Style Guide: Preparing and Submitting Electronic Manuscripts
The following instructions are intended to help you create properly formatted files that may be used by Lantern Books in the acceptance or production of your book.
File Format
- Media: Files should be transmitted preferably as an e-mail attachment or by other electronic media and must be accompanied by information regarding hardware, software, file names, and the date the files were created, as outlined here.
- Hardware: Indicate the computer system (PC or Macintosh) used to create the files.
- Software: Indicate the word-processing program and version used to create the files. Lantern Books strongly prefers that you use Microsoft Word. Most other word-processing programs are acceptable, but please check with Lantern Books before submitting your manuscript to make sure that the files can be read and translated.
- File Management: Files should be easily identifiable by their name.
General Organization
Page numbering: Number all text and back-matter pages of your manuscript consecutively throughout, from the first page to the last. Do not begin each new chapter or section at page 1. Do not include art in the numbering sequence. It is important that all endnotes be placed together in one file at the end of the manuscript, not at the end of each chapter. The same goes for other back-matter, like bibliography.
Artwork: Submit artwork, figures, and tables separately. Do not include them on your manuscript files, even if they have been generated by your word-processing program. If artwork was created in a graphics program, provide it on a separate file with program information. Indicate where each piece of art, table, etc., goes within the text by a reference such as [Illus. 1 here]. Number art consecutively throughout the manuscript, not chapter by chapter. For more information, see under Art.
Compilation or Edited Volumes
All books featuring articles from different people in different styles should be formatted the in the same style.
File Content
Your documents should be typed as simply and as consistently as possible. Do not try to style any elements or to "design" your manuscript. Avoid using multiple fonts, imported graphics, all caps, and extraneous keystrokes. Do not move the text around by using the spacebar or tab key. For more detailed information regarding specific elements of manuscript preparation, we suggest you refer to The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers (University of Chicago Press: 15th ed.), or consult your editor.
Typeface/Font: Use the same font throughout your manuscript. Lantern Books prefers that you use 12-point Times New Roman, which produces a manuscript that is easy to read and copyedit.
Margins: Use one-inch margins all around.
Document Spacing: One-and-a-half-space ALL copy, including extracts, footnotes, endnotes, bibliographic material, captions, and so on. One-and-a-half-space means a half a blank line between every typed line, not just between, say, individual notes or bibliographic entries. (This document is one-and-a-half-spaced.)
Text alignment: All copy should be typed flush left, ragged right (never fully justified at the right-hand margin).
Sub-heads: Sub-heads should be in bold and the same size as the main text. The first line following the sub-head should be flush left, unless it is an extended, indented quote.
Extracts: Use the indenting capabilities of your program to set off extracts from the regular text by indentation from the left margin, and add one line space above and below each extract. Do not use multiple spaces or tabs to indent each line of an extract. Extracts, like text, should always be ragged right.
Uniform line space: Do not insert extra space between paragraphs unless you are indicating a space break or extract. For a space break, use three number-signs alone on a line: ###. For extracts, add one line space above and below.
Use the line-wrap feature of your word-processing program rather than a manual hard or soft return at the end of a line. In other words, do not use the return/enter key at the end of individual lines within paragraphs. Manual returns should be used only at the end of paragraphs, lines of poetry set as an extract, and heads, or to create a space break.
Hyphenation: Do not hyphenate a word at the end of a line; use hyphens only in compound words (e.g., mother-in-law).
Word/Sentence Spacing: No double word space. Use only a single word space between sentences and after colons. Many of us who were trained on typewriters were taught to use two spaces in these situations, but the electronic world requires only one.
Paragraph indents: Use the automatic paragraph-indent feature in your program. Never use the spacebar to create paragraph indents. In the Windows version of Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, use the Paragraph Indent command in the Format pull-down menu. In the MSDOS versions, or if your program does not have a paragraph-indent feature, use a single tab keystroke for each paragraph indent.
Italics: Use italics to indicate emphasis, and do not use underlines or larger fonts or exclamation marks. Use bold only when absolutely necessary.
Numerals: All numerals from one to ninety-nines should be written out–as should a hundred, thousand, or ten thousand–unless in mathematical formulas or in a paragraph with a lot of data. In such situations, use the key 1 (one) for the figure one, and the key 0 (zero) for the figure zero. Do not use the letters l (ell) and O (oh) to indicate numerals. Fractions should be written out (e.g., three-fifths), but decimals (e.g., 1.25) and numbers like 150; 2,560; or 15,450 should be written thus.
Em dashes: Do not type two consecutive hyphens with no space on either side to indicate an em dash -- like this. Em-dashes should not have spaces either side of them. In other words: “The rain in Spain—it's very heavy—stays mainly in the plain.” Em dashes should also be used for attribution: i.e. “To be or not to be. . .”—Hamlet.
En dashes: En-dashes should be used to indicate movement toward in pages, dates, direction, contest, or to separate compound words from each other: i.e., pp. 120–150; 1750–1820; London–Paris; Franco–Prussian war, San Francisco–based.
Do not use the “ellipses” character, if you have one. Type ellipses as periods separated by a single word space: ... If you use ellipses at the end of the sentence, be sure to place a period (i.e., to make four dots).
Special characters: Do not change the font in order to depict a certain character or symbol. Keep a log of any characters you are unable to depict with your program, and submit the log with your manuscript/file.
Footnotes/Endnotes
Do not use the Microsoft Word footnote/endnote program, since this causes problems in typesetting. If using notes either use the typed superscript below, or use a parenthesized number instead: i.e., (1).
There are two types of endnotes: numbered and "blind" (unnumbered). Numbered notes are numbered consecutively through each chapter (beginning with 1 for the first note in each chapter). Note numbers in the text should be typed superscript: 1.
The numbers introducing the notes themselves in the back-matter should be typed as regular text, followed by a period: 1. “Blind” notes use a key phrase from the text to identify them. All notes should appear together at the end of the manuscript, with the chapter number/title heading each section. Begin each note on a new line.
In the notes, book titles should be in italics and not underlined or in bold. Poems or articles should be in quote marks; and journals should be in regular type. In other words, a paradigmatic entry might read:
Slattery, Bernard. “An Analysis of ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ by W. B. Yeats.” Journal of Epistemology 26:4 (2006), pp. 25–29.
The Unpurged Images of Day Recede: Yeats and the Byzantine Mysteries. Champaign, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Art
Do not create graphics in either Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet programs.
Art is best created in programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop. Charts/graphs created in Microsoft Word for the Mac or Windows are acceptable as manuscript reference and will be composed with the rest of the text. Before proceeding in the creation of art, be sure parameters for sizing, type style, and page setup have been discussed with your editor or the design department. We don't want you to do any unnecessary work.
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