Borrowing Green Formatting from the Greats . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subscribers to this editing blog probably know how I feel about learning
from the greats—in this case the Smithsonian
magazine. You may also have figured out that I’m a greenie.
So, ta da! Introducing the paragraph icon. You know, the one that
looks like a backward “P” with two heavy lines on the right. But instead of using it as an invisible formatting tool, Smithsonian
can see its beauty and makes it a space-saving design element on the opening
pages of their feature articles. That means the page has less white space (which costs money
in print magazines), but it also may mean a little more space for nifty
illustrations.
Smithsonian designers/formatters just stick one of these symbols into the copy anywhere there
would normally be a new paragraph or the start of a new block of dialogue. That saves them lines between paragraphs and indent and end of paragraph space.
To
make it ever-so-clear that this is intentional, they make the symbols a nice
dark gray—a slight departure from the black used in their fonts. Here is
information from Word how to make the paragraph symbol—one that can be seen—in your copy. http://www.ehow.com/how_6951039_insert-paragraph-sign-word-document.html.
I think this design element
would be especially useful for authors’ sell sheets where every fraction of an
inch counts. To make your paragraph icons gray, click on your Font Color icon
in the ribbon in your Word program.
CHJ
PS: Subscribe to my free SharingwithWriters newsletter for more articles and tips like this and get a free e-copy of my Great Little Last-Minute Edits. Find subscription windows on the upper right corner of almost every page of my Web site http://howtodoitfrugally.com.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults. and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (How To Do It Frugally series of book for writers)
. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/writers_books.htm , where writers will find lists and other helps including Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips 
on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog. She tweets writers' resources at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo . Please tweet this post to your followers. We all need a little help with editing. (-:
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