Sharing Knowledge Of The Written Word. Forum Always put your best foot forw..

I've been in dialog with another WC member who is running a small publishing company, and when he emails me, it is full of typos, missing words, wrong words, missing caps, and poor grammar.

Now, as a writer looking for a publisher, that is an immediate warning sign.  It tells me that they will put their product out in a similar manner - slap-dash.  I called him on it, and his reply was that he wasn't their editor.  That doesn't really tell me anything worth knowing.  OK, he sends work off to someone else, and, yes, that is a good sign, but if he is the one running the company, it tells you that he hasn't a clue how to separate quality from detritis, and you don't know if he will be able to keep the company afloat.  That's not to say he can't, but that is my initial impression, and he has done nothing so far to change it.  Therefore, I won't be submitting work to them.

The moral is to always write with your best spelling and grammar, regardless of what you are sending out, posting or whatever.  You can never know who is looking at it, and what impression you are giving them.

You can only make one first impression.

The publisher I mentioned seems to be rather thin-skinned.  He's now blocked me from his profile.  I guess he's read this thread (since I've had no other contact with him) - I didn't even mention his name.  (Yes, he is a member of this group.)  I'm not bothered.  It's just one more strike against his professionalism.