When a writer hires me to carry out a copyedit, I usually ask them if they’ve followed any particular style guide. Quite often, I find they haven’t even heard of the term, but style guides are a useful thing to know about, especially if you’re self-publishing, so let’s get into it!
What is a style guide?
A style guide is a record of the choices a publisher has made for the writing and the look of their publications, especially when there are alternatives to pick from. It covers matters such as:
- the version of English they use (such as British, America, Canadian or Australian)
- grammar rules adhered to
- spelling choices (such as using -ise or -ize endings, e.g. realise as opposed to realize)
- punctuation choices (such using or not using a point after Mr or Mrs, or whether to use the Oxford comma)
- typography and formatting decisions (such using italics for internal thoughts, or how to style text messages in the narrative)
… and a great deal more!
Following a style guide ensures consistency within and across publications. This helps the publisher maintain a professional look, and it’s also an efficient way of working – the decisions are made once, and everyone can then apply those standards to each book they work on.
Standard style guides
A publisher will often follow one of the industry-standard style guides already in existence, some of which date back to the nineteenth century. (You’ll be pleased to know that they’re updated regularly!) Many of them are aimed at particular types of publishing, such as legal or scientific texts, while others are for more general books. They’re often specific to the country of publication and usually go hand-in-hand with the use of a particular dictionary.
Each publisher will select the style guide best suited to the books they’re publishing and their intended audience. For example, fiction publishers in the UK frequently follow New Hart’s Rules, in combination with the Oxford English Dictionary. In the USA, they’ll often adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, along with the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
US fiction publishers commonly use the Chicago Manual of Style as their style guide
House style
On top of this, publishers usually have what’s termed a house style – a bespoke style guide they’ve developed for their own use. They’ll often base this on a standard style guide and then adapt it to suit their own preferences. So, a UK publisher might decide to use Hart’s Rules as their base style, but choose to use double quotation marks, as opposed to the single quotation marks that are more commonly used in the UK. Where there are alternatives, there’s no right or wrong – it’s a matter of preference.
Everyone in that publishing house adheres to the house style, and if they hire an external editor, they’ll send them a copy so the editor knows exactly which standards to follow.
Style sheets
While a style guide is a set of standards for a publishing house, a style sheet lists decisions made for a specific book. We’re talking things like:
- any deviations from the normal house style, such as a UK publisher using American English for a book set in the States
- the spelling of character names and place names
- the treatment of specific words and phrases, such as Elven Council always taking initial capitals
Again, all these decisions need to be documented and communicated to everyone working on the book to ensure consistency.
Sometimes style sheets are also referred to as style guides, which can be confusing. Sorry! The important things to remember is that it’s a document about one specific book.
An excerpt from a typical style sheet I might produce, which documents decisions taken for a specific book.
What does all this have to do with authors?
If you’re aiming for traditional publishing
The publisher who signs you will have their own style guide, so that’s not a choice you’ll get to make.
But what you can do is be mindful about your writing. Attention to detail will make your manuscript easier to read and give it a more professional look.
- Check spellings you’re not sure about in a dictionary.
- Aim for consistency. If you’re spelling realise with an -ise ending, do that every time, and make sure you do the same with other similar words, such as hypnotise.
- Watch for errors, such as the spelling of someone’s name changing, or their eye colour. You’d be surprised how easily these slip in, especially if you’ve made a lot of changes to your book.
Create your own document to record your choices so that you can refer back to it when you need to.
If you’re going to self-publish
If you self-publish, you are in effect becoming the publisher, so all the decisions are now yours to make.
However, you’ll be pleased to know that you don’t have to become an expert on style guides! They are very detailed, and some of them are huge. Just take a look at the hardback version of Chicago further up this post. At over 1000 pages, light bedtime reading it is not!
No, the intricacies of style guides are exactly what your copyeditor is for. But you’ll find it useful to be familiar with them, so that when your editor sends you a style sheet with your edited manuscript, you’ll know what you’re looking at.
And now you know the kinds of decisions your copyeditor will be making, you may want to make some of those for yourself before you hand your manuscript over. You don’t need to go into it in depth (after all, you’re hiring a professional for a reason!), but think about the main aspects relevant to your book and aim for consistency.
Some decisions you make could be:
- which version of English you’re writing in. Get yourself a dictionary to check your spellings.
- which spelling options you prefer, where there are alternatives.
- whether to use single or double quotes.
- how you want to format internal dialogue (italics maybe?) or text messages (indented?).
- the spelling of your character names and place names.
Then document the choices you’ve made – a simple list is sufficient – and send to your copyeditor with your manuscript. You’ll make them very happy!
Your copyeditor will choose an appropriate style guide and incorporate the spellings and other decisions you’ve told them about. They’ll then be able to create a style sheet for your book and send it to you with the completed edit. It’s a useful document for you, especially if you’re writing a story which spans several books, as you can use it to make sure your decisions are consistent across the series. You’ll also be able to send it to your proofreader when the time comes, being the professional publisher you are!
If you have any questions about style guides, or how to make the kinds of decisions that style sheets document, your copyeditor should be only to happy to help. That’s what we’re here for!