounced properly. This business has made numerous commercials every time it is the same "guaranteed" line as well as the same problem with pronunciation. I am amazed that the television station producing the ad has not told the business owner that he is mispronouncing the word, and I also am amazed that this business owner has never picked up on how the word is pronounced differently in the jingle. Obviously, attention to detail is lacking here. I understand a little room for improvement in pronunciations exists, so I went on the internet and listened to the word pronounced at four different dictionaries instead of one pronounces it the way in which he does. And even in case there are two ways to pronounce it, shouldn't the pronunciation consistency in the commercial? Do I need it a product from a man who for years has been unaware of the way to pronounce a word properly he uses over and over to market his business and that he's heard from other people's lips dozens of times, but he can't recognise his mistake? How guaranteed is his product, really?

Such lack of attention to detail is even worse when it's in a book. Here's among just one of countless books I have been given to review where bad grammar and bad writing also reflected deficiency of attention to detail. First, this kind of book was full of typos and misspellings. One that really irritated me was the author continually referring to how he was once an "alter boy." Like a good Catholic, he really should have known how to spell "altar." Worse, throughout the book, he couldn't make up his mind how to do much of anything. Whenever he described a book or film, he'd have it italicized on one page, then in bold on another page, then underlined on another, then italicized and underlined over a third. In one case, I saw him italicize, bold, and underline all from the same sentence, never increasing in popularity that the three mentions of the book did not match. I'm wondering whether he would paint a gate like that-black post, green post, some pink stripes, then some blue polka dots-and not comprehend it looked terrible when he was done. His book sure looked terrible, and it read horribly. A fantastic author pays attention to information and makes sure it is all totally as consistent as you can.

I also know authors who, unbelievably, don't even think good grammar matters. They figure out "That's why I have an editor." And I know editors who inform me writers without good grammar are terrible writers, with no matter how hard they, as editors, work, with out matter how great the theory for the book might be, a book can only be improved so much by someone aside from the author, and it will never be completely up to par whether it were not well-written to begin with.

Whether you're an author, a salesperson, or possibly a factory worker, people do judge for your use of grammar. If you haven't seen the movie "My Fair Lady," it's worth watching as one example of how grammar will give you ahead or hold you in life. Perhaps transforming yourself coming from a flower girl on the street to part of English high society, as Eliza Doolittle does inside the film, is rather extreme for the situation, but it demonstrates how people view you according to what comes out of your respective mouth. And they also judge you on what comes from your pen.

Bad grammar, bad writing, and insufficient attention to detail are the primary reasons why self-publishing has experienced a bad reputation. You can get away with bad grammar at work, but you can't get away with it when you write a magazine. Trust me; there are readers on the market who delight in finding errors and pointing them out so they can feel more advanced than authors.

If you are an aspiring writer, You need to brush up on your grammar. It would not hurt to take a class or to read a grammar book. And also by all means, find a good editor. Try not to just let your editor fix your grammar; focus on what the editor changes and learn from him or her (not them). Good and heavy writers pay attention to detail. They notice what their editors change, they read why, and they do not repeat the identical mistakes going forward.

Regardless of what the rest of the world might say about the need for good grammar, an author should be an aspiring expert on grammar and punctuation and become detail-oriented. You may not need to know the category of every part of speech, however you should write and rewrite which has a dictionary and a grammar book nearby for quick reference. Do your best to produce a consistent, well-written quality product and will also be ahead of the crowd for making your book stand out.- Grammarly Review