Yes, you’re judged by your
spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Last week, several authors’ Facebook posts took issue with grammar-shamers. They wanted to be judged by their online substance, not their delivery.
They’re missing the point.
If an error — of any kind — distracts a reader from your message, then you’ve failed to communicate clearly. Authors are judged by their written words. Once you put out your shingle as a professional, anything you write can be used as evidence: for you or against you.
The same day as the Facebook rant, I saw this post from professional writer Bob Hostetler: “I don't care how brilliant your meme is, if it contains poor grammar or a misspelled word, I can't like or share it.”
And this from publishing executive Dan Baker: “Job hunting tip: Applying for a position at a publishing house? Try very hard to submit a cover letter that's free of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors.”
A few posts below Dan Baker’s was this (in ALL CAPS) from a novelist:
DONE - SENT NOVEL TO MY
AGENT TONIGHT WITH ALL IT'S
CHANGES - TIGHTENING - DEEPENING - STRENGTHENING- and a BIG DOSE OF SIGH-WORTHY
ENDING - whew -
Now I GET to write two syonses for the next to stories in the trilogy.
Now I GET to write two syonses for the next to stories in the trilogy.
I hope her agent
likes the syonses — whatever those are.
Not convinced?
Consider this from Julie Powell in Cleaving: A story of marriage,
meat, and obsession.
“Many people will argue
that email ... and instant messaging and all the rest of it have destroyed our
capacity as a race for gracious communication. I disagree. In fact, I would go
so far as to say that we’ve entered a new golden epistolary age. Which is
another of the reasons I hardly ever use my phone as a phone. Why stammer into
a headset when I can carefully compose a witty, thoughtful missive? With
written words I can persuade, tease, seduce. My words are what make me desirable.”
7 comments:
I have been guilty of not pre-checking some of my posts and am thankful when someone who knows me catches it and lets me know.
Like when we have broccoli in our teeth. I want to know. Too often we are posting on the fly, in between lunch and getting back to our desk, or tweeting while stuck in traffic. (I am extra careful while doing that. Honest.) I give you all permission to let me know, but please, do it in a private message. :-)
Great post Andy.
Thanks. For major posts, I always print a copy for proofreading first. I find it's easier to see mistakes on paper than on a screen.
Andy, that is a great idea. Problem is, I am always in a hurry. Though my Heavenly Father is working on that with me. :-)
I thought about misspelling several words in my response just for fun, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Great and timely post! Thanks!
As I wrote it I also thought about planting a few.
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