Industry-Standard Style Overview

The following are a few book industry standard styles based on The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). There is no need to memorize all this information! An editor or copyeditor with book publishing experience will be familiar with most of these standards. Note that some traditional publishers may have different preferences, but the majority of publishers follow the guidelines set forth by CMS.

Abbreviations

• Spell out United States when used as a noun in running text. However, U.S. is okay in dialogue. U.S. is also okay when used as an adjective—for example, U.S. Department of Health.
• Spell out state names in running text. Use the two-letter abbreviation in addresses.
• The term for example is preferred over e.g.; that is preferred over i.e.; and so on or and more is preferred over etcetera or etc. Use commas following for example, that is, e.g., and i.e.
• In general, it is best to spell out the words grams, milligrams, and micrograms, as well as other terms of measurement, to avoid confusion. However, if abbreviations have been used consistently, be sure the terms are spelled out at the first occurrence in each chapter—for example, Take 50 milligrams (mg) of this vitamin and 60 mg of that vitamin.
• Always spell out the words ounces, pounds, tablespoons, teaspoons, and so on in recipes and running text. (Abbreviations are okay in tables if space is limited.)

Academic Degrees and Other Credentials

• CMS recommends not using periods in abbreviations of academic degrees—for example, PhD and DDS rather than Ph.D. and D.D.S. However, as long as the style is consistent, this is of minor concern.

Acronyms/Initialisms

• In general, spell out the term and follow with the acronym/initialism in parentheses—for example, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or multiple sclerosis (MS), not SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) or MS (multiple sclerosis). Thereafter, in general, using just the acronym/ initialism is fine. This does not mean that an acronym or initialism must be included or used, but simply how it should be treated if it is used.

Ages

• Spell out ages and use the word age or years old. For example, age five or five years old. Don’t take this too literally though. In many cases, it’s okay to say he’s five, especially in dialogue. (Note the hyphens in a five-year- old boy and I have a five-year-old.)
• Use numerals for centenarians—for example, She was 120 years old when she died.
• Spell out decades if they refer to ages of people—for example, She is still in her twenties.

Bibliographies/Reference Lists

• Citations of books in bibliographies and reference lists must include the name(s) of the author(s), the title and subtitle of the work, the city and state of publication (include the state only if the city is not well known), the publisher’s name, and the date of publication.
• Citations of periodicals in bibliographies and reference lists must include the name(s) of the author(s), the title and subtitle of the article, the name of the periodical, the volume/issue/date (what exactly to include depends on the type of periodical), and the page number(s).
• When preparing a bibliography or reference list, please use the following format:

For Books

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book in Headline Style. City, State Abbrev.: Publisher, Pub Year. (In a list of references, please also include chapter number and page number.)

For Periodicals

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article: Subtitle of Article in Headline Style.” Title of Periodical Volume Number (Year): page–page number.

• When there is more than one author, list the others with given name first.
• The above reflects The Book Couple’s preferred general style for bibliographies and references. Please see The Chicago Manual of Style for more in-depth information, including information on citing sources other than books and periodicals. Also note that, although Chicago’s suggested format for references differs from what is above, the style here takes precedence.
• In general, if a reference list or bibliography has already been prepared using an alternate style, it is not necessary to change all of the entries to the preferred style. Simply mark for consistency.

Brand Names and Trademarks

• Most brand names and trademarks are capitalized. Check Webster’s for the correct spelling and capitalization. If the word is not listed in the dictionary, check the company’s website for the correct treatment.
• Do not use registered trademark symbols (™ and ®) in running text.

Breeds of Animals

• When working on a pet- or animal-related book, capitalize only the part of the breed name, if any, that is a proper noun—for example, German shepherd, Siamese cat, African grey parrot, and Clydesdale horse. Breed names that do not have a proper noun in the name should be set in lowercase—for example, rat terrier, domestic shorthair, hyacinth macaw, and draft horse.

British Variants

• Change the following to their preferred American spellings, except when used in quotations or references or as part of a proper name.

acknowledgement to acknowledgment

ageing to aging aids to AIDS

(referring to the disease) anticlockwise to counterclockwise backwards to backward

behaviour to behavior

centre to center

centring to centering

colour to color

co-ordination to coordination

cosy to cozy

counselling to counseling

diarrhoea to diarrhea

downwards to downward

faeces to feces

favour to favor

flavour to flavor

forwards to forward

grey to gray

gynaecological to gynecological

harbour to harbor

honour to honor

humour to humor

judgement to judgment

labour to labor

levelling to leveling

lustre to luster

per cent to percent

practise to practice

programme to program

quieten to quiet

realise to realize

side-effect to side effect

towards to toward

tranquillise to tranquilize

upwards to upward

well being to well-being

will power to willpower

• In addition to the above list, when Americanizing a manuscript, please:
• Watch for [space]en dash[space] used in place of em dashes.
• Watch for usage of that/which (see THAT/WHICH).
• Be sure equivalent American measurements are provided for metric measurements, but do not replace them.
• Change British-style single quotation marks to double quotation marks, and place periods and commas before the closing quotation mark. Quotes within quotes should be changed from British-style double quotation marks to single quotation marks.

Capitalization, Nonstandard

• In some cases, an author may choose to capitalize terms/ concepts he or she has coined. This is perfectly acceptable, but this use of nonstandard capitalization should be cleared with the project editor.
• Any copyeditor or proofreader who comes across non- standard capitalization in a manuscript or in page proofs should contact the project editor for clarification.
• Permission to use nonstandard capitalization does not extend to capitalization of words that clearly should not be capped, even if an author has capped the word consistently. For example, “The Company I work for is located in sunny Florida.” (A copyeditor or proofreader would mark “c” for lowercase no matter how many times company was capped throughout the manuscript or proof.)

Capitalization Following a Colon

• When a colon is used within a sentence, the first word following the mark is lowercased (unless it’s a proper noun); however, when it introduces two or more sentences, the first word is capitalized. When a colon introduces an extract or a speech in dialogue, the first word is also capitalized.

Capitalization of Diseases and Conditions

• Unless a disease or condition contains a proper noun (for example, Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease), all words are set in lowercase (for example, type 2 diabetes, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
• When referring to a disease named after a person (such as Parkinson’s disease), avoid referring to it simply as Parkinson’s.

Centuries, Decades, Eras, and Time

• Spell out centuries—for example, nineteenth century, not 19th century.
• In general, use numerals for decades—for example, 1970s (note, no apostrophe before the “s”). In some cases, of course, it’s perfectly acceptable to say in the seventies. Just be sure it’s consistent and the century is understood.
• AD precedes the date; BC follows the date—for example, AD 365; 56 BC. BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era) can be used in place of AD and BC if an author chooses. Both BCE and CE follow the date. No periods in BC, AD, BCE, or CE. Set in small caps.
• Display time as hour : minutes—for example, 5:50 a.m. or 3:00 p.m. In dialogue, spell out time— for example, four o’clock.

Chapter Titles/Part Titles

• When working on a manuscript, type chapter titles and subtitles in upper- and lowercase, not all caps. Copyeditors should make this correction if necessary.
• When referring to a chapter or part in running text, use a capital “c” or capital “p” ( . . . in Chapter 2 or . . . in Part 1). It is not necessary to repeat the chapter/part title. Also, avoid general phrases like In the chapter about pickled cucumbers, you learned . . . Instead, As you learned in Chapter 1, pickled cucumbers . . . or In Chapter 1, you learned . . .

Character’s Thoughts

• A character’s thoughts should be set in italics, not quotes.

Commas, Serial

• Use the serial comma in running lists—for example, She wore red, white, and blue. Also use serial comma in a series of phrases or clauses—for example, She combed her hair, brushed her teeth, and put on her makeup.

Compound Modifiers (Phrasal Adjectives)

• In general, a phrasal adjective (an adjective and a noun in combination) should be hyphenated—for example, cutting-edge information, high-fat diet, free-radical damage, and hot-air balloon. For further explanation and exceptions, see The Chicago Manual of Style.
• The en dash is used instead of a hyphen when one element of a compound adjective is an open compound. See The Chicago Manual of Style for a complete explanation.

Dashes/Hyphens

em dash (—): Em dashes are also represented by double hyphens [–] in manuscript form. For the various uses of em dashes, see The Chicago Manual of Style. Copyeditors, please note: double hyphens—not em dashes—should be used in manuscript preparation for proper translation to the type- setting software. A global change without edits tracked is acceptable for this edit.

en dash (–): En dashes are used for numeric or date ranges—for example, 10–20 milligrams, pages 1–4, March 14–15. (See also COMPOUND MODIFIERS.)

hyphen (-): Hyphens are used in hyphenated words and to separate numerals that do not represent a range—for example, well-being, 555-5555. (See also COMPOUND MODIFIERS.)

• Be sure there are no spaces around em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens.

Ellipsis Points

• When copyediting, do not use Microsoft Word’s automatic ellipsis character. Instead, insert manually with proper spacing.
• Four dots are used when the first dot represents a period.
• The first dot should be preceded and followed by a space with a space following the second and third dots . . . except in the case of four dots where the first is a period. . . .
• Page proofs should clearly show even spaces around each dot.

Emphasis, Marking Words For

• In general, when a word or phrase is to be emphasized, the word should generally be set in italics and regular case. Avoid using ALL CAPS and/or bold for emphasis.

Endnotes/Footnotes

When preparing footnotes or endnotes, use the following format:

For Books

1. First Name Last Name, Title of Book in Headline Style (City, State Abbrev.: Publisher, Pub Year), page–page nos.

For Periodicals

1. First Name Last Name, “Title of Article: Subtitle of Article in Headline Style,” Title of Periodical Volume Number (Year) : page–page nos.

• Please see The Chicago Manual of Style for more in-depth information, including information on citing sources other than books and periodicals.

Foreign Words/Terms

• Use italics for unfamiliar words and terms in a foreign language. Foreign words that can be found in Webster’s—for example, “carpe diem,” “au naturel,” and “mazel tov”—are not italicized. If an unfamiliar foreign word or term is used repeatedly throughout a manuscript, italicize it only at the first occurrence.
• Use accents in foreign words when appropriate—for example, à la.
• Sentences in a foreign language should always be italicized.

Hyphenation

• In general, it is not necessary to use a hyphen with the adjective-combining form of like—for example, ladylike. However, do use a hyphen with like when the linking word ends with double  l  (for  example,  bell-like); with  most proper nouns (for example, Whitman-like, but Christlike); and after most words of three or more syllables.
• Many words beginning with anti, multi, non, pre, post, and so on do not take the hyphen. A list of common words with these prefixes can be found on www.webster.com.

Instructions to the Typesetter

Insert instructions to the typesetter as well as typesetting codes in square brackets [ ] and in ALL CAPS and use the highlighter tool (yellow or light gray) so the instruction stands out in the printed Word document.

Names of People, Places, and Things

Check the spelling of all proper nouns appearing in a manuscript, including people, places, book and magazine titles, companies and organizations, products, games, and so on. The copyeditor should submit a style sheet that lists correct spelling and capitalization. The proofreader should refer to this style sheet when proofreading, but he or she should not ignore an obvious or suspected error.

Numbers

• As a general rule, spell out all numbers less than 100 (one to ninety-nine). Exceptions: percentages (60 percent); supplement or drug measurements (60 milligrams); ingredients (4 ounces); and when multiple numbers representing similar categories appear in a paragraph and one or more is greater than 100 (for example, “In a two-week study, they found that 101 people were old, 50 were young, and 10 were about fifty years old.”). See also the following item.
• In general, use numerals in cookbooks and diet- and exercise-related books for all terms of measurement: body weight (98 pounds), height (5’1″), recipe ingredients (4 ounces), cooking times (10–20 minutes), dosages (50 mg), sets and repetitions (3 sets, 10 reps), and so on, unless there are only a few isolated cases. In that case, follow the guide- lines set forth in the first bullet.
• Do not use simple fractions in numeral form in running text unless they are part of recipe directions.
• When spelled out, simple fractions should be hyphenated—for example, It is estimated that one-quarter of the country is truly happy.
• Numerals can be used in chapter titles and subheads if that’s the style the project editor has approved. Copyeditors and proofreaders should correct only for consistency.
• Use numerals and words for numbers in the millions—for example, 3 million. When stating a range of numbers in the millions, use an en dash—for example, 2–3 million people.
• Use the word percent, not a percent sign (%), unless describing the standardized contents of an extract—for example, 60% ginkgolides. In some cases, the percent sign may seem more appropriate, as in 1% milk. Use the per- cent sign sparingly.
• Use the dollar symbol ($) for sums greater than 99—for example, $156 but five dollars. Also remember the rule for multiple numbers that represent similar categories (see the first bullet).
• In running text, spell out the word degrees and use numerals as required by the first bullet—for example, a ninety- degree angle or 180 degrees. When a distinction between Fahrenheit and Celsius must be made in running text, however, use the degree symbol with the appropriate abbreviation—for example, water boils at 100˚C and 212˚F. In recipe directions, always use the symbol followed by C or F—for example, preheat the oven to 375˚F or 160˚C.
• Numbers in dialogue should be spelled out. For example, “I could really use fifty dollars right about now,” she said.

Paragraph Format

• In general, do not use block paragraphs when preparing a manuscript. (A block paragraph is a paragraph that is preceded by a line space, is not indented, and is followed by line space.)
• There should be no line spaces between paragraphs not separated by heads (except for intentional spaces).
• Indent each paragraph.

Preferred Spellings and Styles

• Copyeditors must run a complete spell-check in Microsoft Word, but should not blindly defer to the program’s suggestions. Also, confirm that the following item under Tools/Language/Set Language is not checked for any part of the manuscript: “Do not check spelling or grammar.” If the box is checked or highlighted, click on it to turn this feature off.
• The first spelling in Webster’s is the preferred spelling and should replace any variants used.

Prepositions

• Use initial lowercase on all prepositions of four or fewer letters in title case (for example, with, to, and for, but About and Through) unless it is the first or last word of the head or is an inseparable part of a verb—for example, Made Up and Get Off.

Ranges

• Use en dash for ranges (5–10 milligrams), not with percentages (10 to 20 percent). This only applies to ranges in which numerals are used per BOOK COUPLE style. For example, you’d still say, five to ten days from now . . . but in a recipe, you’d say, sauté for 5–10 minutes.

Recipe Format

• Recipes into Type: A Handbook for Cookbook Writers and Editors by Joan Whitman, and The Recipe Writer’s Handbook, Revised and Updated, by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann and Jane Baker, are good resources to have on hand when writing or editing recipes.
• In general, a recipe should have a consistent format such as the following:

Recipe Title

Descriptive recipe comment, if any, in italics.

Yield: Use appropriate term—for example, servings, cups, pieces, and so on.

 

½ cup ingredient

1 teaspoon ingredient

2 tablespoons ingredient

1 medium ingredient, finely chopped*

 

Be sure the ingredients are listed above in the order they are used in the recipe. If the recipe directions are very involved, number each step. Otherwise, unnumbered paragraphs are fine. Include variations, if any, below. Serve warm.

 

Variation: Variation text—for example, “Substitute ½ cup of cherries for the strawberries.”

 

• For a recipe that is made up of several parts—for example, a pie topped with whipped cream—separate ingredients by parts in a manner such as this:

 

Pie Crust

Ingredient

ingredient

 

Pie Filling

Ingredient

ingredient

*Note the difference between “1 medium tomato, chopped” and “1 cup chopped tomato.” (Do not use “1 cup tomato, chopped” because the tomato must be chopped before it is measured.)

 

Whipped Cream

Ingredient

ingredient

 

Then, in the recipe directions, use a format such as this:

1. To make the pie crust, do this and that, and that and this.
2. To make the pie filling . . .
3. To make the whipped cream . . .
4. Fill the pie crust with filling and top with whipped cream. Chill for one hour before serving.

 

Running Heads/Feet

• Running heads—the headings that run along the top of the printed pages—generally reflect the section the reader is currently in. When these headings appear at the bottom of the page, they are called running feet, but serve the same purpose. Running heads are not used on display pages (for example, endorsement page, dedication, first page of con- tents, and chapter-opener pages).
• The headings in the front matter generally reflect the name of the section on both the verso (left) and recto (right) pages. The headings in the main body of the text generally reflect the title of the book on the verso page and the chapter title on the recto page. Headings in the back matter are treated the same way as headings in the front matter.
• It is not necessary to include running heads/feet in the electronic version of the manuscript.

Spacing After Punctuation

• Use only one space after end-mark punctuation—that is, after a period, question mark, exclamation point, and closing quotation mark at the end of a sentence. In other words, there should be only one space between the end of any sentence and the beginning of the next sentence in the same paragraph. There should be one space after colons, as well.
• If the manuscript has already been typed with two spaces between sentences, use the Find and Replace function in Microsoft Word to find every occurrence of two spaces and replace them with a single space (without tracking the changes).

Titles of Works, Italics Versus Roman

• Italicize books, journals/periodicals, magazines, movies, plays, television programs, radio programs, cartoons and comic strips, and most works of art. (The word the in the initial position in a journal/periodical title—even if it is part of the official title—does not get italicized or capitalized.)
• Set in roman  and  enclose in  quotation  marks  poems, episodes in a television series, and songs.
• The name of a series, as in Chicken Soup for the Soul series, does not get italicized. Cap the word Series only if it is an official part of the series title.
• See Chicago for the treatment of titles of works not mentioned here.

URLs and E-mail Addresses

• URLs and e-mail addresses should be set in roman, not italics or underlined.

Words, Special

• Avoid the excessive use of quotation marks around “special” words as well as the excessive use of italics for emphasis. Likewise, avoid using all caps for emphasis. Be discriminating when using these tools.

Words as Words

• In general, italicize a word that is being referred to as the word or term itself. Quotation marks may be more appropriate in some cases, however. See Chicago 15, 7.62, for more information. Most important, be sure only one style is in consistent use throughout the manuscript.