Hi I have a 240 page manuscript, and am searching for a publisher. When setting up the formatting, I extensively researched the proper format, and the unanimous advice was that colons, semi colons and em dashes should ALL be replaced with em dashes. I cross referenced this exhaustively, but every website gave the same advice. Okay, but now I'm considering self publishing ... and suddenly I'm faced with the daunting task of "reverse engineering" this manuscript and finding every single em dash, and making a decision on each one as to whether it remain an em dash, or be changed to either a colon or semi colon. Has anyone had this experience, and if so, what was your solution? Thanks much!
ms word has a 'replace' feature in the 'edit' menu... all you have to do is put a ; in the 'find what' slot and an em dash in the 'replace with' one and it'll change 'em all for you... that said, i wouldn't advise leaving all the changes unchecked, since some of those places may really call for a period, a comma, or a conjunction... there's no easy way to edit one's work for a final polish, no matter whether you are submitting the ms to a paying publisher, or one you pay... you still need to go over it line by line, word by word, to make sure the final product is exactly as you want to see it in print, because the self-publishing venues will just print what you send them, as is...
