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We've been there. We've had agents, we've placed our books with traditional publishers, and we've taken control of our books and used print-on-demand. And yes, we've even entered the e-book market. Lucky for you, you've come to the right place for assistance, expertise, and making your book the best it can be.
  Memberships...  Two Brothers Press is a proud member of the Editorial Freelancers Association. Links for serious writers... Preditors and Editors: A list of publishers and publishing services for serious writers. (Where appropriate, this site also posts warnings about agents, publishers, and editors.) Algonkian Novel Workshops Agent Query/Publisher List (claims to be "the internet's largest and most current database of literary agents") Print-on-Demand and Ebook Producers (list) Litline: a website for the independent literary community Tips on writing from Two Brothers Press... Narrative Voice in Storytelling: a discussion of point of view and verb tense and how these elements affect the story. Fastest Gun in the West: writers often assume readers will fill in the details. Dialog: The elements and art of dialog in fiction Novel Openings: Creating compelling openings for novels Description: The red meat of storytelling Flashbacks: Hey, who's in here with me? This is my flashback. Freelancing Pitfalls: Editors beware of disturbed writers; writers beware of editors with an attitude. Word Oddities: Is it Bring or Take? It depends on the destination...really. New!  Lapiz is one of the world-class Publishing services providers. Composition, Pre-press, elearning, Multimedia, Conversion...Read more...   Two Brothers Press has partnered with InkBugDesign for the best of book cover design, among a whole host of other services. When you're ready for that stage of your book, contact us or go directly to InkBugDesign. Search Engine Submission - AddMe |
Our Four-Step Editing Services
Program*
Here's another example,
where just a single mark of punctuation can change the focus of a
single word:
*Note: Some
writers have sent only sample chapters for TBP's free evaluation
editing—in some cases to "test" our editing. Our policy is to accept
only the entire manuscript. While we are happy to provide our free
evaluation, which will indicate our expertise, we are not in business
to provide free editing, either as a test or for incomplete works.
Our
Typesetting/Cover Design Services
We
also offer typesetting and cover design services. If you are
"self-publishing" your book, which means sending it to your own chosen
printer or sending it to one of the print-on-demand (POD) companies
that allow authors to submit fully formatted, .pdf-ready files, Two
Brothers Press can handle your needs. Please see Prepress Services for a
more detailed explanation of this service. We can also format your work for Kindle and other e-books.
The Power of
Punctuation Many new
writers and even some who are
experienced often fail to grasp how
a few simple commas or other marks of punctuation in the wrong place
(or lack
thereof) can change the entire meaning of a sentence. To demonstrate
the power
of punctuation to change meaning, study the three examples below. None
of the
words have been changed—except by punctuation marks.
Hide the cows outside.
Hide! The cow's outside. Hide, the cow's outside. Can you guess the meaning of each of these
sentences? (Hint: the
third example is not a sentence, really, unless it's in
response
to a question.) They are all
completely different, and all that was necessary to completely change
their
meaning was to play with punctuation.
If you can't reason out three different
meanings,
then maybe
you will
be interested in what Two Brothers Press has to offer.
Here are the meanings: Conceal the cows. Conceal yourself. Where does leather comes from? He read through the newspaper furiously
underlining certain passages.
The word to wonder about is "furiously." He read through the newspaper furiously,
underlining certain passages.
or He read through the newspaper, furiously underlining certain passages. Because the word "furiously" is placed where it is, without the comma, we are unsure which verb or gerund the word modifies: read furiously or furiously underlining. Punctuation
Quick List A Useful Reminder of How to
Use
Punctuation
PeriodEnd
mark of sentence.
Used in abbreviations, but usually not acronyms. Comma Divides
elements in dates
and addresses.
Separates phrases in a sentence when not doing so can cause confusion. In pairs, sets off parenthetical expressions, as when renaming a noun. My
father, Cliff, lived to
be 83.
Divides list
items within a sentence.Used in series of short clauses. John
went north, Jerry
went south, and I went west.
Apostrophe Does
NOT form
plurals—except rarely (as in the case of "dot all the i's and
cross all the t's" where the acronym or abbreviation is a single
letter).
Shows possessive noun. Shows a contraction of two words. I'd (I
had) he's (he is)
can't (can not), etc.
Semicolon Divides
two independent
clauses where the two clauses are closely related.
Divides two clauses where a relational word is used: We went to the store; however, we didn't need to go. Is NOT a substitute for a period—well, not usually—except for closely related clauses. Is NOT a substitute for a colon. Does not introduce a list; a colon does that. Divides list items from one another when there are commas within a list item. Colon Used
to
set up an
extensive list, following a clause. "The rules governing this body are
as follows:"
Used sparingly. Parentheses Always
comes in pairs:
(...) within text to add information within a sentence, but can be used
to set off numbered items (generally the closing parenthesis): 1), 2),
3), etc.
Quotation
marksComes
in pairs to set off
speech or set off a unique word or phrase. Use double quotation marks,
unless there is a quote within a quote. Use single quotation marks
inside double quotation marks :
"...'...'..."
Hyphen Used
between words in a
compound adjective that modify a noun, but not always used in a
compound noun. There are no specific rules on using hyphens to form
compound nouns. For example, "ink well" can also be written
"ink-well" or "inkwell"—all are correct spellings. However, you should
use a hyphen to eliminate ambiguity.
Is not used as a dash, although two hyphens together are sometimes used as a dash. Dash Often used in pairs—like this—to set off an interrupting thought within the flow of a sentence. Ellipses This is perhaps one of the most overused and misused editing tools besides the exclamation point. They do not necessarily need to be used in pairs, but they can and should not be combined with the dash...like this—because it causes visual chaos. Ellipses are often used to indicate that words have been left out of long quotes that is attributed to a source. But in the speech of characters, ellipses are used to show left out words, hesitant speech...uh...I mean...uh...as well as trailing off. Used to excess modern writing begins to look like a Victorian romance novel. |
Two Brother Press
Books & Books Edited by Two Brothers Press Plans
are in the works to expand the
select authors of Two Brothers Press. Watch the Submissions page of
this site for announcements. Currently writers can turn to us for full copyediting,
industry-standard typesetting, and book cover design.
News... April 26, 2009 Dateline Las Cruces, New Mexico In a bid to become a full-fledged publishing company, Two Brothers Press has been taking steps in the past few months to pull together its resources. We will be moving into our permanent offices by mid-June 2009, located at: 603
W. Las Cruces Avenue
Las Cruces, NM 88005 Phone: 575.639.2029 There we will have our editorial headquarters and meeting space for workshops. Our long-term plans are to use freelance, contract editors for our editing services, graphic artists for our book cover services, and gather resources for eventually becoming a full-fledged publishing entity. The first steps have already been taken with the addition of our own e-book division. Writers whom we choose for our imprint will be included in our Books by TBP section. |