[jasmine-f Posts: 9 Status: Offline]

Hi all,
I've polishing the final details on a book that emphasizes science and engineering.  In those fields, people typically use the metric system even in the US (well... for the math and physics, I won't even get started on bolt and hole sizes for machining).  Because I'm trying to promote scientific thinking throughout the book, I opted to use the metric system in the book, even to describe things like the characters' heights.  Is this a bad idea / will it turn off an agent?

[Vijaya Posts: 7,331 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

Jasmine, if I have a need to use the metric system I still always use the English units in parentheses so that it's easy for kids to see how the two systems are related. It takes a long time to switch over in your brain. I don't know about agents' tastes.

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 6,855 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

I agree with V. Put the English system in parenthesis wherever it makes sense. But this shouldn't be a deal breaker either way. It's a style issue on the part of a publisher. It's also an easy fix if they prefer one to the other or both. Good luck.

[jasmine-f Posts: 9 Status: Offline]

Thank you for the suggestions  - I like the idea of putting units in parens, that hadn't occurred to me!