GREEN GECKO PUBLISHING

  • Book Store
  • Blog
  • About
  • Author Bios and Index
  • Contact Us
  • General Submission Guidlines
    • General Submission Guidlines
    • Creative Non-fiction on Spec
  • Sponsor a Book
  • General Submission Guidlines
  • mr-jordan.net
  • Book Store
  • Blog
  • About
  • Author Bios and Index
  • Contact Us
  • General Submission Guidlines
    • General Submission Guidlines
    • Creative Non-fiction on Spec
  • Sponsor a Book
  • General Submission Guidlines
  • mr-jordan.net

 En and Em dashing; Semicolons

8/15/2014

0 Comments

 

En and Em dashes

En Dash Bad: We met her parents-an affable pair-at the park.
Em Dash Good: We met her parents -- an affable pair -- at the park.

Em Dash Bad: mother--in--law
En Dash Good: mother-in-law

Semicolons

This is how I feel when I see a lot of them.
Picture
This is how I feel when I see a lot of them used incorrectly.
Picture
This is how I feel when I read a semicolon story that has at least some of them used correctly.
Picture
This is how I feel editing semi-colon stories.
Picture
Semicolons are hard to use correctly. The circumstances where you need them are few. But if you insist on using a plethora of them, you are
Picture
And you might get a lot more of this
Picture
0 Comments

Reader centered grammar: subjects and prepostional phrases

7/6/2014

0 Comments

 
Think of your reader when doing a line by line of your story or novel. On the kitchen table was a knife and the knife was on the kitchen table convey the exact same meaning. But the latter is the better choice in most cases. Moving the subject to the beginning of the sentence enables readers to understand its meaning more quickly. One might argue that the milliseconds it takes to compute the difference is negligible, but remember, how your sentences are formed, affect how readers form the movie of the book in their mind. The same goes for prepositional phrases.

In the kitchen, on the table next to the door, was a knife.

This might seem to read pretty well all by it's lonesome, but story is not a single sentence. Usually. Also keep in mind, where you place the verb or how many prepositions you use can speed up or slow down your story. If your hear feedback that your story has everything rocking but just feels slow for some odd reason, this might be why.

Challenge:
Can you re-write
In the kitchen, on the table next to the door, was a knife  with the subject at the beginning and subtract one prepositional phrase? Feel free to post your solution in the comments. 
0 Comments

Tips on how to get accepted

2/14/2014

1 Comment

 
  1. Submit in standard manuscript format. Follow this link to learn more about  Standard manuscript format. 
  2. The first stories I read are ones that include your name, story title, email and *WORD COUNT on the title page.
  3. When your story is finished, open a grammar book and do a line by line. Editing takes time. Trust us, we know. However taking the time increases your chances of acceptance exponentially, and not just at Green Gecko.
  4. Most of our books are Passion for "something".  If the main character feels indifferent toward the topic of the book at the end your story, then it's not right for the Passion for series.
  5. First person is a hard sell, more so in books that contain both fiction and non-ficiton.
  6. Present tense is a hard sell. 
  7. First person present tense has to be that much more awesome than it's competition.
1 Comment

A few things writers should know

5/20/2013

0 Comments

 
Thanks everyone for your submissions. Whether it's a yes or no, know that GGP appreciates you.

Because of the nature of the 'Passion for' series, we get a lot of submissions from people who haven't thought about writing professionally. So here are a few pointers:

You don't have to send us your resume`. Anyone can submit a story. Your writing is all that matters. We do get a lot of good submissions that aren't quite what we are looking for so don't take a rejection personally. If you're worried that there is something you can improve, join a good on-line or in person critique group. Writers are a friendly lot, happy to share their knowledge.

You can increase your chances by taking a few minutes to research industry standards. Speaking of industry standards, let's look at pay rate.

Green Gecko Publishing is a semi-pro market. Semi-pro pays 1 to 4 cents per word. Pro markets pay 5 cents and higher.

Some markets pay a flat rate. Five, ten, and fifteen dollars are common amounts. This allows the magazine to acquire longer stories but the per word rate is often token.

For the love markets are places that don't pay. Getting your foot through the door can be easier with these markets, but a writer doesn't want too many non-paying "sales" on their writing resume`.

Because Green Gecko Publishing pays at the semi-pro rate, we are most likely to acquire stories that are near the professional level. That makes us a pretty good writing credit to put on your resume`.
0 Comments

Submission Tip 1: Treat markets, big or small with respect. 

3/31/2013

0 Comments

 
PictureBe a rock star. Submit your best work.
Please do not submit if you think GGP is beneath your talent, experience and/or publishing history. This results in messy stories and bruised toes.

And this is exactly why GGP has two classes of pay. Placing pay rate in the hands of writers discourages submissions that were dashed off and unedited. Or old, unedited submissions, or any combination thereof.

Because, if I like what you sent but it needs cleaning up, you might get a letter from me asking for edits and an offer of 1/4 per word.

Don't get offended by the edits.
Don't get offended by the lower pay rate.
And don't try to impress me with the quality and/or quantity of your publishing credits.

I can only judge what you send me, not what you send to others. Be grateful that I didn't send you a form rejection. Be grateful for the second chance. Be extra grateful that I refuse to publish it as-is. (Because, at the end of the day, that's your name on the story. While industry professionals might blame GGP for poor editing and revision, readers do not. They blame you.)  

I love second chances. That's why I don't send as many form letters as I should. That's also why, the slush pile can take a little longer.

Last but not least. For those of you who have sent me your best work.I've noticed the increase in cleaner prose and I regret every rejection. I can't publish your work if it's not right for the book. But there is one thing I can do. I can take notice of who has sent in a polished, clean, well written draft. I see your effort and care, and because of that, your chances next time around go up. Finally, if I notice, you can bet your bottom dollar other publications notice and appreciate you too.

0 Comments

    Archives

    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Categories

    All
    Author Interviews
    Book Releases
    Cats
    Dictators Of GGP
    Grammar
    Links Of Interest
    Lots Of Pun
    Obscure Facts
    Passion For Cats
    Passion For Puns
    Posts By Interns
    Random Acts Of Advice
    Random Acts Of Poetry
    Random Things
    Submissions Status Updates
    Submission Tips
    Technical Writing Advice
    The Dirty GRE
    What's Going On At GGP

    RSS Feed