Since you all know that I believe in going back to grammar to find the answers, we need to find out what parts of speech we’re dealing with.

“Into” is a preposition. And because prepositions require objects, a noun will typically follow “into.” The general meaning of “into” as a preposition is “from the outside to the inside.” So, in the broadest sense, when we use “into” we are saying that we went from the outside of something to the inside of something. It is a word that indicates direction or movement.

Example: Mary Ellen ran into the grocery store to get milk.

In the above example, we could substitute our general meaning – Mary Ellen ran from the outside to the inside of the grocery store to get milk. There is the idea that she is moving or going in a certain direction.

“In to” is a little more complicated with it’s part of speech. “In” is an adverb indicating where; however, “to” can have two different functions. “To” can be either a preposition or an infinitive. If “to” is a preposition, a noun will follow. If it is an infinitive, an action verb will follow.

Example: Dad decided that we would stop in to visit Aunt Helen.

In the example, we are not moving or going anywhere – no direction. We are simply making a stop. Plus we have a verb immediately after “to” which tells us that we need to use “in to” with “to” functioning as the infinitive.

Example: When we arrived, Aunt Helen invited us in to dinner.

In this example, “in” is telling us where Aunt Helen invited us. “To dinner” tells us what she invited us to.

Complicated, huh? Someday with practice I’ll start naturally using the correct form in my writing, but until then, I’ll be referring back to this post!

When considering repainting a room, we often consult interior decorating magazines or books for ideas. Ever notice that the same color palettes are used for the same rooms? Bedrooms are often muted shades of blues, greens, and browns. Kitchens are brighter with yellows, oranges, and reds. Why?

While we may not realize it, we associate certain colors with certain meanings or feelings. Here’s a general overview of what colors mean. (If you are intrigued by the idea, google “meaning of color” to find a wide variety of color definitions.)

• Yellow – optimism, youthful, happiness
• Red – energy, urgency, passion (Red is the “sale” color.)
• Brown – friendship, natural, organic
• Blue – trust, security, calm (Blue is frequently used by banks.)
• Silver/gray – high tech, practicality
• Green – wealth, growth, nature
• Orange – vibrant, organic, tropical
• Pink – romantic, feminine (Pink is used to attract women and girls.)
• Black  – power, stability, luxury, intelligence
• Purple – soothe, sophistication, royalty (Purple is frequently used for beauty products. Purple is also the most popular favorite color of teen girls.)

As business owners, we don’t need to dwell on our business color choices, but we should give it some thought. Some questions to ask when considering color choices for things like product labels, brochures, and logos are:

• Do the colors accurately reflect what your business is intending?
• Do your colors reflect your target market?

If you want to portray that your company has been around for years, consider a color like blue, green, or black. If you sell 100% organic products, choose earth tones. If you sell surfboards, stick to nature’s colors in vibrant shades – orange, green, yellow, blue. If the clientele for your high-end salon is primarily female, choose feminine colors like pink and purple in soft shades.

One word of caution – if you intend to market a product overseas, some colors are viewed differently in other countries. While purple may work well to sell to teen girls in the United States, it may have a negative connotation to girls somewhere else in the world.

First, whenever I consider the possibility of a confusing word, I look at how it is used in a sentence. What part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.) is it functioning as? (If you need a refresher on parts of speech, check out the Chomp Chomp Grammar site. It’s geared towards students, but explains things nicely.)

For “awhile” and “a while” the correct usage comes down to how the word is used in the sentence.

“A while” is a noun. “Awhile” is an adverb.

The meanings of the two words are very similar too: “A while” refers to a length of time. “Awhile” means “for a time” or “for a while.” (Confusing, huh?) So, you could get caught up in figuring out exactly which meaning you are intending, but the simplest solution is to go back to the usage.

Which word would you put in the blanks in the following sentences?

1. I plan on going out to the docks for ______.
2. My friend is staying _______.

If you know the parts of speech and how they function in a sentence, you will recognize that “for” in Sentence 1 is a preposition. Every preposition requires an object of a preposition, which grammar tells us is a noun or pronoun. So… the correct answer for Sentence 1 is the noun – “a while.”

In Sentence 2, the blank is telling us “how long” the friend is staying. Adverbs answer the question “how long” so the correct answer is “awhile.”

I found this nifty little test on Grammar Mudge to check your choice:

“The test of which to use is to consider whether ‘for a while’ may be used in the sentence where we intend to place the word ‘awhile’ – without changing anything else.”

The site goes on to give some examples to illustrate the test. Here’s two of their examples:

• “I’ll wait here awhile” is correct because we could also say, “I’ll wait here for a while.”
• “I’ll wait here for awhile” is not correct because we have actually used the word “for” twice, given that awhile = for a while: “I’ll wait here for for a while.”

Clear as mud, right?

If you hand out business cards on a regular basis, how do you make yours stand out from the rest? Here are some simple tips:

The design of a business card should be simple. This doesn’t mean all text and no images. Since a card is a small item, pay attention to the overall design. A complex or busy design distracts from the important information – how to contact you. When you look at your business card, what do you see first – the design/photo/image or the text?

The information on the card should be readable, especially if a background image is used. The text size should also match the font. Fancier fonts work well for a larger business name, but plain fonts should be used for the smaller text to enhance readability.

Any information included on the card should stick to the basics – name, location, contact information, website, etc. The most important thing is to make sure your contact information is very clear.

The business card should emphasize the uniqueness of your business. What exactly do you do or sell that makes your business different from others? The uniqueness can be spelled out in words or in an image. Think about attorneys. Most distinguish with words exactly what type of cases they accept – personal injury, family, workers compensation, etc. But an artist might choose to use an image to reflect his specific type of art – pottery, painting, calligraphy.

The physical feel of the card is equally important to the design and readability. The card should feel professional – not flimsy. Professional printers measure paper thickness in “points.” The higher the point number, the thicker the paper will be. When in doubt, go for a higher point. You might pay a little more, but you won’t be disappointed in the quality. One step up in point size could mean the difference between a card that the corners easily bend on and one that stays stiff and continues to look professional even after it has been in your coat pocket for a month.

What about matte coating versus a UV coating? Matte coating is good for cards that are primarily text with maybe a company logo or small image. UV coating, or a glossy finish, is excellent for cards that are more creative and incorporate photos, artwork, or background images. The glossy or UV coating will make the colors “pop” off of the card. If possible, leave the back side of a UV coated card blank with a plain or matte finish. Doing so will allow the recipient to write on the back of the card if necessary.

If you are unsure of all of the technical printing and paper terms, request a free sample pack from the printing company. A sample pack will include a variety of different pieces (brochures, business cards, post cards, and fliers), but each piece will tell you what type of paper it is printed on and what kind of finish (matte, UV) is used. Choose the options that you like for your card.

And, finally, is it necessary to use a professional printer for business cards? This might be a personal preference, but yes. When you add up the cost of ink for your inkjet printer, the paper, and the time spent making sure everything lines up just right (who wants to look at a lopsided business card?), paying a professional printer costs just the same. Most online printing companies offer design templates, a host of options, and are reasonably priced.

Other factors come into play for a publishing house – uniqueness of story, the risk of a new author, author’s platform (how the author can market their own book), etc.

One of the pitfalls of traditional publishing is that most first-time authors assume that the publishing house is going to do everything in its power to market the author’s book. Unfortunately, that isn’t always true. Of course, some marketing is set-up – think company website, monthly/quarterly catalog, and maybe even blog tours. But how many first time authors earn a big one page splash in the company catalog? Not very many.

Most publishing houses dump their marketing money into authors that are guaranteed to give them more dollars in the bank. Best-selling authors get the biggest portion of the company’s marketing department attention. First-time authors, and even those who have been published before but fall outside of the best-selling circle, find themselves contributing a large portion of their time and resources to the marketing of their own books.

With the changes taking place in large houses, the possibility of self-publishing is becoming more realistic to first-time and mid-level authors (those who have books under their belt but haven’t made it to the big time yet). Note: We’ve cautioned about self-publishing difficulties before – the things to stay away from, what to look for, etc. – to make sure that the author is getting the best deal.

Think about this scenario …

You choose to go the route of a traditional publisher and find an excellent literary agent who secures a book deal for you. Once the publishing house receives their portion of the sales and the literary agent is paid, suddenly you’re looking at 20% of sales. Since you’re a newbie, you need to invest a good portion of that money in marketing and promoting your book. By the time it’s all done, and you sit down and figure out what you made writing your book, it turns out you were writing for about $2 an hour. {All of the figures in this example are purely hypothetical and not meant to reflect the real world at all.}

Now, what if you went the route of self-publishing? Eliminate the publishing house cost and the literary agent cost. Add in a cost for an editor, printing of the book, and purchasing of ISBN. While those seem like “expensive” costs, they really aren’t. Depending on what route of self-publishing you take, sometimes those costs are included in a lump sum. So once your book is produced, the remainder of profit comes to you. Instead of getting 20% of the sales, you’re investing that 20% in the book production and receiving 80%. A portion of that 80% gets invested in marketing, and in return you were writing for $12 an hour instead of $2. {Again this is all hypothetical and no reflection on the real world or numbers you can expect.}

Hypothetical examples, but hopefully they give you some food for thought about the benefits of self-publishing. Realize it is not an easy route. It’s hard work to self-publish. You need to review contracts for each company and individual you work with. And the most important thing is that you retain the rights to your book. You have the freedom to create digital versions (another avenue for marketing), translate it to another language, sell it to a movie producer, etc. You are only bound by the terms that you set, not the terms that a publishing house sets.

Even though I always loved English class in high school (it definitely beat math and science!) and spent four years as an English teacher subjecting many high schoolers to the tortures pleasures of grammar, I find myself still looking for the answers to certain grammatical puzzles.

On the bulletin board next to my desk, I have a collection of little Post-It notes with various word usage rules scribbled on them. These words are ones that generally only require a space to change the meaning and/or grammatical function (e.g., into vs. in to). As I try to solidify a word usage rule in my brain, I watch for the words in things I read (blogs, manuscripts, junk mail, etc.) and evaluate whether the correct word form was used. I’ve discovered that a lot of writers use the different forms interchangeably with no regard to actual grammar (I’m guilty too!).

So, one of my goals for 2011 is to share some of my Post-It notes with you. The posts will be simple – an explanation of the problem, the applicable rules, and relevant examples – no long dissertations.

To whet your appetite, here’s what’s coming in the near future …

• awhile vs. a while
• in to vs. into
• which vs. that

If you have confusing word pairs (or other grammar problem) that you’d like me to research and explain, leave it in the comments and I’ll add it to my list.

Should self-publishing just go away and let “real” publishing take over again?

The responses came from a variety of professionals – some published, some un-published – and revealed how the thoughts towards self-publishing are changing.

In general, the answer was “no.” We need self-publishing.

Some respondents cited how self-publishing fills niche markets. Sometimes traditional publishers refuse to publish a book simply because the topic is too focused or specialized (a niche). They’re afraid that sales won’t be enough to be profitable to both the publisher and author. So, what option does the author have? One of the forms of self-publishing.

Others cited how self-publishing gets it bad name from the actual self-publishing companies and their lack of quality control. Think of the early days of self-publishing with tacky book covers, hard-to-read fonts, and poor grammar. By selecting the right company today and making sure the manuscript is edited by a professional, many authors proudly hold books in their hands that aren’t distinguishable from the traditionally published books.

Those respondents who had ventured into both the traditional and self-publishing worlds commented on how the self-published author receives a significant portion of the book profits. Of course, those profits aren’t “money in the pocket” to the self-published author since some of the money is needed to re-invest in the book for marketing.

Another participant posed a valid question: Does going the route of traditional publishing guarantee a quality product? His answer: Not really. Oftentimes, books published by a traditional publisher have many of the same flaws as self-published books, but we tend to ignore the flaws simply because the book came from a reputable publisher. Think of how many books you’ve read this year from big name publishers with typos, character issues, and a traditional plot line (when you can predict what will happen after reading the first couple of chapters). I know I’ve read quite a few that fall into that category.

Not mentioned in the discussion were the number of traditional publishing houses that have started self-publishing divisions in the past year or two. (These self-publishing divisions are a great way for first time authors to get their foot in the door, build their platforms, and gain recognition by the traditional division which watches the self-pub book sales.) When the traditional publisher started viewing self-publishing as a valid form of publishing for many authors, the pendulum of credibility swung to self-publishing’s favor.

Also not mentioned in the discussion was the future of brick-and-mortar bookstores, one of the major outlets for traditionally published books. Brick-and-mortar stores make it difficult for self-published authors to get their books on the store shelves, but online bookstores like Amazon are self-publisher friendly, especially if an e-book version exists.

So, for a variety of reasons, it looks like self-publishing is here to stay, and support as a valid avenue of publishing is growing.

Most writers venturing into the publishing world (whether traditional or self-publishing) contemplate the question of having e-books produced.

First, for those who don’t know what an e-book is … An e-book is an exact copy of the author’s book (what you would pull off a bookstore or library shelf) except the e-book is in electronic or digital format. An e-book can be read on various electronic devices including a computer, Kindle, and iPad. Naturally there’s a big debate about whether a digital book can give the same reading experience as holding a book in your hand and smelling the freshly printed pages, but that’s a discussion for another day.

I don’t claim to be an expert on e-books. I’ve collected quite a few short e-books on an assortment of topics, mostly related to my work. I refer to them occasionally, but I don’t have an e-reader like the Kindle, iPad or Nook so I’ve never read a lengthy e-book.

However, after reading over some statistics from Publishers Weekly (the people that know publishing inside and out), I’ve decided that e-books are important. Very important. If you are an aspiring author or an already published author, please pursue the idea of producing an e-book version of your work. We live in a society of convenience, and e-books are convenient.

On May 24, Publishers Weekly reported first quarter “e-book sales jumped 252%.” No, that’s not a typo … 252%!

Did the trend continue? The latest data from October 2010 sales show that e-book sales slowed down a little bit, but they were still up 112%! From January to October, sales rose 171.3%.

Nice percentages, right? What becomes even more intriguing is that the majority of regular book (the kind you hold in your hands) sales either fell or remained flat for the year.

Have we become of society of fewer readers? Not likely. The readers are, however, drifting towards a new medium for reading.

One other interesting note comes from Random House Chairman Markus Dohle – “In the U.S. this fall, e-book sales accounted for nearly half of the first week sale of certain titles.” In other words, during the first week that a book published by Random House was on the market, the e-book version sold almost as much as the regular book did.

Should an author seriously consider the idea of an e-book? Definitely yes. Should the author publish only an e-book version? It depends on each book – the subject matter, length of book, and other factors.

My recommendation: Do some homework on e-books, how to produce them, the pricing, and available outlets for selling the e-book. Then make an informed decision on what would be best for you and your book. Don’t jump on the bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it.

Going slightly off-topic … Why are e-books becoming so popular? In some cases, it’s definitely convenience. For example, the closest bookstore to my house is 38 miles away, the next store is about 60 miles, and the next is 80 miles … all one direction. If I had an e-reader like the Kindle, I could hop online via my home wi-fi network, browse the list of books available, purchase the ones I want, and download them within minutes … all without braving the winter weather, driving for an hour-and-a-half round trip, and spending money on gas. Convenience.

What business goals will you set for 2011? Did you resolve to expand in some area? Or maybe do more promotion? Or hire new employees? Or start a website?

Whatever your goal, stay focused on it and you’ll see success. Don’t let yourself be disappointed if success isn’t immediate or if it doesn’t measure up to what you had anticipated. Any step in the direction of your goal is a step in the right direction.

When it comes to advertising, how do you measure the success of an advertising campaign? Most of us would say a noticeable increase in sales would be a success. But, the true success of advertising is made up of multiple areas.

In order to accurately measure the success of an advertising campaign, you need some “beforehand” statistics to compare to. Here’s how to start:

If you have a service business, figure out on average how many new clients contact you over a 30-day period. If you have a retail business, count the number of people who enter your store within a certain number of days, for example, two weeks or a month. (Take into account that some days of the month may yield heavier traffic than others.) Also, review the sales totals and number of phone calls for the same time period.

Once you’ve established your “before” stats, begin your advertising campaign. Track the same statistics – number of new clients / customers, foot traffic, phone calls, sales totals, and website hits. This information is your “during” stats. (Remember the Small Business Association recommends running an ad at least five times before evaluating its success, so a one-time ad probably won’t give you an accurate picture of effectiveness.)

Since consumers purchase products and services when they are ready, and not necessarily when they are advertised, you also need to track the same statistics after the advertising is over. Do this for the same amount of time that you did the “before” tracking.

You can probably figure out what to do next – compare the “before” stats to the “during” and “after” stats. Is there an increase in any of the numbers? Maybe foot traffic increased, but sales stayed the same. Was the advertising effective?

Only expecting to see an increase in sales as a result of advertising isn’t necessarily logical. Not every person who walks through the door will purchase a product – think window shopper. However, since you tracked foot traffic, you will know that more people entered the store during and after the advertising. The same works for a service business – increased contacts is a measure of success.

While tracking multiple areas – foot traffic, sales, phone calls, website hits, etc. – before, during, and after advertising may seem tedious, it is easier to see how effective the advertising was. You can then modify future advertising to target a certain aspect, such as sales or website hits, or change to a different media outlet if your stats remained stagnant.

As the end of 2010 draws closer and closer, I’m told, “I can’t advertise this month. I already overspent my budget for the year.” Or I hear, “I won’t be advertising for the rest of the year. I don’t have the budget. Talk to me in the spring when sales pick up again.”

Yikes! We’re in the biggest retail time of the year, and there’s no money left to draw customers to your business versus your competitor’s?

As a small business owner myself, I realize that maintaining a small business is no easy task, and many small business owners, myself included, would rather crawl under a rock than think about budgets and advertising.

With a little bit of forethought, a business can have advertising dollars year round. Here’s how to overcome the advertising budget hurdle and never utter those disturbing phrases again.

Determine how much you can spend on advertising. Start by looking at your gross sales from the year (if you’ve been in business for a couple of years, average those years together). Experts recommend setting aside about 5% of gross sales for advertising. Notice that the budget isn’t based on profit, but on gross sales.

Don’t plan on spending “whatever is left over at the end of the month” on advertising - something more important always comes up. Set aside money in the beginning. Remember: While advertising is recorded as an expense in your accounting ledger, you are investing that expense in your business growth.

Review the sales trends. Are certain times of the year stronger for sales? For example, nationwide statistics show that December makes up 23% of jewelry store sales for the year. Would a jewelry store benefit from advertising more in strong months or more in weak months?

A good rule of thumb is to advertise the most when the business is needed, or in other words, the weaker months. However, that’s not saying a jewelry store shouldn’t advertise in December. A monthly budget should never be set to 0%, even for good sales months. Some form of advertising should always be done, even if it is something small.

Research shows that consumers respond better to smaller ads published consistently than larger ads done once for a one-time push. According to the Small Business Association, every ad should run at least five times before evaluating its success. The consumer sees the ad and is influenced by it, but the consumer does not buy or act until he/she is ready. Your advertising needs to reflect when the consumer wants to buy a product, not when you want to sell it.

And just in case you wonder if advertising really works, “fewer than 50% of items carried by most stores are never advertised. Their sale is the direct result of customer traffic created by the advertised items.” (http://www.sba.gov). One of the key phrases in that quote is “the advertised item” – advertising to build name recognition is great, but at some point, businesses need to start advertising specific pieces of merchandise along with details and prices.

If you are interested in learning more about setting up an advertising budget to last you through the year, I highly recommend visiting the Small Business Association website (http://www.sba.gov). They have a great series on advertising budgets complete with planning worksheets.