"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

[John Jarrold]

Originally Posted by garycompton

Whoops...not as old as Sir Bobby though. Phew!

Thank you for that, Gary!!!

[Troo]

Originally Posted by Havlen

Curious on one point: Do agents/editors still want the manuscript to use underlines for italics? I've been doing that for years based on some formatting tips I read long ago. I think it was originally so that the typesetter would know that it was italics.

Oh, so it's you who keeps sending me submissions with underlined text where italics should be, eh?

I'm watching you...

[Oxman]

Actually, I've been following the "underline for italics" rule too. I'd read in several places that this was common practice in the publishing world and my first manuscript was sent out with underlined word in place of italics.

John, if my manuscript adheres to all of the other rules I've read on each agent's submission guidelines (for example, 12pt Courier New, the required synopsis/ sample chapters), then am I jeopardising my submission because of the italic factor?

I ask because, due to a spike full of rejections for my first novel, I'm going to re-edit and make some pretty wholesale changes before I send it out to the remaining agents on my list. Substituting the underlines with italics shouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, I have four short stories ripe and ready for submission and my second novel is 99% complete too. Would it be worthwhile to trawl though these again and amend the underlines, or is the italic factor just not that big a deal?

Ps. I'm a lurker more than a regular poster, but the time you spend on here and the advice you have given to others has been invaluable to me. Thanks!

[Troo]

Underlines in place of italics certainly cheeses me off, because there are instances where you may want to actually underline something. How's an editor to tell the difference?

[lin robinson]

I agree completely.

I think it was originally so that the typesetter would know that it was italics.

And underlining is a stronger indication of italics than italics are??? :-)

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by lin robinson

And underlining is a stronger indication of italics than italics are???

No, but it was a stronger indication than nothing back when we were all using typewriters.

Sometimes, things are slow to change.

[Havlen]

I actually put in something like 'novel manuscript formatting' into google and picked three documents at random. None of them were from well-known places (i.e. no major publishers or agencies weighing in just stuff like blog posts). All of them said to use underlines for italics.

So I'm betting I'm not the only one who has done it

Also, interestingly enough, agents don't seem to comment at all on it. I've even received personalized comments back that didn't mention them.

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'm still doing it. No editor that I've ever worked with has ever indicated I should stop. If and when one of them does, I will.

[lin robinson]

John, I wonder if you have anything to say about hot or not "subgenres" at the moment.

I'm particularly interested in SF in Victorian/steamage drag (I have a hard time using "steampunk" with a straight face) Is this still a going concern?

And if not, I'm less specifically curious if there are any categories or flavors that are considered hotter or cooler than others. Or dead dogs.

[Troo]

Steampunk FTW!!!

*Not professional opinion. Just fact

[lin robinson]

A fact I'm having trouble interpreting.

[Anarchon]

Hi, Lin, is it the FTW thing?

For The Win

[The Alamo Avenger]

I have a question regarding publishing rights. I recently learned that any work posted on a website that anyone can access cannot then be sold to a publisher. How strict is this 'rule'? The reason I ask is because I was completely unaware of this when I created my website. Instead of making the website the address of my name, I used the title of the book that I am currently trying to get published. I had intended to put the first few chapters up for people to sample until I had acquired an agent, etc. That is obviously out of the question. However, have I screwed myself just by having the website be the title of my book? In other words, since the website is the name of the book, would that fact alone prevent me from selling the book under that title? Or will I still be able to sell my work as long as there are no excerpts of the book on the site? Can I at least include the little two paragraph 'intro' for my book on the site, or would that prevent it from being used were the book to at some point be bought for publishing??

[lin robinson]

Hi, Lin, is it the FTW thing?

For The Win

Actually it was the FTW thing (means something different where I come from...the last two letters stand for "The World")

Now it's the "For The Win" thing.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by The Alamo Avenger

I have a question regarding publishing rights. I recently learned that any work posted on a website that anyone can access cannot then be sold to a publisher. How strict is this 'rule'? The reason I ask is because I was completely unaware of this when I created my website. Instead of making the website the address of my name, I used the title of the book that I am currently trying to get published. I had intended to put the first few chapters up for people to sample until I had acquired an agent, etc. That is obviously out of the question.

You're absolutely safe putting up a few sample chapters. Things only start getting sticky when you've offered a substantial portion of the work to the public (which is what "publishing" means). And it's not a rule, it's just that once it's been published the chances of selling it elsewhere are likely to be greatly diminished. As for naming your website after your book, that isn't something you have to worry about at all. Titles aren't copyright, they need not be unique, and if you did sell your book a publisher might want to change the title anyway.

(It's a good idea to learn as much as you can about the publishing business before you start sending out your manuscript. It could save you a lot of trouble in the long run.)