The following adverbs should be preceded by a semicolon when used transitionally between clauses:  then, however, thus, hence, indeed, accordingly, besides, and therefore.   

Correct usage:  My wife bought me an X-Box 360 the other day; however, I wanted a rotisserie machine.   

Incorrect usage:  I destroyed my opponent in the cage, however, he was faster than me. 

Correct usage:  Lauren drew gruesome pictures of stick figures being killed; therefore she was admitted into an insane asylum.

Incorrect usage:  Kalyn hasn't taken the editor's oath yet, therefore she is not considered an editor.

A semicolon should also be used in a series that have internal punctuation.  This is common in sports stats, or when people list things that have internal punctuation.  Below:

The membership of the international commission was as follows: France, 4; Germany, 5; Great Britain, 1; Italy, 3; United States, 7. 

The defendant, in an attempt to mitigate his sentence, pleaded that he had recently, and quite unexpectedly, lost his job; that his landlady-whom, incidentally, he had once saved from attack-had threatened him with eviction; and that he had not eaten for several days. 

Use semicolon before “that is” or “namely”

We need a man that's awesome, bold, handsome, and mentally stable to handle the job; that is, Wayne, if you're up to it. 

One of the most common usages of semicolons is between closely related independent clauses not conjoined with a conjunction:

I went to the swimming pool; I was told it was closed for scheduled maintenance.

I was invited to the frat party; I went to the wrong house. 

* One of the most common ways you see it are in direct discourse:

“Shut up, punk!”

“What are you gonna do about it?”

“Gut you like a fish.”

“No blade can penetrate my muscle.”

Notice above each new speaker is indicated on a new paragraph.

* With single-word speech like yes, no, okay, maybe, fine, how, where, etc. when used singly, are not enclosed in quotation marks except when used in direct discourse. For example:

Wayne always answered yes because he's not strong enough to stand up for himself.

Of course in direct discourse, the single word would indeed be in quotation marks.

“Fine,” said Tommy.

“Okay,” James responded.

* Stuttering, or faltering speech isn't as common, but it's there. Ellipses can be used to suggest the faltered or stuttered speech.

“Golly gee…I…I…like you…a bunch.”

“Flarfs…oh crap!...they're here.”

The three period ellipses are used here. For interrupted speech, see below:

Interrupted speech is sometimes used in dialog. See below:

“No, Haldo, the Fl-”

“The plane, the plane is coming this way!” Haldo interrupted.

“Well, I don't know,” I began. I thought I might-”

“Might what?” she demanded.

* Internal thought. These happen quite a bit, too. Any internal thought that the character uses is put in italics. Internal thoughts are not to be confused with monologue.

I'm going to try to drink my soup with a knife, I thought. That was a stupid idea.

They're gonna rob the bank, he thought as he watched the crooks don on masks of the presidents.

Dialog Tags

* A comma, rather than a colon or semicolon is used after said, replied, asked, quipped, or similar verbs.

Ryan said, “Wayne, you're awesome!”

“It's a gift from the heavens,” Wayne replied.

Notice in the second paragraph, there is a comma inside the quotation, followed by the tag, “Wayne replied.” Such is the correct way to do it if what's in the quote isn't doesn't end the sentence. Punctuation always goes inside the quotations. Always. Let's take it a little further.

“It's a gift from the heavens,” Wayne replied. “In fact I didn't even bat an eye when I discovered how awesome I was.”

Notice here that the first sentence ends after “Wayne replied.” It then picks up again and ends with a period, then quotation. But the most important thing to notice is that the dialog after the tag isn't preceded by a comma.

* Dropping the tag. If there are two or more people talking, then you should introduce them early, often with a tag, but if they're the only two dialoging, you can drop the tags after their introductions.

“Sup, Champ? That game was awesome and that score keeper was hot!” Keira said.

“Yeah, I know. The Red team actually had it won, though,” Britanny said.

“Shut up!”

“I'm only speaking the truth.”

“You only speak lies. Liars go to places that burn.”

* Action sequences. If a character is in an action sequence, then their dialog will go with that paragraph. For instance:

The rudder came to a full stop, but the giant squid still grasped on to the lonely ship. Land was over 900 miles away and not a soul that could hear them. The captain was stunned at what was happening. It suddenly came to the captain, under a full moon. “Blast the beast from whence it came.”

“Aye, aye, Captain Jack.”

Notice two things here. One, the sequence of the captain being stunned and the captain opening up the dialog with, “Blast the beast from whence it came.” The second thing is this: I didn't have to introduce the captain's dialog with a tag because it was already known it was him speaking.

Fin!

Take pride in your work. If you want character X to be character X leave him/her be. Don't change him/her because a publisher tells you to. This is common with modern publishers for one reason or another. Beware of any publisher that conflict with your author integrity. It's your work, not theirs.

That leads us to the next issue: copyrighting your work. Your work is your work and no one else's. Make sure that any publishing company you go to lets you keep the rights to your material. When you make contact with a publisher, make sure you ask them about their copyright policies. If they don't for one reason or another do not sign a contract with them. By protecting your work, you can change it to your liking, or sell it if it has some measure of success, i.e movie companies.

Finding out what kind of services publishing companies offer is also key in determining who you should go to. If they have a full-time editing staff, graphic designers for book covers, layout artists for your book, marketing, etc. chances are that company is set up to succeed and will take care of you and your book.

Publishing houses that ask you for an author investment isn't at all a bad idea. Look into it and research it thoroughly. Some will ask for a heftier investment but will offer more royalties in return. Be sure to read in their contracts for more incentives. Tate Publishing offers 15 percent royalties for their book sales and offer 40 percent royalties on anything that's sold online. If you sell 5000 copies of the book, you will receive your author investment back. Look for deals like this when you are looking for publishers.

One thing to check on in all publishing houses is the amount of royalties they plan on giving you. If they don't offer at least 10 percent, don't sign with them. You should maximize the amount of royalties you deserve. After all, you wrote the book, not them. Why should they reap off of your reward? The answer is they shouldn't. Be very aware of what other promotional items they are willing to give you for your book: bookmarks, promotional posters, audio books, etc…This goes a long way in determining how much you're going to make off of your product.

Self-Publishing your work is another ball game altogether. Sure you call your own shots, but beware of the dangers. More and more book stores such as Barnes and Noble, Hastings, and Borders are not shelving self-published books for reasons of credibility. A representative at either of these stores isn't going to listen to you if you tell them your book is self-published. They will ask you first and foremost what your book is about. They are not going to read it so you could essentially lie to them. On average self-publishers lose 70 percent of their investment they put into the book in accordance with the number of book sales. Did I mention you call the shots? On the surface that sounds great, but when you dig deeper, you need to spend lots of money to get self-published. Here is a list of all the things you have to pay for: book cover design (unless you know someone who's an artist), layout of your book (this isn't as expensive as finding a cover designer), and printing your book (with the cost of printing with the cover). If you start by printing 100 copies of your book, congratulations you just spent approximately $4,000-8,000 with the non-guarantee that you're going to get any of your books on the shelves at any book store.

The publishing industry is tricky, but believe it or not there are good ones that won't scam you for your money. The key is to find the one that will get you the most revenue in return with the type of material that you're writing. You've written a book; you just did what a million writers have done. Considering there are 6.7 billion people on the earth, that's a pretty good ratio. Take pride in your work and find a company that won't rob you of that pride. Good luck to you and may you find success wherever you go.