Capitalization question

[Umgowa]

I think this question belongs here. When you are typing the cover page to a manuscript and you give the title and then put your name . . . is the "b" in the word "by" capitalized?

Example . . . .

The Raging Sea
by
Joseph Anderson

Or is it . . .

The Raging Sea
By
Joseph Anderson
​

​

 

[Terie]

Usually lowercase. But it's not an auto-reject thing, so I wouldn't sweat over it.

 

[Stacia Kane]

I've never had a cover page on my mss...

 

[wilde is on my side]

Usually lower-case I would say.

 

[Fallen]

I've never had a cover page on my mss...

Maybe more if being sent snail mail? It's been a while since I snailed anything.

 

[Umgowa]

Headers ??

I've always been told that it's something you should put on every page of your manuscript in your header . . Correct??

Up top in your header: The Raging Sea by Joseph Anderson.

So based on that, I would think the issue is applicable to e-mail as well as snail mail. Or am I missing the boat somewhere here?

 

[Stacia Kane]

I've always been told that it's something you should put on every page of your manuscript in your header . . Correct??

Up top in your header: The Raging Sea by Joseph Anderson.

So based on that, I would think the issue is applicable to e-mail as well as snail mail. Or am I missing the boat somewhere here?

Yes, it should be on every page as your header, but in that case it's formatted thusly (top left corner):

NOVEL TITLE/Author's last name

and then the page number goes in the upper right corner.


Contact info etc. is also put on the top left of the first page when submitting, as in:

NOVEL TITLE
(some people put word count here)
Author Name
Author Address
Author Phone Number

Chapter One​

&c

But a separate title page just seems unnecessary to me; perhaps it was once standard, but I've only seen people saying not to use one these days, at least not for fiction (I have no idea if it differs for nonfic, the way other submission requirements do). It's an extra piece of paper that does nothing but take up space, and all the relevant info should be on the ms itself.

 

[shaldna]

I don't know how correct it is, but I remember being told in school that you don't capitalise the 'unimportant' words - the, and, by etc.

So, if you title is 'Harry and Sally' then that's how it's written, likewise, if it's 'Common Parasites in Non-ruminants'

Titles are weird. But yeah, i'd say lower case, but I'd also say to not worry too much about a cover page.

I've always been told that it's something you should put on every page of your manuscript in your header . . Correct??

Up top in your header: The Raging Sea by Joseph Anderson.

So based on that, I would think the issue is applicable to e-mail as well as snail mail. Or am I missing the boat somewhere here?

In my header I put: Book Title/My name/ page number

It's what I was taught eons ago, and it's practical and functional.

 

[VoireyLinger]

I don't know how correct it is, but I remember being told in school that you don't capitalise the 'unimportant' words - the, and, by etc.

In titles, conjunctions and prepositions up to 4 letters are lower case, first and last words and prepositions over 5 letters are capped. In this case, 'by' is lower case.