Typeface Alone Does Not a Book Make

I have found myself writing in a diagnostic review, “A run-in head should be boldfaced and followed by an em-space before resuming roman text.” Then I have to go back and write it in English. I wouldn’t know those terms if I didn’t work in publishing, so why should you? In rereading the last year or so of Xulon blog posts, I discovered a glaring content omission: We haven’t really explained why we change some of the things we change in your manuscript.

Now, I don’t mean grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax, word usage, and other such linguistic rules taught in school and championed by the much-beloved dictates of The Chicago Manual of Style. I’m talking about the bits and bobs that give your text—your work of art, your message, your story, the results of your research, the meat—look so nice.

First, a no-nonsense bullet list of accepted usages. They may seem minor, but cumulatively they give your work that invaluable look of professionalism. This will be followed by a less mechanical overview of a couple-three best practices. “Scripture formatting one oh one” will follow, and we will end with a note about a very handy reference you might want to pick up.

Double space bands are no longer necessary. Just hit the spacebar once after full-stop punctuation (period, question mark, exclamation point), and your word processor of choice will insert the perfect amount of space.
A font (a word used interchangeably with typeface) is the style, size, and spacing of a set of characters; the way the letters, numbers, and punctuation marks look on your screen, and later, in your book. For our purposes, there are two kinds: serif and sans serif. (If your display prevents you from seeing the difference there, which does happen, the characters in a serif font have little horizontal ticks on all the end bits, whereas the sans version does not.) Serif seems easier to read, but many prefer the sans. Pick one that doesn’t make your eyes tired and use it proudly.
To indent or not to indent the first line of each paragraph

indent. It’s so much easier to read.


Use of typeface for emphasis:

underline

used almost exclusively by APA (American Psychological Association)
once required in place of italics in manuscripts submitted for publication
in a Web-connected world can be mistaken for hyperlink in e-documents
bottom line, don’t use it


boldface

use in chapter titles and subheads only. Should not be used to highlight quoted Scripture (see Scripture formatting one oh one, below.)


italics

use for words used as words (The word peevish means “easily irritated by unimportant things.”) Should not be used to highlight quoted Scripture (see Scripture formatting one oh one, below).
use to set off a word or phrase you want to emphasize. Note the difference in the way these two sentences sound—in fact, in they meaning they convey—when you emphasize the italicized part.

“Now you’re blaming me?”
“Now you’re blaming me?”






quotation marks, double

set off short passages of quoted Scripture (See Scripture formatting one oh one, below.)
indicate spoken dialogue
indicate ironic usage of a word or phrase (Rudolph had told us he was an expert skater. Just now, the “expert skater” was sprawled in the grass on top of a gushing sprinkler head.)


quotation marks, single

used for a quotation within a quotation (“Mom, Rupert said, ‘You told me, “I’ll take you to the park,” but now you won’t go.’ I confess he is correct.”)
in British English, often used instead of the double quotation marks of American English


No emoticons, texting shorthand, or ALL CAPS.
No emoticons, texting shorthand, or ALL CAPS. 
hyphen ( – ) is used for compound words (The well-known actor Donald Duck…)

Here’s a freebie: The Chicago Manual of Style Hyphenation Table: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/images/ch07_tab01.pdf


en dash ( – ) is used to indicate a range of pages, dates, ages, whatever
em dash ( — ) is a monstrously flexible and beautiful bit of punctuation

used to indicate a longer pause than that offered by a comma
used for adding explanatory information, sort of like parentheses
in dialogue, used to indicate a person being cut off in mid word or sentence
an alternate usage direct from the CMOS: “Will he—can he—obtain the necessary signatures?” asked Mill.


em space is used almost exclusively in academic work, but it’s useful if you want to add visual variety to any nonfiction piece.

use after a run-in head that introduces a section’s main topic

County Cork In 2011, the county’s population was 518,128 making it the second most populous of the counties in the state. County Cork is located in the province of Munster. It borders four other counties: Kerry to the west, Limerick to the north…

Early education The percentage of 3- to 5-year-olds in preprimary programs who attended full-day programs increased from 39 percent in 1990 to 60 percent in 2012.

A less technical perspective As important as the guidelines above are, we should give a brief think to a few more general best practices:

Balancing a conversational tone with being overly chatty can be tough. The former is welcome and makes readers feel like they’re listening to a trusted friend; the latter is distracting, and though it may be exactly how people talk, it detracts rather than enhances. Avoid direct address to the reader (brothers and sisters, people of God, dear ones). Avoid vocal placeholders, that is, things you say when you’re talking that you don’t even realize you’re saying: You know what I mean? Really? I was like…
If using vernacular is absolutely critical to your story, use it sparingly. Do not include every um, like, and you know. Also, be judicious with the phonetic spelling of words spoken with a foreign accent. A little is great and adds dimension to a character; too much obscures meaning and makes the reader work too hard.
Your word processor’s Spell Check function will find a lot but not everything; a he that should be the, for example, will slip by. Comb through one last time after correcting the errors Spell Check finds. As you’re doing so, you’ll likely notice things you want to change, usually inconsistencies you breezed past in the heat of composition. It works that way for writers.

Please note that the above guidelines barely touch on the most common elements and usages. There remain thousands of words that could expound on every one of these points.

Now, as promised, everything you wanted to know about Scripture formatting and citation but never before had a need to know:

Scripture formatting one oh one:

Name your primary Bible version on the copyright page, including appropriate copyright information. Then in the body of the work, it will be necessary to name only alternate versions; that is, if your main source is New King James Version, do not label a quotation from NKJV but only one from, say, AMP or NIV or MSG.
Names of  books of the Bible should be spelled out in text and abbreviated in parenthetical citations.

Inline citation

“…spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12 NKJV). [quotation marks and end punctuation after parenthetical]


In-text citation

Ephesians 6:12 (NIV) reads, “For our struggle is not against…”
First John 2:16 states, “For all that is in the world…” [Note that when such a book name begins a sentence, the book number is spelled out.]




Block quote (more than four lines)

sinful nature can never please God. (Rom 8:3–8 NLT) [no quotation marks, indented, left aligned, and end punctuation before parenthetical]

OR

sinful nature can never please God.

—Romans 8:3–8 NLT

[citation on a new line, right aligned, preceded by an em-dash]

Abbreviations of names of books of the Bible come in two versions; one uses a period, one does not, and for most books the abbreviation itself differs for each form. Some books have no abbreviation that uses the period (Ezra, for example, and Mark, Luke, James, and Titus; others have no abbreviation at all, such as Acts and Jude. [Job can, in fact, be abbreviated.])
Any font formatting (italics, underline, boldface) not present in the original Bible text must be accompanied by [emphasis added]. Best practice is to keep such emphasis to a bare minimum.
Outside of severely academic work, it is not necessary to include verse numbers in quoted passages.

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

(All boldfaced, strikethrough numerals above should be deleted.)

The bonus bit: We’ve recently purchased several copies of The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style, a volume of writing guidelines enormously beneficial for we and thee. It’s less costly than The Chicago Manual of Style and covers most of the pertinent material and even some not included in the CMS. (It must be noted, however, that the pair differ on some issues, and in such cases we default to the Chicagoans’ literary views.) Pick yourself up a copy, and buy one for a friend. You will not regret it.

Failing all else, ask us. After all, what is an editor of whom writers do not ask questions? Unemployed.

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