Mary Martin, Ph.D.

On Style Guides

If your job is to write or edit, chances are you have been given a style guide to help you make important decisions such as which words should be capitalized in a title or headline.

Or whether to hyphenate if you're writing in industry that could easily be overrun by hyphens, such as the financial services industry (or financial-services industry, wherein you'll find estate-planning attorney or estate planning attorney and wealth-management specialist or wealth management specialist).

Or how to punctuate and capitalize the information in bullets.

If you're ever unsure about, for instance, whether you should put a period after the information in a bullet point, here's a tip: Ask if there's a style guide for your work. All publications either follow a style guide or have one of their own (e.g., the New York Times Manual of Style is for the obvious, while most other journalists will follow the Associated Press' Stylebook). Depending on the field, you may have be governed by the Chicago Manual of Style, the APA (American Psychological Association, and it's not just for psychologists) style, or the MLA (Modern Language Association).

If you're writing for yourself, hoping to be published someday, write in the style of the field and genre that you'll soon be a part of. If you're writing for someone, let's say a small company, who doesn't have a stylebook, you should at least always be consistent when it comes to style. Make sure all of your bullets have the same format, punctuation and capitalization. If you use hyphens, make sure you use them in the same way throughout the document.

And if you want to try to make a couple extra bucks (I've done this, by the way), ask your client/employer if you can (for a fee, of course) create a style guide to prevent future streams of questions by allegedly nitpicking writers and editors.

What? You Don't Have A Blog?

A baby boomer client of mine has a great business card and a fabulous logo she paid thousands of dollars for. She also has a website, thank heavens, which gives her another place to show everyone how fabulous her logo is.

But she doesn't have a blog.

Now, that might be fine if her website was interactive and she was constantly in touch with her clients and the site had some kind of mechanism for communication back and forth--not to mention a built-in reason to communicate.

But that's not quite her reality (at least not today, but by next week I'm hoping her reality will change).

Twenty years ago, you needed a great business card and a great logo to be up and running and get the word around about your services. Ten years ago, though you needed a business card, it should have had your website address and e-mail on it. That's what made you cutting edge.

Now, if you're a writer or offering writing or editing services, you'd best have a blog. Why? So you can communicate--daily if necessary--with your audience and/or clients. In this impersonal, global world, they want that vehicle that allows them to feel like you're in their living room. They want the possibility for intimacy.

And if you want to nurture your relationships with them, you need to work on your end, just like in any other relationship. You need to be in touch with them.

People work with people they like and trust. People buy from people they like and trust. Someone might even buy your book despite the fact that the subject matter doesn't interest them--because they like you and trust you.

Part of building rapport in 2008 is maintaining a blog or at least adding an interactive component to your website AND letting your audience know they have a reason to return to it weekly. After all, you can have a complex interactive site, but if no one knows that your site is anything but a showcase for who you are and what you do, it won't help you.

Your goal is for your website and your blog to work for you. To drive you business. To increase your exposure. To build relationships, if for no other reason than to connect with like-minded individuals.

On Outlines for Agents and Publishers

When submitting an outline to an agent or publisher, I refer to my mantra: Give them exactly what they want.

A friend recently asked me to help him with his outline and asked if he was doing it correctly, to which I replied: That depends on what they asked for.

Agents and publishers have "Submission Guidelines" on their sites (and sometimes the guidance is: Unfortunately, we don't accept unsolicited manuscripts. Sometimes they don't even accept queries. But if there is indeed guidance about what to submit, you ought to follow it. And if that means customizing each submission for the person who asked for it, so be it. You customize query letters, don't you? (Now, by "customize," I don't mean you change the gist of your work. But you might change your pitch to that individual based on their tastes or what they have worked on recently.)

Regarding outlines, they are usually of the annotated-table-of-contents variety. This means they want each chapter listed, with a description of the chapter (not the subject). In other words, what happens in the chapter? It begins with A, moves to B, C is introduced, and it ends with D. Note also that there's a formula for how much you should write about each chapter: One sentence for each page (approximately). So a 15-page chapter will be described in 15 sentences. That gives the reader an idea of the length of each section, whether it is written or not.

If, however, the agent or publisher asks for a different variety of outline, you'll create and send an appropriate one. But if you haven't visited their website, you won't know that they have a preference. And in 2008, when it is extremely difficult to get published unless you're a celebrity or you have a well-stocked platform, you need all the help you can get. And that begins with submitting the appropriate material.

On Writing as a Financial Plan

I had lunch today with a friend who wants to write a book. In fact, I think I have yet to meet a person who doesn't want to write a book.

What worries me is when someone wants to quit his job so he can focus more on writing his book, when he has bills to pay and isn't really in a position to not work. Of course, I point that out--always--and almost always the response is, "Yeah, but once I sell my book I'll be fine."

Here's a tip: Your financial plan should never include the profits from a book that not only is not finished so it technically doesn't exist yet, but it might never be published. And if it does get published, there is a strong possibility that you might never make a dime (depending on your contract).

I understand that your book is screaming to get out of you. And I understand that it is most unromantic of me to say that you shouldn't quit your job to follow your passion. I feel obligated to suggest that you review your current financial situation and all of your obligations. Some families can indeed afford to have someone write for potentially no money. But that set-up isn't for everyone. If you have a family and a mortgage and you're the breadwinner and must remain the breadwinner, your financial priority should be making certain you don't sacrifice your family's well-being in order to write.

Meanwhile, if you're single, not in debt and can downsize or move if you need to cut expenses so you can change jobs or take a leave of absence for a while to write, I say Go for it! Everyone's situation is unique and must be considered in its context before making the decision to spend more time writing.

Sometimes, a change in job is all it takes to free up mental and physical time. Check out the job job and the junk job here.

On Help with Achieving Your Goals

Check out Joe's Goals (and Joe's Logbook) for a free, easy way to keep track of your goals and vices (and also check out the tips and tricks on the blog). It's the simplest format ever, with positive things you want to increase represented with yellow smileys and vices represented by gray frowning faces. You can even weight your goals with point values. The logbook or journal has plenty of room for notes about, say, what foods you ate or how far you ran and what your mileage was per hour (or however you measure your progress).

If you're looking for a job, writing a book, keeping a blog, losing weight or trying to create a habit (e.g., meditating daily, exercising, eating more fruits and veggies), there's nothing like staring at your progress (or lack thereof) to remind yourself of how you're doing.

Being accountable to yourself is one thing, but you can also share your progress with friends or post your score via a badge on your blog or website or MySpace page (do people still do MySpace?). I recommend using Joe's Goals with at least one partner to give you an added level of accountability. Actually, the more people you're accountable to, the better. And luckily the site has a mechanism to sending automatic updates to your partners, so there's no excuse to not create a little accountability team for yourself.

If you have even one goal that you haven't achieved after multiple previous attempts, it's time to get serious and position yourself to achieve that goal by using a ready-made system of private and public accountability, such as Joe's Goals.

On Reading Into Rejections

When you send your proposal, your query, a partial, or even your entire manuscript to an agent, editor or publisher and you get an impersonal--or even a personal--rejection, you tend to read into it right? Don't worry, everybody does. We wonder:

What did she really mean when she said my book wasn't right for her?
Is there something not right about me?
Why does she hate me so much?
Is my writing that bad?

I received some of the best advice a couple of years ago, and unfortunately I cannot recall who delivered it. But here it is: Everything after No is crap.

Most important, the only information you actually need is the No part. Next, every person has different tastes and your work will never be appropriate for everyone. Furthermore, some people craft the most innocuous-sounding letter possible, as you're not their client and they don't want to spend time on you. But they also don't want to hurt your feelings. So you get this No-with-a-vague-reason letter that can drive you to insanity if you let it.

Finally, even if the person has some legitimate feedback, they're just one person and you shouldn't revise your idea or your book based on one person's feedback. You've got to be committed to your idea while being open to possible revision if the criticism is constructive and hits a chord in you that makes you think the feedback just might improve your work or your idea.

Nevertheless, today's tip is: Everything after No is crap.  Move on to the next possibility, submit your best work, and don't let the rejection get you down. 

On Refdesk.com

Friends, family and clients call me for random information all the time. I used to look everything up for them (Did they think I just magically knew all this stuff? Didn't they know I had to look it up?), but recently I've been giving out my secrets.

One secret is Refdesk.com. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the site visually, as the design is most unfriendly. But it's well worth using, and frankly if I had to redesign it I'm not sure I'd be able to improve it.

At first blush it appears that it's all about news, but if you scroll down and peruse the left and right columns, you'll see gems such as: the 9/11 Commission Full Report, War in Iraq Casualty Count, Hospital Rankings, How to Clean Anything, a Currency Converter, Flags of the World, Bartlett's, several style guides for writing and even Urban Legends and Myths. Of course, there are multiple dictionaries, thesauruses and encyclopedias, and several telephone directories (for both inside and outside of the US).

I like to empower people and getting them the information they want isn't at all empowering for them. But providing them with resources so they don't have to call me and they can find whatever they need by themselves, is empowering.

Empower a friend--send them to Refdesk.com.

On Slang and Style

Check out "Tracking Slang," about a study on slang used by college students. I have a couple of clients who use slang in their nonfiction work, and most of it is unique to the field they work in so it's considered "jargon," which is like saying: the slang of money managers (or whichever group you're talking about).

People will usually say that it's their style to use jargon or slang, and if we're talking about fiction, that's fine. But when it comes to nonfiction, and your goal, presumably, is to have the most people possible read and understand your work, slang and jargon weigh down your style and subvert your goal. If the subtext of slang and jargon is that you have to be a member of some secret or privileged or otherwise special group to be able to decode it, using it is akin to intentionally alienating everyone outside your group.

Do you really want to do that?

Here's a tip: If you're feeling the need to use slang or jargon, remind yourself who your audience is. Define your audience. If your audience is indeed a small, niche group who appreciates its secret language and you have no desire to reach beyond that group, have at it. But if your desire is to get through to those outside your niche, think twice about using slang and/or jargon. Say what you mean using words most people know, and not only will you be clearly communicating, but you won't be excluding anyone in the process.

On Attachment to Your Title

I have had clients who are brilliant at coming up with titles. In fact, they come up with titles for their books first, then create the content around those titles.

I admire the talent of creating titles, however I always warn my clients to detach themselves from the titles if they are pursuing traditional publishing, as the titles they hold so dear can easily be changed by the publisher.

I also have clients who write their book first, then obsess about the title. They refuse to send the proposal or manuscript until they believe they have the perfect title because they're convinced that it will make or break their book. And when it comes to impulse buys, that's true. People really will buy a book because of the title or the cover. But if the content of your book is great, and your writing is fabulous, word will get around and readers will buy it because they heard about how wonderful it is. No one ever got a starred review from Publisher's Weekly because of the title of their book.

If a publisher says the title must be changed, there's probably a good reason for that and it behooves you to listen to it. Sure, you can still campaign for your title. But don't be too attached to it in the even your campaign isn't successful.

On Putting a Dollar Value on Your Hard Work

If you write grants, books, chapters, pamphlets or website material, you have to value your hard work and establish a fair price for it.

I'm a free market kind of person, and I'll charge a combination of what the market will pay and what my expertise is worth. Certain markets pay well as a matter of course, and others don't. Some clients have for-profit businesses and others have non-profit businesses and I factor that into my equation, as well.

In other words, what I charge is by no means uniform from one client to the next, unless of course the clients are similar in important ways.

I've seen intricate formulas for establishing fees based on your overhead, the number of years of experience you have, your earning history, and the fair market value of your services. And at the beginning that's helpful. However, after nearly two decades of writing for other people, I am far less attached to making a huge profit and far more attached to doing work that matters for people I believe in. And if they can't pay me $250 an hour, I don't mind.

Sometimes I work pro bono. For example, if a nonprofit isn't paying the people who run its program a living wage, how can I possible ask them to pay me one?

Though this is by no means a scientific statement, it works for me: Charge a fair price for the work given the context. You can't go wrong with that, and you'll certainly build up some goodwill with people who appreciate the way you do business. And goodwill equals referrals. If you're running your business with integrity, referrals will bring you the bulk of your work and you won't have to advertise as much as most people do. Take it from me: There's nothing better than having people call you because a good friend told them how wonderful you are at what you do and how you do it.