A couple posts back, I clarified the difference between “there,” “they’re” and “their.” Today, I’d like to address two additional common mix-ups:
1. It’s vs. Its
It’s means IT IS:
Its means BELONGING TO IT:
2. You’re vs. Your
You’re means YOU ARE:
Your means BELONGING TO YOU:
If you want people to take you seriously as a writer, you need to write well. As I said in my other post, unfortunately I regularly see authors make these simple grammatical errors not only in their books, but also in the marketing materials used to promote them (e.g. book descriptions, Facebook pages, author bios, etc.). You may be a wonderful storyteller, but if your writing is riddled with mistakes, the errors are what readers will notice first. If you have a publishing contract, you’ll be assigned a copyeditor, but if you go the indie route, it’s on you to catch any mistakes. Whoever is footing the bill, it’s a good idea to have a professional proofread your book before putting it on the market. You’ll be glad you did.
-Maria
This blog post originally appeared on CreateSpace.com. Reprinted with permission. © 201 CreateSpace, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.