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emmajaye's review
4.0
A useful guide that contains many of the points included in longer, more expensive classic style guides in part one. I would have liked the section of writing inclusively to have addressed the issues of gender neutral pronouns, rather than only avoiding sexist language between male and female. The modern writer encounters far more that two genders.
In part two, Manuscript Presentation, the emphasis is on producing traditional print books, with a section on formatting your manuscript for sending to potential publishers, including the necessity of numbering the pages of your printed manuscript in case it is dropped. Personally, I'm not sure how necessary this is in the current, 'eBook' age.
Overall, this is a useful guide, particularly for those wanting to publish non-fiction in print form.
In part two, Manuscript Presentation, the emphasis is on producing traditional print books, with a section on formatting your manuscript for sending to potential publishers, including the necessity of numbering the pages of your printed manuscript in case it is dropped. Personally, I'm not sure how necessary this is in the current, 'eBook' age.
Overall, this is a useful guide, particularly for those wanting to publish non-fiction in print form.
rebeccamoody's review
5.0
*I received a copy of Mini Style Guide: An Introduction to Good Writing and Manuscript Presentation from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Opinions here are mine*
Mini Style Guide lives up to its name, measuring about 6x8 inches, making it perfect for a purse or messenger bag carry along. At 264 pages, the volume is succinct, well-organized and intuitively laid out for quick browsing and discovery.
Author Denise O'Hagan begins the first half of the book with the hard mechanics of good writing, covering both high-level concerns such as style, language variance, and notes on copyright and plagiarism as well as nitty-gritty grammar like plurals, possessives, and punctuation. Worth noting is special chapter on inclusive writing, covering the treatments of topics such as ethnic diversity, gender neutrality, pronouns, disability, and age in today's writing landscape.
The second half thoroughly details manuscript formatting and preparation, covering everything from special tools and sequencing to basic formatting and style. Fiction writers will find this useful in preparing their novels for the query trenches, however nonfiction and academic writers may have even more use for the later chapters that cover the more technical types of formatting needed when including supplemental data and materials.
A smaller third section provides a quick, glossy run-though of publishing options, I imagine for the sake of completeness, because the actual publication process isn't really the focus here--it's everything up until that point. It's worth reading for the information, especially if you're new to publishing, however there are entire resources devoted to that topic alone and once you're at that point it might be worth checking them out.
Mini Style Guide's chapters are thorough and include examples of the areas covered, but never run for more than a few pages. I appreciated the logical layout and progressive flow of the book, and the directness of the information. (I like my reference materials to give me the information I need quickly!)
All in all, Mini Style Guide looks like a great resource for writers, especially those in the final stages of pulling a manuscript together for editorial submission. It's the perfect ready-reference tool I like to keep on my personal shelf and refer to again and again in the course of my own writing, and I’ll be recommending my library make the purchase for its collection as well.
Mini Style Guide lives up to its name, measuring about 6x8 inches, making it perfect for a purse or messenger bag carry along. At 264 pages, the volume is succinct, well-organized and intuitively laid out for quick browsing and discovery.
Author Denise O'Hagan begins the first half of the book with the hard mechanics of good writing, covering both high-level concerns such as style, language variance, and notes on copyright and plagiarism as well as nitty-gritty grammar like plurals, possessives, and punctuation. Worth noting is special chapter on inclusive writing, covering the treatments of topics such as ethnic diversity, gender neutrality, pronouns, disability, and age in today's writing landscape.
The second half thoroughly details manuscript formatting and preparation, covering everything from special tools and sequencing to basic formatting and style. Fiction writers will find this useful in preparing their novels for the query trenches, however nonfiction and academic writers may have even more use for the later chapters that cover the more technical types of formatting needed when including supplemental data and materials.
A smaller third section provides a quick, glossy run-though of publishing options, I imagine for the sake of completeness, because the actual publication process isn't really the focus here--it's everything up until that point. It's worth reading for the information, especially if you're new to publishing, however there are entire resources devoted to that topic alone and once you're at that point it might be worth checking them out.
Mini Style Guide's chapters are thorough and include examples of the areas covered, but never run for more than a few pages. I appreciated the logical layout and progressive flow of the book, and the directness of the information. (I like my reference materials to give me the information I need quickly!)
All in all, Mini Style Guide looks like a great resource for writers, especially those in the final stages of pulling a manuscript together for editorial submission. It's the perfect ready-reference tool I like to keep on my personal shelf and refer to again and again in the course of my own writing, and I’ll be recommending my library make the purchase for its collection as well.
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