Hot House Press
760 Cushing Highway
Cohasset, MA 02025

Hot House Press Style Sheet

The following are issues that have come up in the past in terms of formatting manuscripts into the design stage. Please review the following style guide suggestions when submitting the final draft of your book.

Formatting Manuscript
Use simple font (Times, Arial, Palatino, Courier, etc.), double space, indent paragraphs (with one tab click), use one inch margins on top, bottom, left and right, paginate, and insert page breaks. Do not double space between paragraphs. Indent every paragraph except for the first one of each chapter (or after a jump in time designated by three asterisks). First paragraph of each chapter should be flushed left. Use single space after period and colons.

Ellipses
Use ellipses when the text/dialogue is trailing off. Do not use them as an interruption.

• Ellipses that are ending a sentence should be four dots and be formatted so that the first period is closest to the last letter in the sentence, and the following three periods should be spaced evenly:

"He drifted off into a slumber. . . ."

• Ellipses that are used to summarize or pause between dialogue should be three evenly spaced periods:

"The man awoke, groggy from his sleep, "Where . . . am . . . I?"

• Format a three dot ellipses so that there is a space between the last word, each period and the next word of the sentence (see above example): word (space).(space).(space).(space)word.

Italics
Use italics for emphasis and for:

• All titles of magazines, newspapers, long poems [Paradise Lost], musical compositions, plays, films, and TV/radio programs
• Foreign language words and phrases (if not yet brought into English)
• Do not italicize titles of articles, lectures, and chapters (see below "Quotation Marks")

Quotation marks
Use quotation marks for article names, short stories, songs, chapter titles, short poems ("Stopping by Woods").

Emdashes
Use emdashes to interrupt dialogue, or to insert a phrase that you might also use parentheses for in a sentence, or to bracket nonrestrictive phrases which are not essential to the sentences meaning (commas can also be used for this effect):

• The man said, "I was dreaming that you died—"

His wife interjected, "What do you mean I died?"

• The sun rose from the horizon—not unlike any other day—and began to wake up the garden

Make sure when formatting emdashes, there are no spaces between the words. You can usually access emdashes through a shortcut in symbols on MSWord.

Numbers
In general, use numerals (101, 102) for:

• Numbers over 100 (101, 102)
• Use numerals for scientific numbers (7 g)
• Years (1984, 2001)
• Parts of a book (pages 9-11)

Use words for:

• Numbers up to 100
• Use words for approximate numbers (as in over two hundred people)
• A number that begins a sentence
• Use words when they are more readable (as in "a budget of $2.5 million" and "ten 5-point scales")

Punctuation

With Quotation Marks
Always place periods and commas inside (before) the closing quotation marks. Place all other punctuation (!, ?, :, ;) outside (after) the quotation marks unless the other punctuation mark is part of the quoted material (as in "Is this a metaphor of life?" he asked.)

With Apostrophes
When referring to decades, write (for example) 1980s, rather than 1980's.

Hyphenation
Hyphenate only specific words such as:

• Prefixed compounds with a capitalized base word (neo-Marxism)
• A number (post-1996)
• An abbreviation (anti-NATO forces)
• All self compounds (self-assurance)
• Compound adjectives that precede what they modify (working-class attitude) unless the meaning is clear without a hyphen.
• AVOID using unnecessary hyphens (re-visit, re-newal, etc.). Consult dictionary to see preferred style.

Identifying Characters/People
The first time you refer to someone, use the person's full name. After that, the surname is sufficient if there is no possibility of confusion.

Use of Abbreviations for Organizations
The first time you refer to an association or organization, write out the entire title with the abbreviation in parentheses after it. Then you can begin using the abbreviation throughout the book:

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) testified that he was guilty; but the judge overturned the FBI's evidence.

Asterisks
Use asterisks to indicate a jump in time in the text. Separate the sections with three asterisks (* * *) in between paragraphs, when jumping to a different period of time.

Pagination
Number pages by using the "footer" so that numbers will appear in the middle of the bottom of the page.

Sentence Structure
Use complete sentences (not fragments) unless you are trying to capture a characters first person point of view in your narrative, or when you are using dialogue.

Style for specific abbreviations, idioms, etc.

• Time :
• On the specific hour, write the hour out with letters ( one P.M. or five A.M. )
• Any time specified between the hour, use numerals ( 1:31 P.M. or 5:52 A.M. )
• Use capitals for P.M. and A.M.
• Punctuation with parentheses :

When adding a short phrase in parentheses, place period or comma after last parens:

• There was little food in the shops . . . though meat was still available for the nomenklatura (party elite).
• He added that he had found the Carter administration unpredictable (which it was), and complained that the White House . . .

When adding a sentence and a longer thought in parentheses, place a period at end of sentence before first parens, and then a period before the last parens:

• Scowcroft told them that SALT II prescribing nuclear arms cuts was now off the table. (Sonnenfeldt added that it would have no . . . that was better than being born again.)