Manuscript Preparation Guidelines modification of the Guidelines found on the Chicago Manual of Style Web site (with permission)
Please keep in mind that a number of software programs are used before your text becomes a book. So please keep it simple—if you spend a lot of time using your software to format your manuscript and customize the way it looks, we, in turn, must spend time paring your manuscript back down to its basic elements to ensure that the whole process goes smoothly. Use the following guidelines to ensure that the electronic manuscript you submit to us will be ready to edit without further ado: All the elements in your manuscript should be easy to identify. Save front matter*, text, and back matter* as a single file. Save additional matter such as photos, graphs, and charts in a separate file. Indicate call-outs with underlining and not highlights or colored text. Your manuscript should be double-spaced throughout. Begin each paragraph with a single tab, not multiple spaces. Use only one space between sentences. Make sure that there are no comments, annotations, or hidden text whatsoever in the final version of the manuscript that you submit. In addition, make sure that all “tracked changes” or other revision marks have been accepted as final (i.e., there should be no revision marks, hidden or otherwise, in the final manuscript). Do not use the space bar to achieve tabs or indents or to align text. Do not use the automatic hyphenation feature. There should be no “optional” hyphens in your manuscript. Use one or two standard fonts throughout the entire manuscript. If a font containing special characters not available in standard typefaces is necessary, please alert your editor. Keep the formatting simple. If a chapter has more than one level of subheads, differentiate them visually (with centering, bolding, etc.) as appropriate. To insert footnotes, use your software’s built-in endnotes feature. Use the feature “as is”; please don’t reset any of the options. The benefit of the built-in notes feature is that it connects the text of a specific note with a specific place in the text. These “embedded” notes can be moved, combined, or deleted with ease; the number in the text will always carry its text with it, and the notes will automatically renumber as needed. Do not assign “styles” to achieve different formats for subheads, block quotes, paragraph indents, etc. The default, or “normal,” style should be the only style in your manuscript. If your program assigns a special style to automatic endnotes or footnotes, however, that’s okay.
...2 Do not insert an additional hard return to create extra space between paragraphs. Where you wish a space break in the book to indicate a change of subject, type “<space>” on a line by itself. Format prose extracts (block quotations) and verse extracts with your word processor’s feature for indenting paragraphs. Insert a hard return only at the end of a paragraph or a line of verse. Do not “line up” text using the space bar—adjust the indent level instead. For each table, illustration, photograph, or figure of any kind, please place a bracketed < >, sequentially numbered “callout” in the manuscript that indicates placement. Also include a separate, sequentially numbered list that matches the callouts in the manuscript and contains a caption and credit line (or source), if any, for each figure. Regardless of whether you submit the figures in electronic form, you must include a printout or photocopy of each figure. No two pages of your manuscript should have the same number, and no page should be submitted unnumbered. The author is responsible to check all Scripture references, quotations, and footnotes for accuracy and to obtain any necessary permissions. Complete all editing and proofreading of your document (preferable Microsoft Word or Word Perfect) before your book is submitted. A final proofread after the manuscript is typeset will be offered in order to identify page design and layout issues that may have occurred in the typesetting process. Excessive author alterations and corrections will be charged hourly. *Front Matter includes:
*Back Matter includes:
title page copyright page dedication acknowledgements table of contents list of illustrations or tables foreword preface introduction
afterword conclusion appendix notes glossary resources bibliography or references index about the author