N. J. & Les Lindquist Box 77001, Markham Ontario L3P 0C8 Phone 905-471-1447 Email: thats-life@rogers.com http://www.thatslifecommunications.com Style Guidelines for Hot Apple Cider Books Hot Apple Cider Books Presents: Life-Altering Stories of Adoption and Fostering will follow a specific style guide to ensure consistency among all the submissions and all books in this series. In order to make the copyediting process more efficient and less time consuming, please follow this formatting closely. The style points with asterisks are essential. Please double-check your work before submitting. *Your Name *Document Name *Program *Font *Font Size *Margins *Page numbers *First Page Do NOT put your name anywhere on the document itself. That way we can judge blind. When we re ready, we ll match the piece to the name you put on the website form by its title. If for some reason you need to insert your name in the piece, use a placeholder pseudonym for now. Save each document by its title, e.g., JoyComesInTheMorning.doc. Only.doc or.docx documents. (We prefer MS Word files so that we can use Track Changes.) Times New Roman 12 point One-inch margins (top, bottom, left, right) Insert page number at top right of each page At the top of your first page, list: a) Title of your submission e.g., People Matter Most (Note: DO NOT USE CAPITAL LETTERS) b) Genre: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry c) Word count d) Leave two lines of space, then start your article/story Style Guidelines for Hot Apple Cider Books Page 1 of 5
*Justification *Spelling *Spacing Left, unless it requires special formatting Canadian (unless it s a quotation). Single-spaced. (Not double-spaced, not 1½ spaced. Single-spaced.) Click on Paragraph (Lower right on header) see below. Make it match the settings below. *Sentences *Paragraphs *Quotation marks Insert one space between sentences, not two spaces. (Use search/replace to get rid of them. Also check hidden characters to eliminate any weird hidden formatting.) (View hidden characters by clicking on the character under Layout at the right end of the tool bar.) Indent the first line of each new paragraph 1.27 cm using paragraph settings. (See above). Use double quotation marks. Single quotation marks should only be used to set off a quotation within a quotation. Style Guidelines for Hot Apple Cider Books Page 2 of 5
Punctuation Names for Bible Names for God Bible version Bible verses Books of the Bible Bible verse references: formatting Bible verse references: numbers Titles of books, magazines, newspapers Titles of movies, TV programs, plays, albums Place most punctuation inside quotation marks. If in doubt, the Chicago Manual of Style is the standard normally used. Correct: It may be uninspired, grumbled the frustrated writer, but at least I met the deadline! Wrong: It may be uninspired, grumbled the frustrated writer, but at least I met the deadline! Upper case Bible and names for Bible, God s Word, the Word, Scripture. Lower case for biblical. Upper case alternative names for God: Creator, Father, etc. Upper case deity pronouns referring to God: He, Him, Himself, His, the One, You, etc. (Unless it is a quotation, in which case use the style in the quotation.) If you use a scripture quotation, tell us the exact version you re using. Our preference has been to use the NIV. Place all quoted Bible verses inside quotation marks, not in italics. Spell out books of the Bible. Do not use abbreviations. Use digits 1, 2 or 3, not Roman numerals, for multiple books Correct: 2 Corinthians Wrong: II Cor. Put Bible verse reference in parenthesis. Insert final punctuation after parentheses at end of sentence, not within scripture verse. Correct: Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift (2 Corinthians 9:15). Wrong: Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. (2 Corinthians 9:15) List chapter number, colon, verse number. If listing a series of verses, insert hyphen between. No spaces between any of these items. Correct: 2 Corinthians 9:15-18 Wrong: 2 Corinthians 9 : 15-18 Italicize titles of books, publications, magazines, newspapers. E.g., Maclean s, The New York Times, The Shack. Italicize titles of movies, plays, television programs, radio programs, music albums, CDs, DVDs. E.g., 100 Huntley Street, Star Trek, Gone with the Wind, Hamlet, The Greatest Hits of the Gaither Vocal Band. Style Guidelines for Hot Apple Cider Books Page 3 of 5
Titles of songs, hymns, poems, choruses Capitalization in Titles Titles of articles in publications or chapters in books Thoughts Abbreviations Plurals Dash usage Serial Commas Capitalize and place inside quotation marks. E.g., Oh, What a Beautiful Morning, Faith of Our Fathers, Just As I Am, The Road Not Taken. Generally speaking, prepositions aren t capitalized in titles. The exception would be if the preposition is very important or very long. Faith of Our Fathers The Best Recipe Around Articles also aren t often capitalized unless they re at the beginning of the title. A Fine Idea Love in a New Place Capitalize and place inside quotation marks. E.g., Canada s Economy Improves, Maclean s, October 14, 2009. E.g., People Matter Most, Hot Apple Cider. Italicize a person s thoughts to differentiate them from dialogue. Do not place inside quotation marks. Correct: Oh God, I cried in my heart, pour Your Spirit out upon this community. Wrong: Oh God, I cried in my heart, pour Your Spirit out upon this community. No periods in abbreviations. Correct: TV, CD, DVD, MP, PhD, MA, BA Wrong: T.V., C.D., D.V.D., M.P., Ph.D., M.A., B.A. No apostrophe for plural after abbreviations, or after numerals. Correct: TVs, CDs, DVDs, MPs, 1840s, 1970s Wrong: TV s, CD s, DVD s, MP s, 1840 s, 1970 s A dash is an em dash, with no spaces. Do NOT use a hyphen in place of dash. In Word, insert two hyphens (will--), type in a letter, and hit the space bar. Correct: We must follow God s will no matter how difficult if we want to grow in our faith. Use a comma after each item in the list, including the one before the and. Yes, we realize this goes against recent journalism style guidelines. Correct: George had three cats, two dogs, and a hamster. Wrong: George had three cats, two dogs and a hamster. Style Guidelines for Hot Apple Cider Books Page 4 of 5
Numbers Spelling Variations Nicknames Spell out words one to nine. Use numerals 10 and above. Correct: He had seven cats. Wrong: He had 7 cats. Correct: She bought 249 apples. Wrong: She bought two hundred and forty-nine apples. Many words are currently in flux. Between American and Canadian and British spelling, as well as the tendency to combine and shorten things, it s hard to know what s right. So for some words, we re simply going to pick the style we prefer at this time. Correct: nonfiction Wrong: non-fiction. Correct: ebook, epub Wrong: e-book, ebook, e-pub. Correct: proofread Wrong: proof-read Correct: website Wrong web-site Don t capitalize words like dear, sweetie, honey. etc., when they are used instead of the person s name. Correct: You re right, honey. Wrong: You re right, Honey. (Unless Honey is actually the person s first name.) Style Guidelines for Hot Apple Cider Books Page 5 of 5