Italics or Quotations"

[AppleTree76]

I am adding to my query letter that I recently completed a short story. I put the title of the novel I am currently working on in italics. I suppose I should put the title of my short story in italics as well, however it looks funny.

Ex:
I am currently working on my secnd book, PoppyCock. As well, I recently completed an erotic fiction short story, Dead Ringer.

In the above, the second sentence seems odd. In the sentence below, I've used the word "entitled", but In using that word do I not have to put "Dead Ringer" in quotation marks? Or can I still use italics here?

2nd example:

I am currently working on my second book, PoppyCock. As well, I recently completed an erotic fiction short story entitled, "Dead Ringer."

The second sentence seems better, but I've used Quotations for the title as opposed to putting it italics, does it matter?

[Silver King]

You might want to finish the novel before sending any queries, Apple. Also, there is no need to mention the short story, as it has no relevance to your book.

To answer your question, though, the italics works fine.

[Ziljon]

I agree with the King. Italics for both. Seems like a "mistake" the other way.

[Maryn]

Oh, dear, I'm going to be both agreeable and disagreeable. Let me be disagreeable first, so we can end all lovey-dovey.

I think it's a mistake to use the same method of indicating the titles of both short stories and novels. Agents and publishers read fast and--shocking, I know!--even skim. At a glance, they might assume your query mentions two novels.

If putting the short story in quotes feels wrong, consider putting the book in bold and the short story in italics.

However, I agree with SilverKing: no reason to mention current works underway or recently completed unless they relate to what you're trying to sell. If, for instance, you're querying for the first book of a series and the second is well under way, that's fine to mention. But an unrelated book or short story doesn't need to be in there at all, meaning you don't have to decide what font to use to differentiate.

Maryn, making life simpler

[job]

Use Italics for the name of your novel.

If you have written plays, poems, works of non-fiction, newspaper articles, short stories, memoirs, biographies ... use Italics for the titles of those works also.

In short - use Italics for all titles if you use Italics for any titles.

In unrelated advice ... agents will generally not be interested in an unpublished short story. It is neither a 'writing credit', nor something they will be able to sell.

An uncompleted second novel might be of interest if it is related to the ms you are trying to sell. Otherwise ... this is just filler. Every agent is going to assume the writer is working on a second mss. That is what writers do.

Instead of telling the agent you're writing another ms and short stories, you might spend this space 'selling' novel number one.

JoB

[Silver King]

Since no other novel is mentioned in the original post, I was under the impression Apple was preparing a query for an unfinished second novel, PoppyCock.

In this case, the question of italics usage might be better suited for the Ask the Editor forum (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=59), where we might hear from those who read query letters and find out what they prefer.

[Appalachian Writer]

Italics or all caps signify a book. Quotation marks are reserved for short stories and poems. And I agree with Silver King in that you shouldn't mention the book until it's finsihed. Good luck and fingers crossed!

[IceCreamEmpress]

The correct US style (AP, Chicago, MLA) is to put the title of works of fewer than 35,000 words in quotation marks, and the title of works of more than 35,000 words in italics. Here's (http://www.nyu.edu/classes/copyXediting/pubstyle.html) a handy-dandy online copyeditors' guide.

But as other people have said, a query letter should only mention the work being offered for representation and any relevant published works. Other unpublished works, or totally unrelated published works, don't belong in the query letter.