Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 203

E-Readers vs Paper Books ~ What’s The Fuss?

Some folks like paper, some like digital. Why the seeming war-stance by so many? Perhaps some feel digital will conquer paper? Maybe some are hesitant to change their habits? Why not use both? I’m now 66 years old; I was nurtured on paper books; I learned to appreciate digital reading on a computer; and, I [...]

Getting Self-Published Books Into Libraries

Many writers focus on getting their books into bookstores, usually by counting on a legacy publisher to get it done. Many writers, also, discount how valuable it is for an author to have their books in libraries. Surveys have shown that a significant percentage of library patrons go on to purchase books they’ve checked out [...]

Gone Reading, Again :-)

“So, the deal is, you buy various products that relate to or reflect on Reading. Then, 100% of the profits go to help establish libraries for some of the billion folks who can’t get books.” I edited that quote from a previous post here about Gone Reading International. Bradley S. Wirz is the founder of [...]

Laughing (With or At) The Aliens . . .

Why are so many supposed aliens so evil? Why can’t we have more intelligent, caring aliens? One would think, since humanity has no solid proof of other beings on extra-solar planets, that people project what they can’t face in themselves on the poor aliens… What’s your take on aliens? I published the novel, Notes from [...]

A Book Review In The Midst of A Publishing Firestorm…

Luckily, media and legal firestorms are capable of being escaped if you’re not personally involved in either. Yet, some may feel trapped in their opinions about the U.S. Department of Justice’s actions against Apple and traditional publishers. While the storm was brewing, I was reading a free book called, The Newbie’s Guide To Publishing, by [...]

Yet More From The Writing Challenge ~ Use The 1200 Most Common English Words In A Story

Back in June of last year, I started the Writing Challenge ~ Use The 1200 Most Common Words To Write AStory… You can find the list of words in that last link. My first mistake was to say, “To Write A Story”, instead of “In A Story”—folks could think I meant they had to use [...]

Author Interview ~ Jerry J. Davis

Every Sunday I walk by a certain house on the beach on my way to the Open Mic on Book Island in the virtual world Second Life. That house belongs to Groovy Greenberg and is a spacious, open house with artwork on every wall, a large table for lots of friends to gather around, and [...]

Is Life In The Digital World Useful or Dangerous?

Naturally, the benefit or bane of digital life could be attributed to how you implement it—with intelligence or carelessness. But, is there something inherent in digital interaction that threatens our normal development and growth? In the previous post, Social Networking for Mavericks, I touted the benefits of using Second Life (a virtual world) for the bulk [...]

Social Networking for Mavericks

I've done many posts about my experience on Book Island in the virtual world, Second Life. I've even turned away from the shallow "friends" on normal social networks (all except Google Plus) in favor of a deeper relationship potential in Second Life. For my general opinion on the effort needed to build a Readership, check [...]

A Great Bit of Advice from a Great Book Designer

Ever thought about paragraphs?

Well, with DIY publishing gaining popularity, you might want to consider what the Reader needs to make their reading easier…

There have been many kinds of paragraphing over time and one can actually think of paragraphs as a type of "punctuation".

As I sometimes do in this blog, I looked up the etymology of the word "paragraph":

"'…sign for start of a new section of discourse (the sign looked something like a stylized letter -P-)…" — "short stroke in the margin marking a break in sense" — "anything written beside, from paragraphein 'write by the side', from para- 'beside' + graphein 'to write'."

¶ <<< That's the symbol that's sometimes used to indicate a paragraph. And, here's a link that shows 12 different styles of paragraphs…

If you'd rather read an article that deals with only the most common ways of showing paragraphs, try Joel Friedlander's, Book Design: Choosing Your Paragraphing Style.

Here are two brief excerpts:

"Paragraphs long ago became a standard device for organizing the ideas in a book or the flow of a story. When the writer creates a paragraph, it breaks the flow of text and sends an important signal to the reader."

"Reading on-screen is vastly different from reading a printed book, and a new default style has arisen out of the needs of readers of all this electronic text."

I'd also urge you to read the Comments Joel got :-)

Oh! For those who've never noticed the ¶ , here's Wikipedia's take on defining what's called a Pilcrow.

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Tagged: Joel Friedlander, Paragraph, Paragraph Styles, Paragraph Typography, Paragraphing, Typography