[Publishing Tips] Words Have Meanings - January 19, 2009
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Publishing Tips Newsletter
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affordable solutions for writing and publishing projectsWords Have Meanings
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Walt's Notes
A book video (aka book trailer), for those who may not know, is a short video about a book, constructed using the techniques common to movie trailers (those ads for upcoming movies).
Book videos are hot. Book videos are engaging. Book videos are entertaining. Book videos can capture a lot of traffic to your website. Book videos are a viral marketing platform.
All true. But all avoid the key issue – Do book videos really, truly sell books?
Although people will insist that their own book video is responsible for fantastic sales volume. Unfortunately, most of that data falls into the category of anecdotal evidence, and real, hard marketing data is almost impossible to find.
Besides, when it comes to book sales data, keep your skeptic’s cap firmly seated on your head. No matter the size of the publisher, book sales numbers are often the most unreliable data available. I tend to pay little attention to those numbers. From big publishers, they rarely take into account actual sales to readers or returns from bookstores. From small publishers, they may be more wishful thinking than fact. That doesn’t mean everyone’s lying, only that you have no way of knowing who’s telling the whole truth.
Which brings me back to book videos and book sales.
I’ve watched a lot of book videos, but not one has ever caused me to want to buy the book. Why? Primarily because they have nothing to do with the actual writing found in the book. Video, after all, is a very different medium.
I have, on the other hand, been motivated to buy a book on the basis of an author pitch or interview presented in a video format. Those, when well done, do tell me about the book and what to expect in it. And if the author actually reads a passage from the book, that’s even more informative.
What’s your view of book videos? Have you watched them? Have you bought a book based on viewing a video? If so, would you be likely to do it again?
Tell Me About It: Take a short (three question) survey about book videos and let your opinion be counted. Everyone who completes the survey will be given a link to download our “Promotional Blurbs for Your Book” Instant Guide…for f*r*e*e.
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Words Have Meanings
An interesting blog post was recommended to me on Twitter – “Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words.” It’s a pretty good list…but there are errors on it, and in the comments about it.
The blog writer insists that afterwards (with the trailing S) is appropriate only in British English and not in American English. I’m not sure where he got that idea, since a quick look at Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (a common editorial reference) clearly shows both spellings to be acceptable, although afterward is listed first and, thus, would be considered the preferred spelling. No mention of afterwards being more common in Britain. [Conventional wisdom is often not so wise.]
Ditto towards and toward – M-W accepts both.
Even his insistence that criterion is the only acceptable singular noun is (to some degree) questioned by M-W, which notes that the “plural criteria has been used as a singular for over half a century.” In fact, M-W even accepts criterions as an acceptable plural alternative to criteria.
I am, however, in total agreement with the all-too-common misuse of historical and historic, which I see and hear used improperly by journalists frequently. I also heartily endorse his comments about literally as it, too, is misused regularly even by journalists and advertising copywriters. [Professional writers can be lazy, too.]
The blogger also rails against the common use of hopefully as a substitute for “I hope.” I agree that it grates on the ear (at least, it does on mine) but, no matter how much we disagree, that usage is completely accepted by M-W, which they say dates to the early 18th Century! I still don’t like it, but I usually let it go when editing. [insert weary editorial sigh]
Although he is correct that insure and ensure are often used interchangeably, he is not correct that the only correct use of insure is with respect to insurance policies. M-W provides a second definition for insure – “to make certain especially by taking necessary measures and precautions.” Compare that to the definition for ensure – “to make sure, certain, or safe.” [Hmmm…]
As a commenter noted, there is a tendency by some to use a longer, albeit less preferred, word to somehow sound more educated – like orientated instead of oriented and preventative instead of preventive. However, note that there is a special meaning for the intransitive use of orientated – “to face or turn to the east.” [You do know the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs, all ye writers, right?]
One that is pointed out in a comment is another pet peeve of mine – titled vs. entitled. Unfortunately, these are often confused by writers, who really ought to know that their book may titled My Great American Novel even though the author is entitled to receive proper royalties on its sales. [Memory aid: think “entitlement programs.”]
And then there folks who confuse Latin and English. For example, is data a plural noun or a singular noun? Is datum the only acceptable singular form? If you’re writing in Latin, datum is singular and data is plural. But, although the Latin words were incorporated into English, the usage is not so clear in English. In fact, M-W is somewhat ambiguous, listing a definition for datum as a singular noun with data as the plural form (although they also accept datums). But look a bit further (note that I did not write “farther”) and find a definition of data that recognizes it as a plural noun that can be “singular or plural in construction.” If you research other Latin-derived nouns, you will find similar waffling based on common usage. [Even M-W can be befuddled by language at times.]
There is a pair of words that, according to M-W, are interchangeable but the use of one of them irritates my mental palate. You can – at least, according to the M-W editors – say you are “honing in on the solution” or “homing in on the solution.” The former just sounds oh-so-wrong to me, but I have given in and now accept either form when editing. However, I will insist on consistency, expecting the author to pick one or the other for a given manuscript. As M-W notes: using honing in “especially in writing is likely to be called a mistake. Home in or in figurative use zero in does nicely.” [And just sounds so much better!]
Bottom Line: English is not a static thing, but one that evolves over time. Words have definite meanings, but each word often has more than one. Try to differentiate between personal preference and hard-and-fast rules. And when in doubt, consult the dictionary. You might discover you don’t know as much as you think you do. Happens to me all the time.
Do you have any writing pet peeves you’d like to share? Email me at Walt@FiveRainbows.com and I’ll compile them for a future issue!
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Do you have a question or comment on the above or something else related to publishing, writing or book design and marketing? Email me at Walt@FiveRainbows.com and I may include it, with my answer, in an upcoming newsletter.
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Read more. . .-------------------
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January 19th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
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