To ask anyone who knows about books/grammar/literary agents if this is as bad as I think?

[Thosebloodyfullstops]

I wrote a book. I worked really hard on it - research, rewrites, etc - but my one blind spot that I’ve always struggled with is punctuation in direct speech.

So my sentence might read -

‘I am going out now.’ he said.

Instead of the correct -

‘I am going out now,’ he said.

I’m so hot on all other aspects of grammar and spelling but as I say just seem to have a blind spot about this!

Amyway I asked a friend to proof read the book in exchange for me doing him a few house related and driving favours of equal time and value. He is a comms expert and former journalist and sub editor. He sent the book back to me as a word doc saying it was all proofed grammatically and spelling wise. I didn’t give it a full read through afterwards again but began to send it out to agents, the first 50 pages anyway.

Anyway yesterday I did look and there are still lots of direct speech errors like the one above.

I KNOW I should have read it again and I KNOW I should have gone through it myself. So I don’t need lots of posters coming on to tell me that. I would just like to hear opinions on how bad it is. I’ve sent to about 15 agents so far. Will they just stop reading at the first punctuation error? Would my sample be rejected on that alone if they like the rest of my book?

Ugh just wish I could send myself back in time a month and undo all of the emails I sent out!

Next time just get an AI tool to do the proof, humans aren't proofing in 2023!

Yes, the writing and story are important but first the OP needs an agent. The agent is unlikely to read the whole manuscript, just the cover letter and if you're lucky, a few pages before making an initial decision. They'll likely see poor grammar and editing as lazy and this won't help.

No it won’t.

They are looking for content that will sell. It’s a business, they aren’t English teachers.

Yes, humans do proof. We do use a lot of AI but it’s not perfect. You do realise that your sentence is grammatically incorrect, so can I assume you didn’t use AI?

It's precisely because it's a business that they don't have time to handhold newbies with a poor grasp of professional standards (again, not saying this is the OP's case, 6 instances in 50 pages isn't too bad IMO[.

I pasted these into MS Word
"Go home now," Sam said.
"Go home now." Sam said.
...then ran a spell/grammar check in UK and US English, with no mistakes identified.

But if you are using Word you can always just search the whole document for ." and check them all.

People could easily read it as a typo, rather than ignorance of basic grammar, and I would imagine that an agent wuld be reasonably forgiving of typos ... if the content is good and marketable. That's the big, BIG 'if'

Yes it will.
Do you really think an agent or publisher wants to represent an author who's own twitter account, blog or website is prone to errors?
OP said it's her only blind spot which is good and it's a small hurdle, just saying in this instance it might be enough to put some agents off after just one or two pages.

But I assume that you are not a potential author and read for leisure purposes not because you are learning the ropes.

I find that this lazy attitude only pertains to writing. One would never expect less than professional attitudes from ballerinas or pianists or other musicians, or from sportspeople.

Yet people are winning prizes for grammatical errors, that make a book unreadable, posters on here are saying wouldn't get a publishing deal.

Either grammar matters or it doesn't.

If the main takeaway an agent has from a submission is 'I'm not sure this writer understands how to punctuate speech', then there are much bigger problems for a writer to address in their first three chapters.

All true.
A lot of advice from people who don't know the industry.
The books with errors are down to the publisher (or author if self-published). Doesn't mean it's ok.
The freelance editors saying it's common, don't worry, are probably getting copy from established writers and are finding typos or commissioned academics with poor grammar.
It's not a normal business where the product may sell itself. The publisher willl most likely loose money on any first book. They are investing in the writer for further content and marketing ability and first impressions are important.
OP is trying to find an agent which is very hard. Poor grammar will not help.

The freelance editors saying it's common, don't worry, are probably getting copy from established writers and are finding typos or commissioned academics with poor grammar.

No. I get manuscripts from established, new and in-between authors, and authors for whom it’s their main job, authors who are, as you say, primarily academics, authors who use a ghostwriter, whose grammar and punctuation I then have to correct(!); it’s often not typos but what an author doesn’t know.
(Or what they think they DO know, but don’t; I am increasingly being briefed to let authors use the ‘idiosyncratic’ punctuation and grammar of their choice even if it’s wrong, rather than upsetting them by correcting it, but that’s another thread.)

I used to work in-house too and problems with grammar etc never put me, my bosses or my colleagues off buying a book if it was good/sellable; that’s what you have freelance editors and proofreaders for.

Oh, and ‘Go home now." Sam said’ is patently wrong, whatever your spellcheck says; UK convention is definitely comma inside closing quote mark; and humans absolutely ARE still proofreading in 2023.

Too late now, but can’t you do a find for all instances of .’ Etc and replace?

Six instances doesn’t sound like the end of the world. It probably won’t be the basis of their decision.

Prize winning author Bernadine Evaristo (who I assume you are referring to) did not make grammatical errors. She made an artistic choice to use stream of consciousness - which tries to emulate the thought process: we don't think in sentences with punctuation. It is a literary technique that you can only pull off if you have a mastery of the language. it isn't to everyone's taste because it can be challenging. Take a look at James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.

This is completely different to grammatical errors which have the potential to ruin your literary effects and take the reader out of the story. A few errors really don't matter because we're not robots, but consistent and basic errors could look like carelessness or make you seem like a writer who isn't in control of their material. You wouldn't want the professionals you are hoping to persuade to invest in your work to think this about your wor

Is it different? Because how I punctuate my speech is directed by my dialect and mannerisms not by some written convention. If one writer can do it why can't others? It seems to me if the face fits there are no rules.

It's very different. It's like composing music - writers think carefully about their usage of every comma, every full stop.

James Joyce once said something to the effect that he spent a whole morning deciding to place a comma in a sentence and spent the afternoon deciding to take it out. Writing is really hard work, but the whole point is that the reader doesn't notice the work that goes into it because the prose is seamless and for the most part easy to read. Readers aren't usually aware of the accuracy and attention to detail that goes into writing, but they would definitely notice if a book was full of mistakes.

Going back to the music analogy - some music is deliberately discordant like Evaristo's novel (jazz is a bit like that, I think) but you'd really notice if someone kept making errors and played the wrong notes in a piece of music. A bit like Eric Morecambe playing the grand piano (if you're old enough to remember the amazing classic sketch).

It's really easy to rubbish experimental work if you don't quite understand what the writer is trying to do and I understand that it isn't to everybody's taste, but it really is to my taste. I like a challenging read, but I also like work that is more accessible, although I read very little genre fiction.

Using the music analogy, some music is just awful and serves no purpose other than to inflate the composers ego. Musicians also break musical conventions all the time and get met with either "you can't do that!" Or "wow! Innovation!"

Language changes.

My experience is with picture books. Perhaps adult fiction is somewhat different.
Good luck OP.

My experience is with picture books. Perhaps adult fiction is somewhat different.

It's not. A manuscript riddled with errors isn't going to acquisitions in any reputable publishing house.

And no agent who cares about their reputation would sub one to a publisher.

I agree with this.

I edited my husband's job application because his work requires him to do a lot of passive tense reporting, and it was incredibly jarring to read a cover letter in which there was zero sense that he'd actually done anything listed in the writing.

There was nothing technically or grammatically wrong with his writing, it just had no impact.

He got an interview :D

If anything, I'm too good at job applications - I've scored interviews that I absolutely shouldn't have once we chat on the grounds that I'm damn good at writing an application that makes them pay attention and shortlist.

If only I were as good at writing sub letters!

They care about the story and its elevator pitch/marketing power. That's all. They can easily correct poor punctuation.
Given the choice between a badly written brilliant story and a perfectly formed dull one - guess which one all agents and publishers will fight for?