Publishing Horror Stories
Want to know which mistakes to avoid? Here’s a publisher’s perspective. In the latest issue of Publishing Basics, Carolyn Madison reveals some of the errors that make publishers cringe. These include misspellings, poor grammar and punctuation, structural problems, ambiguous messages and inaccurate content.
They have a nice list of the always common misspelled words also:
- Affect or Effect
- Ensure, Insure, or Assure
- It’s or Its
- Two, Too, or To
- Set or Sit
- Then or Than
- There, Their, or They’re
- That, Which, Who, Whom, or Whose
- Like or As if
- Roll or Role
- Quite or Quiet
- Though or Thorough
- Since or Because
- Should of or Should have
- Less or Fewer
- Amount of or Number of
- Over or More than
- Capitol or Capital
Check out the full list of publishing horror stories.
Sharon on July 25, 2008 
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Related Articles
Bookmark
4 Responses to “Publishing Horror Stories”
Got something to say?
Sponsors
Popular Articles
- 6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know
- The Impotence of Proofreading
- Let the Word Do the Work
- 10 Rules for Writing Numbers and Numerals
- 8 Proofreading Tips and Techniques
- 40 Yiddish Words You Should Know
- TV's War on "Me" and "I"
- 34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better Writer
- Gross Writing Errors on the Web
- Creative Writing 101
- Latin Words and Expressions
- Usage That Provokes “Blackboard Moments”
- 44 Resume Writing Tips
Recent Articles
- Say What You Mean
- A Novel IS Fiction
- English Grammar 101: All You Need to Know
- Short Story Competition: Sixth Batch Is Open for Voting!
- Word of the Day: Bourgeois
- The Scandinavian Connection
- Five Reasons Why Blogging Leads to Writing Jobs
- How to Address Your Elders, Your Doctor, Young Children… and Your CEO
- Short Story Competition: Fifth Batch Is Open for Voting!
- Cockney Rhyming Slang
I have to look up affect and effect every time I use them. I can never keep the two straight. Less and Fewer are a similar problem. Since and because are a bit like that but I generally think I’m right on the first try. The rest are generally typos for me.
I don’t usually misspell these, though I do make typos, such as confusing form and from.
It’s always difficult to edit one’s own work. I don’t have as much trouble with words usage, but I do make silly typos. When I write an article or a post, I read it several times out loud to get the cadence right; then, I leave it for a day to marinate. When I go back to it, I have fresh eyes with which to see.~~Dee
That’s always a good idea, Dee. Sometimes it’s also worth getting a completely fresh pair of eyes to look at it, if you have the time.